House on the market for 5 weeks but only 1 viewing

somethingcorporate

York is a very fickle market and comparing houses in Acomb/off beckfield lane to a village is a tricky comparison. Similar houses just a few streets away can often differ by £100k+.


Do you get ring-road noise in Knapton? the map makes you look very close.


I think your house looks expensive especially when compared to some of the larger/more expensive villages around York. You can get a nice 3 bed in Bishopthorpe for a similar price (and a 4-bed for not much more) which I imagine would be higher up someones list than being in Knapton.

thickasabrick

Having a look at the stats from home.co.uk for your area you've still got another 5 weeks to reach the median time on market.
Average time on market (ToM) of unsold property in YO26*: 126 days
Median time on market (ToM) of unsold property*: 76 days

Type No. of properties Average price Median price Average ToM
Semi-detached 67 £292,733 £255,000 100 days

No bedrooms No. of properties Average price Median price Average ToM
Three bedrooms 78 £310,306 £295,000 93 days

https://www.home.co.uk/guides/house_prices.htm?location=yo26

Shandz wrote: »

Hi ReadingTim, thanks for taking a look. I take your point about price being an important factor and we are open to adjusting the price but the property you link to has about 97 square metres total floor space whereas ours is about 115 square metres, so I think ours is a bit larger. Please let me know if I am missing something but just under £300k doesn't seem unreasonable just looking at comparison of floor space.

Wobblydeb

There's a few obvious drawbacks for me:

- The house has limited kerb appeal, with the over-imposing roofline and rather utilitarian appearance. I prefer the look of some of the Edwardian ones people have linked to, and would hazard a guess I am not alone in that.
- There's no garage, which would immediately have crossed it off my hubbies list. If the garage had been left intact, it would definitely be a very small house downstairs compared to others in your price bracket. You might not be factoring in garage square footage into your thinking, but others will be.
- I think there's been a garage conversion - have you got the paperwork for building regs / planning permission approval for that?
- There is no footpath from the house to the village, but without the quaint cottagey look that someone happy with that might be expecting.
- As others have said, no bath.

Unfortunately there's not a lot you can do about much of this. One suggestion would be to crop the first photo to remove the other couple of houses in shot. Add some big brightly planted pots to bring the eye to your front door and away from the roof. Planting will soften the brickwork.

You might want to make more of the fact that the back garden is south west facing, and again, add more colourful planters and perhaps some outdoors furniture.

Actually I've just found the pictures from when the house was last advertised. The outdoor shots were definitely a lot better that time around. The sunshine helps, but they also had some of the elements I have mentioned above.

TBagpuss

Your house looks pretty well presented, so I don't think there is much that you can change in the listing.

5 weeks doesn't seem very long - have you talked to your agents about how quickly houses generally are selling locally, and what kind of timescale they think would be realistic for your property?

Looking at your property, I'd say it doesn't have huge 'kerb appeal' I'm not sure that that is something you can fix, it's mostly due to the design of the house.

If I were looking, I would be put off by the shared / unfenced front garden, and the fact that the back garden seems very small for the size of the house.

Compared to other properties in the same price range, yours looks smaller both in terms of the property itself and the over all footprint (I appreciate that the actual square footage may be larger, but (based on photos at least) I thought the same as Reading Tim - I'd go for the one he linked to, as it is a more appealing house (to me) and it 'feels' larger and definitely has more outside space.

I think the lay out of yours is slightly odd, with the utility being off the study (which is the one room you could may re-dress for photos, either as a dining room so the living room feels more spacious, or as a more welcoming study or family room)

The impression I have from the photos is that you only have parking for one car. If there is more space than that, I would update the description to make that clear.

PasturesNew

Shandz wrote: »

... 97 square metres total floor space whereas ours is about 115 square metres, so I think ours is a bit larger. Please let me know if I am missing something but just under £300k doesn't seem unreasonable just looking at comparison of floor space.

Most buyers don't care/look at floor space. Most look at the rooms and wonder how they'd fit into those rooms with whatever stuff they've got.

So it does come down to price for most.

Maybe there are fewer people in your area that can afford £300k. For me, if I've a choice of two houses, one that's 18 sq m bigger than another one .... and the other one's layout, or decor, is more fitting to what I'd like ... I'd choose the smaller house because that "fits" me.

katie4

Shandz wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback, we had wondered if the lack of bath may be an issue. In your opinion, do you think it would be worth getting one put in to make the house more appealing to families?

We have two young children and no bath would instantly stop me looking at the house, they hate the shower as the water goes in there eyes and they're too cold standing up lol

Shandz

yoshiyella wrote: »

For my family it would indeed be a lack of a bath - could you get one in?


Reason being is that we have an 8 month old and a 2 year old - clearly not going to be showering for a few years yet.

Interesting, yes we could get one put in, it would obviously cost a bit but it is something we would consider if it helped to sell the house. Thanks for your help.

Shandz

somethingcorporate wrote: »

York is a very fickle market and comparing houses in Acomb/off beckfield lane to a village is a tricky comparison. Similar houses just a few streets away can often differ by £100k+.


Do you get ring-road noise in Knapton? the map makes you look very close.


I think your house looks expensive especially when compared to some of the larger/more expensive villages around York. You can get a nice 3 bed in Bishopthorpe for a similar price (and a 4-bed for not much more) which I imagine would be higher up someones list than being in Knapton.

Yes, you can hear the ring-road from our house, I wouldn't say it is a nuisance but it isn't as quiet as being in the middle of the countryside either.


Good point about Bishopthorpe, I think that is a useful comparison and we will look into that.

StarTrekkie007

I am currently house shopping (but not in your area), but took at quick look at your property to give you my instant reaction based on a buyers perspective...

Please take the following comments constructivley and not personally

1st reaction - looks ugly - large sloping roofs - bungerlow-ish

semi-detached - i.e. will get noise from neighbours

large rear garden - people HATE gardening now, too much work and you have a sizeable one !

very BLAND, WHITE, empty rooms - no 'feel'

shower room - no BATH

Have you considered professional 'staging' of your house ? They come in and re-decorate your house so that it appeals to more people. Then get new photos done and see if you get viewers.

One thing you could do yourself is to paint the walls with more colour (rather than white) to add warmth

Shandz

Wobblydeb wrote: »

There's a few obvious drawbacks for me:

- The house has limited kerb appeal, with the over-imposing roofline and rather utilitarian appearance. I prefer the look of some of the Edwardian ones people have linked to, and would hazard a guess I am not alone in that.
- There's no garage, which would immediately have crossed it off my hubbies list. If the garage had been left intact, it would definitely be a very small house downstairs compared to others in your price bracket. You might not be factoring in garage square footage into your thinking, but others will be.
- I think there's been a garage conversion - have you got the paperwork for building regs / planning permission approval for that?
- There is no footpath from the house to the village, but without the quaint cottagey look that someone happy with that might be expecting.
- As others have said, no bath.

Unfortunately there's not a lot you can do about much of this. One suggestion would be to crop the first photo to remove the other couple of houses in shot. Add some big brightly planted pots to bring the eye to your front door and away from the roof. Planting will soften the brickwork.

You might want to make more of the fact that the back garden is south west facing, and again, add more colourful planters and perhaps some outdoors furniture.

Actually I've just found the pictures from when the house was last advertised. The outdoor shots were definitely a lot better that time around. The sunshine helps, but they also had some of the elements I have mentioned above.

Yeah I take the point that it's not got a great appearance from the outside - thanks for the suggestions for the pictures.


Yes, the garage conversion was done before we got here but we have all the paperwork for that so not an issue I am concerned about.


Like you say, there's a lot we can't do anything about but I am now wondering if it would be worth widening the driveway so that it can fit two cars and also putting in a bath.