House not selling

ProDave

I am surprised that is not selling. I thought the smaller houses, up to about £150K were selling. It's the bigger detached houses in the countryside like ours that are hard to sell as there are not many incomers wanting them as used to be the case.

The EPC E may be a problem. That's too poor for rental now, so a landlord would have to upgrade it to get the EPC better. How far was it from getting an EPC rating of D? Can you improve it to get the ePC up to D without spending a fortune. And yes a coat of white paint would smarten it up.

VintageHistorian

Definitely get it painted, and maybe get a couple of cheap white lampshades up in the rooms as well as the bare bulbs don't do it any favours.

I'm afraid I do think it's a bit overpriced, the whole place looks very dated (I don't mean to be harsh). Anyone buying it will do so knowing they need to invest the time and money in getting it looking nicer, so new carpets throughout, refurbishing either the kitchen or the bathroom depending on the buyers priority etc etc, it all eats in to their potential budget.

Looking at others sold nearby, number 4 is very nicely decorated throughout (barring the blue and yellow bedroom) and sold for £2000 more back in 2015. If, as ProDave has said, prices are struggling to move up in your area of Scotland then only £2k less than Number 4 is a bit overpriced simply due to the amount of work that appears to need doing.

Get it repainted in something neutral, maybe dress up the back garden with some brightly coloured potted plants, and get the photos retaken. Oh and get rid of the "£5000 below value" bit in the description, it's not worth £5k more if no one's willing to pay it.

ReenieMac

ProDave wrote: »

I am surprised that is not selling. I thought the smaller houses, up to about £150K were selling. It's the bigger detached houses in the countryside like ours that are hard to sell as there are not many incomers wanting them as used to be the case.

The EPC E may be a problem. That's too poor for rental now, so a landlord would have to upgrade it to get the EPC better. How far was it from getting an EPC rating of D? Can you improve it to get the ePC up to D without spending a fortune. And yes a coat of white paint would smarten it up.

A few in a similar price bracket have sold. I'll check but I think it would be a hassle to change the EPC, we've got storage heating, worth thinking about though thanks.

Crashy_Time

What is the employment situation like up there?

ReenieMac

VintageHistorian wrote: »

Definitely get it painted, and maybe get a couple of cheap white lampshades up in the rooms as well as the bare bulbs don't do it any favours.

I'm afraid I do think it's a bit overpriced, the whole place looks very dated (I don't mean to be harsh). Anyone buying it will do so knowing they need to invest the time and money in getting it looking nicer, so new carpets throughout, refurbishing either the kitchen or the bathroom depending on the buyers priority etc etc, it all eats in to their potential budget.

Looking at others sold nearby, number 4 is very nicely decorated throughout (barring the blue and yellow bedroom) and sold for £2000 more back in 2015. If, as ProDave has said, prices are struggling to move up in your area of Scotland then only £2k less than Number 4 is a bit overpriced simply due to the amount of work that appears to need doing.

Get it repainted in something neutral, maybe dress up the back garden with some brightly coloured potted plants, and get the photos retaken. Oh and get rid of the "£5000 below value" bit in the description, it's not worth £5k more if no one's willing to pay it.

Would agree re light shades etc, we live at a distance from it otherwise it would have been easier to do these things before. Yes it's definitely dated! If we wait a while it might come back in again... :rotfl: We bought it from an old lady when we were students and didn't have the finance to do anything to it, then we rented it out for a while and were advised against changing anything. It may well be overpriced, it's hard to know when we're accepting advice from the estate agent but we're not very impressed with them so far. It was valued at 120 though by the surveyor when doing the home report. It needs new decor and the garden sorted but structurally it's good so I guess we're hoping someone with time and energy for a project will take it on. It appears quite common though to state as we have that it's below valuation price, shows people are getting a bargain, thought that would be a good thing? Thanks for your input.

ReenieMac

Crashy_Time wrote: »

What is the employment situation like up there?

Not bad, I guess it's all comparative, the town the house is in, Dingwall, has about 8,000 people and is 15 mins from the city of Inverness with about 60,000. We're living a few hours away from where the house is and it's much more rural so by comparison Dingwall is a sprawling metropolis with many employment opportunities and close to a small city. However compared to further south it's the sticks lol.

Crashy_Time

ReenieMac wrote: »

Not bad, I guess it's all comparative, the town the house is in, Dingwall, has about 8,000 people and is 15 mins from the city of Inverness with about 60,000. We're living a few hours away from where the house is and it's much more rural so by comparison Dingwall is a sprawling metropolis with many employment opportunities and close to a small city. However compared to further south it's the sticks lol.

That is encouraging then, because it means you will probably find a buyer, but may just need to tweak the price a bit.

davidmcn

VintageHistorian wrote: »

Oh and get rid of the "£5000 below value" bit in the description, it's not worth £5k more if no one's willing to pay it.

Pretty commonplace for Scottish listings to refer to the Home Report valuation, in order to provide a sanity check that the asking price is realistic.

Annie35

at a glance there's a good choice of houses in that bracket for any buyer, most have a similar state of decor & electric heaters is that typical to the area? so i can see why the agent says not to bother. A weekend brush up might give it a bit more of a spring in it's step still. Trouble is £100 to paint turns into new carpet & worktop before you know it, haha. It may be a better to deep clean & spend any money to fix any sticking points you know could hold up a sale (if there is any, damp patches etc)

I wouldnt drop price anymore yet but would make it clear you're up for negotiations on it.

With that level of competition & slow market you want your agent to be working it. Have they done a phone campaign of their database, have they contacted past viewers to let them know the price reduction, are they cross promoting it when a buyer views another house. Are you in the best possible position you can be. Could they do an open day, could they take some new pictures in the sunlight now, make them work for the sale.

comeandgo

Have I missed the sizes of the rooms?