Critique my rightmove listing please

phoebe1989seb

It's not my style of house - too bland/characterless - but is reasonably well-presented and clutter-free.

Certain things - the fireplace is the first that jumps out - look very dated and would need changing. The garden is lacking in colour (other than green, which is a start, lol!) and would benefit from 'dressing' to look more aspirational, as indeed would the house itself, which does seem rather bland, imho.

I agree that the rooms all seem either small or narrow and upstairs in particular there seem to be too many crammed in compared to the other house that's for sale in your road. We have lots of sofas, sideboards etc, so for us the downstairs space needs to balance out what's upstairs. For less money, I'd prefer the other one - although the conservatory would have to go!

We've sold a few five/six bed houses - including one in Wilts - and agree it's niche market. We were fortunate that for two of those, families with 3+ kids came along, whilst for the other we found a couple with a teenage DS (like us) and who (again like us) just liked a lot of space! The right buyer is out there - and it's very early days - you just have to do some tweaking, re-take the photos and be patient!

bellaboo86

This is nit picking but...
Not a fan of the fireplace and I think it needs a bigger mirror above it. The one you have is too small. I also don't like the black shelving you have in that room. It doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the room.
Also the fitted pine cupboards in one of the bedrooms, I would paint white.
As others have said I don't think the house warrants two big dining tables.
I think the downstairs layout is a bit odd and would definitely want to rip down a few walls.
I also agree that it is a bit bland.
You have presented it very well though so maybe it's just the price?

Marvel1

For me it's a 5 bedroom and the house looks small for it.

smallholdingsister

It looks like a nice house to me.
Clearly you are not going to knock two bedrooms into one - then you would cut out part of your market.
People can do that themselves.
I would spend some time/cash on brightening up the garden.
Maybe re seed the brown bits of lawn.

Good luck!

AnnieO1234

My gut reaction is that the photo's are dark and lifeless, and parts of the property seem extremely dated (sorry). Picture 2 really bothers me with how dark it is, it doesn't take much expertise with a free app to brighten that up. I think that's half the problem, it's making me see the darkness in other photo's because it's so early in the photo line up iyswim. The lamp in the corner of the breakfast room also adds to this, that the room isn't light enough.

The area marked as a "breakfast room" on the plan appears from the photographs to be the only dining area. That would be far too small a dining area for a 5 bed imho. I think it's a bit much to call it a breakfast "room", I'd much prefer to see it classed as a dining kitchen with separate formal dining room or similar.

The pine doesn't bother me, I quite like it in fact. I'd get in there with some chalk paint and you're good to go with a modern look.

The bedroom photographs are extremely close to the beds, is there not a lot of room in them? I'd maybe have a look at switching the furniture around. In my own home the master bedroom looks tiny if the bed is against on particular wall, but if it's moved 45 degrees it really opens the room up.

The lounge is a real personal bugbear for me. It looks extremely 90's. I think I would be tempted to rip out the fireplace entirely and try and give it a more modern look.

Super critical, I feel that the garden needs a bit of colour. A few planters or something, especially when the lawn looks half dead.

Picture 11 shows a radiator drying rack. My immediate thought seeing it (which I maybe wouldn't have considered immediately) is that there's no room anywhere for a dryer.

Is there any chance of getting a nice looking cheap outdoor dining set? The picnic bench is a little umm I can't think of the appropriate word, it's offputting at best.

This is just my immediate thoughts from looking at the listing.

Now having had a quick look around, and based on the asking price, this one is on for only £10K more (admittedly guide price) but it's much more modern than your own.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59618213.html

And to make matters a little bit harder, you have more period properties such as the one below which have much more space, are still dated, but are on for considerably less.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40638126.html


Just a final personal note, the fact that you're using purple bricks would also put me off. xxx

moneyistooshorttomention

In fairness - that "more modern" one would put me off by the fact that I'd instantly spot neighbouring houses can look into the garden.

The downside OP has on his garden is "leylandii alert". I think they are OP's property - but I would ask before I even viewed the house. That way I know whether to think "Solvable problem = just remove them" or "Oh me gawd - the neighbours have got leylandii. I dont want the house".

One of the reasons I rejected a house on my shortlist was I got the wrong answer to "Who do those leylandii belong to?". Yep...they were the neighbours.

TBagpuss

The photos are not great - can you get those re-done?

It may help if you replace the table in the kitchen with a smaller one so the space looks bigger.

The rooms and garden both seem quite small for the number of bedrooms - I suspect that for a lot of people, a better proportioned 4-bed will be more appealing - I suspect that it may be overpriced - the 4 bed property which appears to be on the same estate and on the market for £400K would seem to be directly comparable as it appears to be a very similar size, just a different lay out and perhaps better proportioned.

I think that brightening up the garden and taking better pictures may help but suspect that you may have overpriced it in comparison with other properties.

DRP

The pictures are good enough that they aren't going to stop anyone viewing in my opinion.

So, as always, it comes down to price! A few previous posters have even put up a few alternative properties in your area.

Q. Did you get 3 agents in to value it? You can still do that, then maybe update the price?

Cakeguts

Get rid of the pub style garden table and put some modern garden furniture out there instead. The garden table makes me think that you have looked after the house on the cheap.....

dgtazzman

House looks nice and tidy, but the mix of styles between the rooms doesn't work well for me. I wouldn't say it would put me off buying it, but it doesn't help sell it to me either. Doing more like you've done in the dining room, with some modern color accents would probably help with this, much of the house is a little too bland for my taste.

That being said, it's the size that would put me off buying it. 125m2 for a 5 bed? The 3 bed I am currently in the process of buying is close to 130M2... Too many rooms that are just too small and would cost a fair penny to rework the place so it would suit me. With that size 'breakfast room', the dining room is pretty much dead space in my eyes, while the living room is too small for the number of people that would be living in a 5-bed. I'd want to move the kitchen into what is now the living room, maybe make a utility room there while I'm at it, which would then give the dining room purpose as you wouldn't fit a big table into the kitchen then. Current breakfast room and kitchen would make a decent size living room, while keeping (most of) the study, which could be accessed through the living room, making that hallway superfluous.

The smallest bedroom I wouldn't even consider a bedroom and the second smallest is borderline. Probably would have worked far better as a 4-bed with some extra storage upstairs (which there now seems to be none of at all anywhere. No cupboards upstairs or downstairs in the floorplans).

Is that moss on the left of the room in pic 1, or is there something wrong with the roof? Just doesn't look quite right to me up there.

Anyway, nothing much you are going to do/can do to the layout. I'd just put some subtle bits of color in places to liven the place up slightly (i.e. bed throws, little flower pots, things like that, which won't cost much). maybe do something about those patches of dead grass in your garden?