Help Needed - Selling Property

AMcMahon890

Hi there,


My husband and I have been trying to sell our house since 12th July 2018. We had hoped that our house would sell quite quickly given other houses selling quickly around us. They were all on the market for around the same price as we are currently selling ours for and all roughly in the same condition i.e. we have things in better conditions than they do/did and vice versa.


The issue is that we're not getting the viewers in to look at the house from the Purplebricks webpage. In 81 days we've only had 3 viewers (1 of whom didn't turn up) through the online booking but had 8 viewers in total. I've only had 1 person provide feedback and that wasn't very good because the whole viewing was mucked up. We had paid the extra to have someone provide the viewings but problems arose on the day that they viewing was meant to go ahead and the estate agent never made it there. I was able to get there and allow the person to have a look around the property and answer her questions but she was not happy and I completely understand why but I would like more feedback to see if her comments were accurate. My estate agent isn't really giving me any feedback on what the viewers are saying when they come so I'm left constantly second guessing myself to see what I could do to improve things. It's tiring. I have considered leaving Purplebricks but I really don't have the money to pay them off and then take on a new company so our only real choice is to keep it on the market.

The reason for my post is to see if anyone could give me any pointers on how I could improve the chances selling my house sooner rather than later. I'm not sure if it's the pictures that are putting people off.


My Property can be found on Righmove. Unfortunately because I'm a new user I can't post a link but if you put in the web address for Rightmove in and add the below details to the end of the web address you will be able to find it.


/property-for-sale/property-66339310.html

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't mind you being brutally honest with me just don't be hurtful for the sake of it, haha.

I've taken all pet paraphernalia out of the house. I keep it clean and have had others check to make sure that it doesn't smell like dog. I've been assured that it doesn't. The house is in a nice area, good for schools and has beautiful views of Glasgow. We have had a Damp Report carried out to see how much repairing any damp in the house might cost. I really don't know what more we can do.

Also when we first put it on the market we were told to put it on for offers over £80,000 (the property value is £83,000 as per the Home Report) but I was concerned that we were missing out on the people who were perhaps only searching to £79,999 so I asked them to reduce it to £78000. Do you think it would be worthwhile reducing the house price to offers over £75,000? My husband and I were hoping to achieve £80,000 in order to get £20,000 for a deposit on our next home and I'm worried that dropping it would mean that we wouldn't be able to reach that mark but also that since I have already dropped the price that people may think that there is something wrong with the house if I drop it again. Do you think this would be the case?

Any help anyone could give would really be appreciated because I am now pulling my hair out.


Thanks
Andrea

csgohan4

Every house has a price that people will offer on, the fact you haven't had much interest is testament to this. Also my own personal experience of purple bricks haven't been good.


Search for PB on here and it is generally mixed. I phoned once to arrange a viewing, said would get back to me, never did. If they don't bother why should I?


What ever you do, don't get tempted to sell to a quick sale company as they will rip you off


The listing is ok, but there are a few others that are less than yours and similar size, can you justify why you can price yours more than theirs?

GDB2222

Hi Andrea

Guess it's this one?
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66339310.html

It looks fine, and I wish I could get a 3 bed flat for £78k in London.

Get someone else to check for doggy smells is my best guess. Several people whom you can trust to be brutally honest! Then get the carpets steam cleaned a couple of times. Do you still have pets in the house?

Cakeguts

This one? https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66339310.html

Cakeguts

The photos are awful. What is that tumble dryer doing in one of the bedrooms? Does this mean that there is no room for it in the kitchen? Is that a vacuum cleaner in the living room?

quantumlobster

Seems fine from the (excessively wide-angle) pictures - but the description is incredibly brief! It's on the first floor, yes (is that what "upper cottage flat" means?)? Do you have exclusive use of the garden? What's the parking situation? The external rendering looks a bit scruffy, but there's not much you can do about that.

Bedroom 3 needs presenting as a bedroom, rather than a utility room.

A separate dining room is always nice, but a bedroom off the lounge is always going to be a little off-putting.

It's price, though, innit? The most recent similar property near it went for £8K less last year.

eddddy

A local estate agent might be able to give you a better idea of what the problems are.

They will "know their patch" - i.e. they will know which houses are being viewed, which houses are getting offers, what puts local buyers off etc.

You could ask a few agents round to do market appraisals - but bear in mind that when they're trying to get your business, they might paint an over-optimistic picture.


Also, thinking of your target market (age group etc), could it be that they are not keen on the "PurpleBricks experience" - i.e. dealing with an agent in a call center near Birmingham who knows nothing about your house and/or booking a viewing online?

Some people are very comfortable with that, but others might find it frustrating.

s_glover

The photos are certainly not great. They are mostly dark and not very inviting.

How do you get to the door from the living room to bed 2? The doorway appears completely blocked by the sofas.

The kitchen is very small but the photo doesn't help. Remove the drainer from the worktop and the papers stuck to the fridge. remove the beanbag? from the dining room. Hide all the wires peeking out from under the sofa. Can you borrow some furniture to put in the unfurnished room to make it look like a livable space?

Main bedroom looks good.

The description certainly needs adding to.

parkrunner

AMcMahon890 wrote: »

Hi there,


My husband and I have been trying to sell our house since 12th July 2018. We had hoped that our house would sell quite quickly given other houses selling quickly around us. They were all on the market for around the same price as we are currently selling ours for and all roughly in the same condition i.e. we have things in better conditions than they do/did and vice versa.

Out of curiosity did you visit all those properties?

Sibz

Feel for you...
Looking to sell soon myself.

I think the pictures look fine. A few earlier posters have made good points (ie possible pet smell that you're accustomed to, and the prices of other sales in the area on the market info tab on your rightmove page).

Did the other properties have a similar sized kitchen? I know that can be an issue for families looking to upsize to a 3 bedroom home. Don't know if an option may be to open plan the lounge and kitchen to create more space there.... But it would cost.

I'm not too familiar with the area so can't help there. I suspect it's the price, if the others are of similar type/size. Have you looked at other 3 bed houses for sale in your location (within 1-3 miles) - you'll be competing with them on price too....

AMcMahon890

Thanks for your reply. It's helpful.

It's priced at that because our Home Report has valued the house at £83000. That's how we get our house prices in Scotland. We have a survey done before we sell & that determines the price of the house. The other houses probably have bigger issues with damp etc hence why we can price ours slightly higher.

Thanks again.

Andrea