So tired of denial of the state of the housing market

thermal2844

Paint all of that interior brickwork in the utility/office area and loo, it looks really uninviting.. You might want to paint the stair risers all the same as well.



A lot of your pictures are bowed, and there are a lot of unnecessary photos that don't do anything to sell the house (for example, picture 16).

Surrey_EA

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

Said house:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71819618.html

I know you all love a good ol' nose! ;-)

The photos aren't great, and you certainly don't need 33 of them!! 10-12max.

ETA: If you paid you 'estate agent' money for those photos, I'd be insisting they came back and did a better job.

System

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

People want to buy it, but they can't sell theirs. I agree that I'll definitely get more people interested if it's a lot cheaper, but people do want it at the price advertised.

then it's the people trying to buy yours that need to adjust their asking prices!

Red-Squirrel_2

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

The whole street is privately owned. By extension, I assume you mean the room we use as the office? It was previously the wood store and the whole street has the same treatment. We had it stripped back to bare brick at great expense haha! We love it, but it's good to know it's not everyone's cup of tea! I have to accept someone may come in and re-plaster over it again!

Ah ok, it looks to the untrained eye (well, mine!) like a flat roofed unfinished extension I'm afraid. The bare brick works nicely in the office, but not at all in the toilet, nothing porous in toilets as a rule generally I'd say! I presume the hooks are for musical instruments? If so, get some up there!

I feel a bit harsh now, a lot of the house is really nice, and its a sensible layout, with a great sized garden (although very bare, some pots and garden furniture would help), but its not exactly 'dream home' material so you will need to be realistic on the price.

moneyistooshorttomention

Overall impression = bare.

There's absolutely nothing in the gardens - other than a hedge I presume is yours and a shrub I presume is the neighbours (or, worse still, a bone of contention as to just who it belongs to). Basically - my reaction to the garden is "poor little unloved garden that they don't use for anything at all - neither use nor ornament".

Re the loo and office = "Oh heck - got to get a plasterer and electrician in to sort those out/don't want to go to that much trouble for a house that isn't a Forever House".

Kitchen - errm...

Front of the house = can't be quite sure where your garden ends and "public property" begins. Am guessing your front garden only goes up as far as the nearest path in front of the house. Just got the feeling generally between that path set-up and the "whose shrub is that?"/undefined side boundary that I might end up struggling to make it plain exactly what was and wasn't "mine".

Reds-on-Sea

This one sold fast and is a 4-bed for only £10k (3%) more than yours which, to be honest, looks considerably nicer: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53713746.html
Fair point on this one: it's big, it's on a busy road, and although it may have a paved front garden, there's no dropped kerbs on that road, so you can't actually park on it.

As for these:
These ones look bigger than yours, were cheaper, and have sold:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53579118.html
Fine if you like giant squirrels :-)

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52371702.html (end-terrace rather than semi but a lot cheaper)
60s house in a giant housing estate, at least mine has a bit of character

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-63569866.html (detached but needs work)
I like this one. What you can't see is that the garden backs directly onto a giant industrial estate

I do see your point though. People aren't willing to pay more to not have those things. Also, my 3rd bedroom is very small. Will get my EA to come and re-appraise I think.

pinkteapot wrote: »

You're the most expensive 3-bed semi within a quarter mile of your postcode:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?searchType=SALE&locationIdentifier=POSTCODE%5E1239568&insId=1&radius=0.25&minPrice=&maxPrice=&minBedrooms=&maxBedrooms=&displayPropertyType=&maxDaysSinceAdded=&includeSSTC=true&_includeSSTC=on&sortByPriceDescending=&primaryDisplayPropertyType=&secondaryDisplayPropertyType=&oldDisplayPropertyType=&oldPrimaryDisplayPropertyType=&newHome=&auction=false

These results include Sold STC.

These ones look bigger than yours, were cheaper, and have sold:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53579118.html
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52371702.html (end-terrace rather than semi but a lot cheaper)
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-63569866.html (detached but needs work)

This one sold fast and is a 4-bed for only £10k (3%) more than yours which, to be honest, looks considerably nicer: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53713746.html

Your EA takes really weird photos. Half of them are using a wide angle lens held right up at the ceiling, which somehow makes the rooms look smaller than they are. Others (eg the kitchen) are taken with such a narrow angle lens that you can't really see anything. Makes the kitchen in particular look tiny (from what small part of a cupboard I can see!). That said, the fact you're getting plenty of viewings means the pictures aren't putting people off.

sal_III

What pinkteapot said, It's easily the most expensive 3-bed in the area and although a nice house I don't see a "wow" factor in it, that could convince buyers to pay several £10k premium for it.

When you say that people do want it at the current price, have you had actual offers, that fell through or just comments from viewers?

moneyistooshorttomention

Interested to see what gives your house "character"?

Red-Squirrel_2

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

60s house in a giant housing estate, at least mine has a bit of character

Don't mean to be mean here, but yours is not exactly bursting with character either, and has a definite housing estate feel too.

Its a nice enough house, but maybe you need to readjust your ideas about it a tad?

Davesnave

It's fine, but there's a kitchen utility and bathroom to replace from where I'm sitting. Bathroom reminds me of a public loo. I had that kitchen in 1980 something.

Old fogeys like me also ripped out those 'Shaker' (?) doors with the bakelight handles back in the 1980s, so no amount of EA flim-flam will persuade us to have them back! Some good old engineered oak doors from Howdens would go much better with your floors.
Then there's the utility room/office which appears converted from a single skin outhouse, so that wouldn't meet building regs without an external grade door between it and the kitchen. A work in progress methinks. Useful though.

The EA has done their best fish-eye lens trick, bending everything in sight, but the sitting rooms still too narrow for me, as it's a through-room and thus further compromised. Could be closed off I suppose. More work!.


Your minimalist approach makes the house feel unloved; it's better than clutter, but it hides less.

Overall' I think it has promise, especially with that good,if unexploited, garden. At the right price it should sell, but looking at the sold prices locally, I'm not sure it is.

Apologies for being so blunt.

Now to see what others have said.....