Advice on Selling My House

ProDave

getmore4less wrote: »

there is a big gap the other side with a path and grass leading to the school.

google image but a bit old as there are still 2 trees at the front and small

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.9947109,-1.2137135,91m/data=!3m1!1e3


The long morning and afternoon shadows when the sun is lower will miss the houses opposite.

That does highlight how well your house fairs in terms of garden size and parking space. Perhaps you should crop a bit of that, outline your house in red, and include that in the sales particulars?

franklee

getmore4less wrote: »

there is a big gap the other side with a path and grass leading to the school.

google image but a bit old as there are still 2 trees at the front and small

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.9947109,-1.2137135,91m/data=!3m1!1e3


The long morning and afternoon shadows when the sun is lower will miss the houses opposite.

Thanks getmore4less, very helpful map view that makes things clear.

So to the rear there isn't really anything that needs blocking off beyond a normal house some distance away so a more reasonable height hedge would do fine. The OP's garden would see more sky with reduced hedge height even if direct sunlight isn't currently compromised.

Someone is going to want that garden above other similar houses as it is comparatively large.

Ribena1987

lessonlearned wrote: »

Let the viewers come. If you get no offers then it's time to make a few changes.

But, Generally a nice house, at a fair asking price, although expect to haggle down a bit. It just needs a few tweaks. Pretty much as others have suggested.

Add a small table and chairs to the kitchen.
You could paint the kitchen tiles, but I'd be inclined to leave them.
Dress the bathroom a bit, it looks a bit clinical, some nice toiletries, a couple of plants maybe, get rid of the candle thingy.
Fix the fence, chop down the conifers and get rid of the concrete thing.

What is the patio made of ......slabs, or concrete.....either way you can paint them. A less obtusive colour. And then maybe add an outdoor rug on top, then place the furniture nicely. Add a couple of pots with tall greenery round the edges to define the space and make it feel more private. You can't easily get rid of it so dress it and make it look and feel like an outside room or proper designated entertaining space.

Thank you for suggesting painting the slabs. They came with the house and we recently pressure washed them to clean them up and they turned out to be pink. I don't mind them but they seem to be putting people off so I need to change something about them. I've got pot palm trees on the patio which we bought to make it nicer. How do they look?

Ribena1987

TBagpuss wrote: »

How nice to have a poster who is polite and willing to take on board suggestions!

The Bathroom - I think a plant or two (maybe succulents in bright coloured pots?) would help, and if you can, some nice fluffy towels, just so that it looks a bit more inviting. If you can, then for photos and visits, consider having some good quality hand wash etc - chose something in a bright colour that complements the pots for the plants.

Pictures: If I were coming round to yours for tea, pictures of your baby on the wall would be cute and appealing. But on the estate agents photos you can't see them, so it's visual clutter and I think contributes to making the room look a bit cramped. For viewings, ideally you want people to be thinking about the place as somewhere they can put their stamp on and make their own, so too many personal photos and things like that can detract from that. You want them to be imagining it as their home, not yours!

With the lay out of the room, maybe experiment with photos from different angles?
We can only how it looks on estate agents pictures, which is what your potential buyers get their first impressions from. It they start by thinking 'looks a bit narrow and cramped' then they are probably not going to change at view even if 'in person' it feels more spacious.
If you can work out how to photograph it to get a less corridor-y feel at first glance you may decide it works best with the layout how it is.

If you can get rid of the computer and the desk for the photos and viewing s (even if that means stuffing them in the car and parking it just far enough down the road that it isn't obviously yours, ) and the other things like the SC towers which you've already mentioned, you may find you can get a much more spacious look.

I think you asked about plants in another comment - lavender might be an option - you can buy it in pots and take them with you when you move, and it tends to be pretty hardy. fuchsias are also quite robust and are nice and bright.

Anything you see planted on a roundabout or in hanging baskets in your town is probably a good bet, as they tend to pick things which thrive on neglect!

I *personally* would not paint the tiles in your kitchen. The styles isn't to my taste but it is not particularly dated or unappealing, and my experience is that tile paint doesn't look the same as actual tiles - I'd leave well alone, if I were you.

Good luck with your viewings.

Thank you for all your suggestions.

Bathroom: what colour pots, towels and handwash? I don't really do colour so I'm not good at the whole interior design thing.

Living room: CD and DVD towers are now gone as is the lamp. We will move the PC over the next few days. It looks less cluttered already.

Ribena1987

I plan on contacting the EA's next week to get them to value my house.

The school is not directly on the other side but it is a stone's throw away. The conifers came with the house. The previous owner was a recluse so I assume he planted them. I'll have to get a quote to have them shortened.

I had really hoped the size of the garden would appeal to viewers but they don't seem that keen on it. Even ones who have dogs.

I'm thinking of painting the patio.

We have started cutting down the conifer at the front. Should be done by Monday.

Picture 2 is deleted.

Ribena1987

getmore4less wrote: »

there is a big gap the other side with a path and grass leading to the school.

google image but a bit old as there are still 2 trees at the front and small

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.9947109,-1.2137135,91m/data=!3m1!1e3


The long morning and afternoon shadows when the sun is lower will miss the houses opposite.

Wow, thanks for this. Did not realise how big my garden was. Literally twice the size of some others around me.

Ribena1987

ProDave wrote: »

That does highlight how well your house fairs in terms of garden size and parking space. Perhaps you should crop a bit of that, outline your house in red, and include that in the sales particulars?

That's a good idea, thanks. The only thing is, the people that have viewed so far don't really seem to care about the potential of the garden. Apparently they think my house is small (it is approx 55SQM. Most of the 2 bed semis in the area are and they all have way smaller gardens). I'll ask my EA to add it to the listing.

Ribena1987

Any suggestions on what colour I should paint the patio? Also does anyone think I should switch EA? I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with this one. Viewers like the house but say its too small. I feel like maybe if I make all the above changes and switch to a new EA so it's a fresh listing on RightMove that might make buyers more interested. Does anyone have experience using YOPA whether as a buyer or seller?

getmore4less

I think it will feel a lot bigger once some of the stuff is gone.

I was thinking how much smaller difference does a 300mm CD rack make but with contents it draws you inwards, a blank(ish) flat wall gives a bigger feeling of space

These days you can almost flush mount TVs on the wall and have no floor units(smart sticks) so you have clear floor to the skirting if people viewed a place like that and yours it would feel bigger.

MY previous house was like yours, stairs in lounge but that had the under stairs open and that is where the tv and stuff went.

Yours has a good sized garden that gives scope for an extra room on the back and a summer house(suntrap) at the bottom problem is none would add enough value over cost.

Might be that the market for these starter homes is, only going to be here a few years, not going to do stuff, so they don't see/want any potential.

people are getting wise to using map views and street views like google to assess a place

sometimes the images are from a bad day or old so sometimes it is worth pre empting that with pictures on the listing.


eg.your streeview is on a bad bin day and next door has a lot of rubbish on their drive.

spin 180 and there are 2 cars on the grass verge


Also just noticed(zoom in) that yours looks like it has a brick wall into the garden as that just a wall or a small outbuilding/shed with a window?

pic of that might be good maybe from the garden towards the house(avoiding the dodgy fence.

If you can't get the fence fixed another picture from that corner across the garden missing out the fence.

Not sure about the car port yet, for some it will be a project to get it right(or remove) others may just be a job they don't want to be doing when in this market there are similar 2 beds that are ready to move into with no obvious projects.


Just spotted another thing that annoys me the tiles over the sink It is the sort of thing you get with tight builders they will have squeezed the tiler to a low price per sqm and they want the smallest area they can get away with in each house, why not do the whole wall behond sink and toilet?

rambling now.

getmore4less

Patio

greys can look very good, would go with the furniture and the fence that has natural weathering to silver/grey.

Guessing it is 6x600 slabs so 3.6m sq 5l should be more than enough 2.5 might be tight is there are a few others we cant see.