Feedback on Rightmove advert for house sale

ashe

Hi there

I'd like to get some feedback on our Rightmove ad.

Thanks for all the advice guys, have edited the link out so we can track the actual right move stats as obviously being linked here with nearly 4000 views has spiked those considerably. Will update as to how we get on.

We listed the property on 23rd June initially at 70k as EA told us a lot of interest in this area and similar properties, and it stood out amongst them.

After a few weeks of no interest, we cut the price from £70k to £67k last friday, and this week we have reduced to £64995. We have only had one viewing request, which the EA followed up with but the caller didn't return her call.

As background we bought the house in 2006 for £80,500. Obviously prices have crashed since then, but the part that is really screwing us is there are a couple of people that have left the street in the past few years very quickly for a variety of reasons such as moving to another country or city with work, or medical issues (one guy went into a home so partner had to sell quickly to downsize) and as a result they accepted cut price deals which seems to have impacted the prices in the area.

There are not many, if any, houses available in this area with front and rear gardens as a lot of it is either terraced or new build (so more expensive)

I appreciate we are probably going to have to reduce the price, but wanted to get some feedback on what we currently have listed.

I have asked the EA to change the photo of the house as the main photo does not focus on 'our' house and looks like it could be a mid terrace, when ours is in fact the end row on the right hand side. Theres a patch of grass to the side of the house also and the new photo shows this, which helps to stress that its an end terrace. The cheapest house with a garden in a 1/4 mile radius is 89k after ours, or 72k within 1/2 a mile, so I feel we should be capitalising a bit more on this in our advert? It gets the sun all day in spring/summer too in the back.

Our property


EA took photos 1, 5, 6, 7, 11 & 12
I took photos 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 & 10

I borrowed a friends camera for those however he no longer has it, so new photos, whilst possible, present a challenge. Am considering taking out photo 3 as it was a really bright day and it makes the room look dark. Appreciated we should have removed the cat toys, bag etc from photo 2 but didn't realise they were still in there until was too late.


Some nearby properties:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64873913.html
This is on our street - marketed at 65k since march, reduced to £59k about a month or two back, now sold. This is mid terraced a few houses down from us. Reduction was due to being desperate for a sale.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60686557.html
This property is newly marketed and listed at 65k. It's well finished, but its an awful street with a church on it which acts as a homeless charity which I've nothing against, but means you often have people sat on the walls outside drinking high strength cider on that street! Also no front and back garden, just a rear hard with fake grass. It does have a loft room however.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60757756.html
Same street as the above but mid terrace, again well finished but no front/rear garden and same problems as the above

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65825816.html
Couple of streets away, again mid terrace. This was added on the 18th August (today!) and is already under offer?


We are able to reduce further if required but don't have a lot of wiggle room. Unfortunately it seems the agents right move sent over when we requested a valuation were the 3 most expensive in the area, having since shopped around we've been given quotes of 1% instead of nearly 3% we are paying, so whatever we sell it for we are going to lose £2,400 to the estate agents unless not sold in 12 weeks when it drops to £2000. I've got a mortgage balance of £50k straight this month, so not a huge amount of scope to drop it as don't want to be left with nothing, however appreciate you cant always have your own way, but the money from this house move will partially fund our next house purchase. Again, appreciate buyers don't care about that, but we'd have to be able to afford our next house in order to move.

Prices on our street confuse me as if I was a buyer, I would much rather have a newer house with a front and rear garden than a terraced house with a yard and pavement, but the older houses seem to be holding their prices whilst these newer houses are reducing?

IAmWales

The others are far more nicely presented than yours, and have newer kitchens. On that basis I'd say you're priced too high.

I'm not sure how much you can do about it, but the furniture makes the place look older and unloved, and that sofa takes over what could be a well laid out room. The furniture will be gone when you leave, but presentation goes a long way to getting people through the door, and that's where yours is lacking.

Crashy_Time

Your house price will always be affected by sales of similar in the street/area, but there must be wider factors at work here before you are struggling to shift it at these price levels - It is either crime issues in the area, unemployment levels in the area or banks just not wanting to lend on property that is not in high demand, or something similar?

ashe

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Your house price will always be affected by sales of similar in the street/area, but there must be wider factors at work here before you are struggling to shift it at these price levels - It is either crime issues in the area, unemployment levels in the area or banks just not wanting to lend on property that is not in high demand, or something similar?

Its a fairly standard inner city area. Well, inner town. There are two primary schools nearby and a train station 0.7 miles away. the town centre is 0.4m walk from here so good transport links. Crime is not great but not terrible either.

Frustrating as prior to the crash they were rising in price same as everywhere else, but they don't seem to have recovered.

Crashy_Time

ashe wrote: »

Its a fairly standard inner city area. Well, inner town. There are two primary schools nearby and a train station 0.7 miles away. the town centre is 0.4m walk from here so good transport links. Crime is not great but not terrible either.

Frustrating as prior to the crash they were rising in price same as everywhere else, but they don't seem to have recovered.

In that case I would look at some of the advice about presentation from other posters, but maybe it comes down to how badly you want to move, and how far you can trade that off against waiting for a certain price? Good luck.

Red-Squirrel_2

It's a small house, but you've really emphasised the smallness in the way you've furnished your living room. The coffee table shoved up against the couch and the dining table encroaching on the living room and right at the foot of the stairs look like a house that obviously doesn't have much space.

Also, your kitchen is very dated, lots of potential buyers will think it will need replacing if not immediately then pretty soon.

The photos aren't great but they aren't terrible, they aren't the issue. It does seem like it's worth less than other houses nearby unless you do a fair bit of work but then you wouldn't get your money back.

ashe

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

It's a small house, but you've really emphasised the smallness in the way you've furnished your living room. The coffee table shoved up against the couch and the dining table encroaching on the living room and right at the foot of the stairs look like a house that obviously doesn't have much space.

Also, your kitchen is very dated, lots of potential buyers will think it will need replacing if not immediately then pretty soon.

The photos aren't great but they aren't terrible, they aren't the issue. It does seem like it's worth less than other houses nearby unless you do a fair bit of work but then you wouldn't get your money back.

Yeah we've considered the sofa problem. My ex insisted on bringing it with her. As we are moving, its a bit of a catch 22 as we don't want to buy a new sofa only to want to buy a new one in a short space of time. Same goes for the kitchen really, we have updated the things that were feasible to do on the cheap by putting new flooring in and plastering and repainting the walls, but the cost of replacing cabinets and worktops would run into the thousands and we'd be facing a bigger loss.

Ms_Chocaholic

Picture 1 - not clear which is the house for sale.
Picture 2 - room looks cluttered, can you retake photo without footstool, coffee table and small dining table.
Picture 3 - looks dark (remove items as stated in pic 2).
Picture 4 - can you clear the surfaces, remove oven gloves etc to give a cleaner looking picture overall.
Pic 5 - funny angle, pic 6 is better shot of this room.

Can you move the table into the kitchen, it states on the floorplan it's a kitchen/diner but can only see one end of the room.

I've just looked at the other ads and the houses I've looked at (not all, but particularly the one listed today and under offer) look a lot larger than yours on the inside. Unsure if that's down to your furnishing or they are actually larger.

Ms_Chocaholic

Oh just a couple of more bits to add .... get rid of the rug and the net curtain at the window, for pics and viewings - it makes the room terribly dark.

Red-Squirrel_2

ashe wrote: »

Yeah we've considered the sofa problem. My ex insisted on bringing it with her. As we are moving, its a bit of a catch 22 as we don't want to buy a new sofa only to want to buy a new one in a short space of time. Same goes for the kitchen really, we have updated the things that were feasible to do on the cheap by putting new flooring in and plastering and repainting the walls, but the cost of replacing cabinets and worktops would run into the thousands and we'd be facing a bigger loss.

Get rid of the coffee table and the footstool, at the moment it looks like you're climbing over them to sit down! The settee on its own would be OK.

I agree with the above poster the dining table should go in the kitchen/diner if possible. The fact that it's shoved in the lounge makes it look like it isn't really a kitchen/diner at all and the lounge is the only place to fit a table.

It's generally better to show bedrooms as bedrooms, the description says the one you're using as an office is a double, but lots of people will think it's probably a single really unless you show them it isn't.

I do think this is a bit 'rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic' though. No minor changes will make your place worth much more, it might just get a few more viewers in but will anyone offer your asking price when they know they'll have work to do and will be factoring that in?

Muttleythefrog

Agree on the first picture... I did indeed assume the wrong house until the garden picture evidently shows it is end terrace. Where multiple properties are shown a viewer is surely going to assume the centre of the photograph is the property in question unless there's a marker or arrow on the relevant property as I see time to time (is there any way the estate agents can add that.. a border or arrow?). But otherwise I see no obvious thing to put buyers off. It is a small modern low maintenance home... logically it would appeal to single, couple or young family if the price is right... the kitchen looks okay to me... I would imagine the sort of buyer for this area won't have much spare cash and hopefully they'd see that bathroom and kitchen are some way off requiring any spend along with the rest of the house. Just got to price it well or hold out.. and yes... try not to draw attention to the modern small dimensions of rooms like living room/stair area.


I don't know about anyone else.. but one thing that does put me off properties as I casually search online for potential big move in couple of years... it's trying to sell a property as an investment... it suggests to me the area is going to be one full of rentals and the problems associated with it... it doesn't convey 'home' to me either but 'house'... but maybe I'm a one off because clearly estate agents must know what they're doing when they advertise these points. Perhaps they feel the investor is your key potential customer.. it is low cost north eastern housing which is modern and low maintenance that could indeed attract investors just as happens more in my sphere of knowledge to many parts of County Durham adjacent you.