Should I Partition off Access to Bathroom?!?

JoJoArmani

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-15650429.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

This is my home.

I need advice.

Price started at £109,950, £104,950 now offers over £95,950. I need approx £95 clear to put towards my next house.

On market 11 weeks - still 5 weeks sole agency left.

8 viewings - 3x investor, 3x FTB, 1x 2nd TB and 1x nosey neighbour.

The feedback we are getting is always the same - no one likes the access to the bathroom.

The bathroom is off the little bedroom.

When I bought the house it was a palace compare to the others I had viewed in the same price range (prob due to the bathroom) - and the bathroom was no issue for me as I was single.

(now a mother of 2 with a 3rd due end of oct - so desprately need to move!!!)

So what should I do? :mad:

Partition off the access to the bathroom somehow? How much would this cost? It would probably mean room being taken off the main bedroom which is large.

Have an extension put on to make it poss 3 beds? But I doubt I'd make the money back. A 3 bed a few doors down sold within a week - was on at £118k.

Or wait until my 16 weeks are up and go with a couple of other agents to see if they can shift it? They keep ringing me saying how they have buyers waiting in this area etc - don't see how they can really - buyers would surely have gone to my EA as well?

Or go for another price drop?

Anyway, any advice gratefully recevied!!!!!:D

izzybusy23

JoJoArmani wrote: »

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-15650429.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

This is my home.

I need advice.

Price started at £109,950, £104,950 now offers over £95,950. I need approx £95 clear to put towards my next house.

On market 11 weeks - still 5 weeks sole agency left.

8 viewings - 3x investor, 3x FTB, 1x 2nd TB and 1x nosey neighbour.

The feedback we are getting is always the same - no one likes the access to the bathroom.

The bathroom is off the little bedroom.

When I bought the house it was a palace compare to the others I had viewed in the same price range (prob due to the bathroom) - and the bathroom was no issue for me as I was single.

(now a mother of 2 with a 3rd due end of oct - so desprately need to move!!!)

So what should I do? :mad:

Partition off the access to the bathroom somehow? How much would this cost? It would probably mean room being taken off the main bedroom which is large.

Have an extension put on to make it poss 3 beds? But I doubt I'd make the money back. A 3 bed a few doors down sold within a week - was on at £118k.

Or wait until my 16 weeks are up and go with a couple of other agents to see if they can shift it? They keep ringing me saying how they have buyers waiting in this area etc - don't see how they can really - buyers would surely have gone to my EA as well?

Or go for another price drop?

Anyway, any advice gratefully recevied!!!!!:D

Personally I would drop the price. I think its still overpriced, especially for Preston. The front room looks small and cluttered, the garden is tiny and if the bathroom is off a bedroom then you don't want to have to traipse through that when people are sleeping to do your business.

To be honest I wouldn't even pay £90k for it.. sorry, just being honest. No offence intended.

cattie

The first thing that strikes me in the particulars is that no mention is made of the fact that access to the bathroom is via the 2nd bedroom. It's an important factor & should be mentioned as then you won't get people who don't like such a set up wasting both their & your time veiwing th property.

Your main bedroom doesn't sound large enough to successfully take a portion to make an access for the bathroom from there.

To me your house sounds more like a one bedroom with study as opposed to permanent usage as a 2nd bedroom & perhaps if advertised as such would attract single people prefering a house over a flat.

Is there anyway of turning the sunroom into a downstars wc & shower room? This could either then free up the bathroom from upstairs, or it could just be an added bonus of a second bedroom with ensuite faciltiies.

pinkshoes

If the bathroom is off the back of the small 2nd bedroom, then people probably see it as a 1 bedroom house with an office area, as you can't really call it a bedroom if people have to trapse through it to go pee!

Does the bathroom share walls with both bedrooms i.e. could you have access from EACH bedroom?

People looking to buy a house around that price, will probably looking at all the houses that don't require paying stamp duty i.e. up to £120k (???), and you can get up to 3 bedrooms for this price, with a separate bathroom.

In the same street, there's a end terrace house with 2 double bedrooms and large bathroom for £103k... ok, it requires some modernisation but it does say they'd consider sensible offers. and another similar 3 bed terrace for £105k not far away...

comparing your properties to others on rightmove, I'd say that's probably why you've not had an offer, as they can get much more for their money for just £3k more... I'd say £93k would be more reasonable.

JoJoArmani

Thanks for your replies.

I had thought myself about not calling the 2nd bedroom a bedroom. You could indeed use it as a study etc.

The main bedroom is much bigger than any I have seen on my viewings but it would make it quite a lot smaller to make access to bathroom.

IzzyBusy23 - The living room isn't particularly cluttered or the yard tiny - it is a large sunny yard - but the photos are really bad! The yard photo is only taken half way down so you have double the size you see in the picture.
And to be honest you won't get anything decent for £90k in my area - in Deepdale/Frenchwood yes possibly - but not Ashton. I think there are only 20 or so proerties in Preston going for less than my house.

The houses for sale near me are a curiosity! The £103k 2 double bedrooms is in an an awful state accoring to one viewer who came here after viewing it. The walls are crumbling - there is rubbish all over the place and it stinks! The windows/doors etc all need replacing. The owners are not house proud lol! They have had offers but apparantly no where near the asking price.

The one for £105k is suprising - I wonder why it hasn't sold- there are no photos to have a nose - there is also another 2bed for £89,950 but I think the walls look like they are on odd angles.

All in all, I think the market around here is pretty slow - the same houses have been on the market for months.

I'm loath to reduce the price and make the sale for the agent and pay them the massive fee they have given me. The fee was obviously linked to the original asking price - which I think they overinflated.

The bathroom could be make accessible from both bedrooms as we have a cupboard space in the corner where the bathroom is.

JoJoArmani

Sorry - more thoughts...


Should I get somemore photos done myself and ask the EA to use my pics?

And the sunroom (bit of a blag - its just a porch type thing) leads to the yard - so you would have to extend it a bit to make a bathroom out of it - but it is possible - my Dad keeps telling me to do that. Guess it's better than having a bathroom in your bedroom! LOL

Badger_Lady

I always take my own photos and get the estate agent to use whichever ones are better... in fact, you usually take better pictures because you know the house and how to show it off much better than a stranger does!

I don't know Preston at all, but is it in a really rough area? I was instantly put off by all the mentions of "fully alarmed, alarm panic button..." - it's a nice bonus, but when you haven't even seen the house it makes you think it must be a dangerous place to live.

You could also do some private marketing if you're on a sole agent contract (rather than sole selling rights) - I'll PM you some of the adverts I did when I sold my flat privately within 8 weeks and for the full asking price this year (PM cos it's got my personal details on it!!!). There are some seriously dodgy private-marketing websites out there, but also a number of decent free ones, so no harm in trying. I would especially market it locally, e.g. if you have a notice board at work.

If your agent does have sole selling rights, you can still market it but direct all calls through them, although this kind of defeats the reasons for paying them :-)

barnaby-bear

JoJoArmani wrote: »

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-15650429.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

Anyway, any advice gratefully recevied!!!!!:D

First thing you see - jumping out in boldy-blod type is.... :eek:

The property is fully alarmed.

rjm2k1

The lounge does look very cluttered, one chair with a jacket on, another chair with table in front of the fireplace? Lots of photos everywhere, brightly coloured walls etc. A general tidy up (hide some of the stuff in the back of your car if you have to) and maybe paint in neutral colour like magnolia (my favourite).

As for the bathroom, it's difficult to tell without floor plans, would there be any way you could move the entrance to it, perhaps into the landing instead of through the little room? I would get rid of negatives like panic button, and alarm, unless it's an approved alarm it's not worth mentioning for insurance purposes etc. There's no photo of your sunroom, isn't it worth a photo? Don't even think about putting an extension on to sell it, it takes a long time and you would be gambling on getting your money back.

pinkshoes

well, you could paint the walls inthe living room a neutral colour, as they are rather icky, and no offence, but that wallpaper in the bedroom looks like it's been there since the war... duvet is a little old fashioned too.

Maybe you could look into the cost of having access to the bathroom through both rooms, and when people come to view the house, show them the plans?

vivatifosi

Putting a corridor of the right width would wouldn't be particularly expensive to do if it is feasible, but first speak to your neighbours instead and find out what they have done to theirs. If they have consistently done the same to their property, then that could be a good indication that you should consider doing it to yours as their homes would have appealed to the same type of buyers as yours.

I was also surprised to see the dimensions of your living room compared to the picture as it looks much smaller. As it is such an important room they should re-photograph it, possibly without some of the furniture and personal effects removed. Painting it a neutral colour would also make it look bigger.

A few pretty pots in the back would brighten up the yard and could be taken with you to the new house.

And as barnaby-bear said, the fact that alarms and panic buttons are mentioned so much, makes it sound like a really dodgy area. These are the things you can explain away at a viewing, but you won't get a chance if people see the particulars and put them in the bin.