Are our selling expectations unrealistic???

no1duncan

Our house has been on the market for 5 weeks. So far we've had only 3 viewings.

I'm of the opinion that this is pretty low....

I've updated the pictures on the websites to try and trigger more interest, but our click-through rate is down to less than 4%. (So around 30 people per day actually click on our ad and nobody asks to view it!).

We're currently using an online agent as the fixed fee was very attractive compared to the usual commision. Of course this means that we really only have the internet as advertising.

Link to the property is below:

rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-73247498.html

Are we just in an unfortunate dry spell or is our advert not pulling in the viewings it should? (Do the pics look bad, is it over-priced?)

Would love to hear your honest opinions.....

mrsjanebanbury2009

I know nothing about the area, but this one
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-73767647.html
is a little cheaper. So could be price?

no1duncan

I must admit my heart did sink a little when this one was listed! The odd thing is a 3 bed detached with a much older kitchen and bathroom on the same estate (listed on the same day as ours) has already sold for the same price as ours. So maybe it's all just luck?!?

bertiewhite

no1duncan wrote: »

Our house has been on the market for 5 weeks. So far we've had only 3 viewings.

I'm of the opinion that this is pretty low....

We had an average of one viewing per fortnight before we sold which our EA thought was good.

It depends on lots of factors such as type of property, location as well as price I suppose.

marliepanda

mrsjanebanbury2009 wrote: »

I know nothing about the area, but this one
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-73767647.html
is a little cheaper. So could be price?

I'm sorry to say but this one looks much nicer (to me) for 5k less. I dont know the area, but it has much better kerb appeal and a gorgeous garden.

It has a smaller downstairs than yours, but the bedrooms look more evenly sized.

What, in your eyes, makes your property worth 5k more than that one?

no1duncan

bertiewhite wrote: »

We had an average of one viewing per fortnight before we sold which our EA thought was good.

It depends on lots of factors such as type of property, location as well as price I suppose.

Thanks Bertie. i think part of my concern is not really knowing if our expectations are too high, so knowing yours was an average of one per fortnight gives me a bit more comfort. Out of interest do you know how many viewings you had before it sold?

PasturesNew

You really need room sizes in the wording of your advert. The cheery/modern one linked to in #2 has TINY rooms really. For a four-bed house to have such a small living room will make yours look more attractive as I bet your rooms are bigger. People won't automatically know there's a floorplan showing sizes, so may never find it.

The colour scheme is very "blokeish" and more "younger blokeish", which will make others whip past it until they get "desperate" and start having to look again at what they've dismissed.

I'd have not taken the photo with the car across the front ... and I'd have stepped back another 6' to show there's room to park there.

quantumlobster

The pics are pretty bad, tbh. Have you used a filter effect? They look very washed out.

Lose the car in the first one. Picture 3 is dark. I love your kitchen, and wish to steal it from your house to put in mine. But picture 4 is superfluous. Pic 5 is great. Pic 6 is a bad angle. Pic 7 is OK. Pic 8 is dark - perhaps magnolia that room for the purposes of selling? Pic 9 looks like you're peeping round the corner into the room. Pic 10 is dark. And peepy. Pic 11 is better than the other bathroom pic, but still a bad angle. Pic 12 is shot into the sun - never a good idea. Pic 13 is great

tl;dr - interior photography with a phone is hard. Get/borrow a proper camera and learn to do fill flash to avoid the "bright windows/dark room" (or tempt a photographer friend, we're generally amenable to generous offerings of beer/pizza/etc). For tiny rooms, use a modest wide-angle (i.e. not the ludicrous almost-fisheye) lens.

no1duncan

marliepanda wrote: »

I'm sorry to say but this one looks much nicer (to me) for 5k less. I dont know the area, but it has much better kerb appeal and a gorgeous garden.

It has a smaller downstairs than yours, but the bedrooms look more evenly sized.

What, in your eyes, makes your property worth 5k more than that one?

Thanks Marlie. Tbh I'm not fixated on selling at 280, we just went with the recommendations of the agents. I totally agree the kerb appeal and garden of that house are lovely. In terms of what ours offers above that is the Kitchen and Bathrooms in our house are brand new and have been what has given really positive feedback from viewers. However, I'm with you in that it might be a difficult sell to claim that makes our property worth 5k more than theirs! Perhaps we may need to tweak the price to drive some more interest.

no1duncan

PasturesNew wrote: »

You really need room sizes in the wording of your advert. The cheery/modern one linked to in #2 has TINY rooms really. For a four-bed house to have such a small living room will make yours look more attractive as I bet your rooms are bigger. People won't automatically know there's a floorplan showing sizes, so may never find it.

The colour scheme is very "blokeish" and more "younger blokeish", which will make others whip past it until they get "desperate" and start having to look again at what they've dismissed.

I'd have not taken the photo with the car across the front ... and I'd have stepped back another 6' to show there's room to park there.

Thanks Pastures. You hit the nail on the head, the house is owned by.....2 blokes!!

Great ideas re the rooms sizes and the pics. I'll get editing tonight!!

marliepanda

no1duncan wrote: »

Thanks Marlie. Tbh I'm not fixated on selling at 280, we just went with the recommendations of the agents. I totally agree the kerb appeal and garden of that house are lovely. In terms of what ours offers above that is the Kitchen and Bathrooms in our house are brand new and have been what has given really positive feedback from viewers. However, I'm with you in that it might be a difficult sell to claim that makes our property worth 5k more than theirs! Perhaps we may need to tweak the price to drive some more interest.

They do look new but they are also a certain taste. I personally, am not into either, but as you can see above, Quantumlobster loves the kitchen!

So, people may look at the kitchens in both properties and think 'Ill be changing that'

if your rooms are bigger, make it obvious! Its hard to tell from floorplans. Decor can be changed, gardens can be tarted up (I hope, mine was very much neglected by previous owners....) but room sizes? You cant easily change that, so sell it!