Feedback on our property

Doozergirl

csgohan4 wrote: »

Guess OP is happy being in blissful ignorance, their house is the best on the street and will get offers flying in soon.

Guess wrong. Quite the opposite, I'm sure.

If you put yourselves in their shoes, when you are told that your house is worth x by an estate agent, you start to pin your future hopes for the next house around that price. A drop in price can take that next house away.

When people tell you it isn't, and use words like 'rubbish', it hurts and suddenly you don't really need people repeating it unless you're a glutton for punishment.

I rarely put my work up here because people will always look for a dig. I distinctly remember being criticised for the lack of a toilet roll holder.

You don't need to announce when you're leaving the party though, it will attract negativity like yours. Best just to close the door quietly.

warby68

OP, try not to take too much offence.

The key is comparing what's on offer at your house compared to its competition and what sort of buyer pool does that result in? A 3 bed semi is generally a first family home so decent living space and garden for the money are often key. You don't have those particularly so it may take you longer to find a buyer who likes what you have which is something in very nice condition, easy to maintain and probably with the 2 bathrooms and garage offers quite a lot more than a typical 2 bed which is the next step 'down'.

Its not about features being rubbish in themselves, there is nothing really wrong with your house, its just in comparison to others.

FWIW, for a 3 storey the upper floors are great to me, a bathroom on each and the parent suite about the kids with the living all ground floor. So many 3 storey have floors without a loo, a mix of living and bedrooms and rather dingy ground floors more like basements. So you are ahead of the pack there.

The problem is your question was why aren't we getting many viewers? The answers therefore WILL concentrate on the perceived negatives. If you asked can you give me a balanced list of pros and cons so I can see how we rate v the competition it might be less painful!

Lots of the posters here have bought and sold a number of homes and been through various life stages. With property, you really do live and learn. Its quite hard when the house you were thrilled with at first proves to be less special later on.

Good luck - get some better photos, clear the decking a bit , revisit price and be patient

PS I'd never be brave enough to put our house up for analysis although I think I do know what our downsides would be. Its weird, Rightmove shows your home to the world but a few comments here are so much more personal

getmore4less

You have to remember the Basingstoke area has had rampant building for quite a few years and it is still going on.

People looking are going to be seeing loads of houses that were built around the same time with similar design strategies.

What I have noticed is where there are new build options(loads in this area) is people looking at modern will see a lot of show homes which will influence their attitudes to presentation of second hand.
Also the HTB available for new really comprises second hand value.

Look at what people are buying SSTC on rightmove is a good guide.
Also looking at the asking price of those that are on land reg gives a guide to margin obtained.
If lucky the original link is still live and you can see time from added on rightmove to completion.

babyblade41

It's very difficult when selling and how sometimes it's just luck and how manoeuvrable on price you really are .
My example is that I moved away to W. Wales just over 4 years ago.. hated it and moved across the border to Hereford after a few months.

Decided I wanted to go back home to SE Oxford(extremely expensive ) put mine up for sale in August 2017 for 480k.. not a sniff in 6 weeks... decided it was on too high and couldn't find anything in my price range back home so took it off the market.

Fast forward to October 2018 , decided to try again but thought I'd wait until the spring... but one miserable day called my agent and said I'm putting the "for sale sign " up so if by any weird chance someone calls then you will no why plus I'd hiked it up to 525k

Agent said "well I'll just put it on RM etc and see if anything happens" no one really looked at it before so feedback maybe helpful

I must say it isn't a house I'd go for but was so desperate to leave Wales I didn't even view this house but it did tick the important boxes

Within a few hours I'd arranged a viewing and accepted an offer within 36 hours of the sale sign going up . Up for 525 and accepted 512k

I had a list of houses to view in Oxford so sent OH to go and view 6 of them ..

Made an offer the same day (I still hadn't viewed ) never saw my current one until the day I moved in again but it had enough land to work with

I'll be brave and put the link for the previous one and it would have been interesting what others would have thought if I'd done the same thing back in 2017.

The thing is , I'd never changed a thing it was just pure luck that someone wanted my house and for an over inflated price.

If you can't alter the price because of what you want moving on you may get some luck, the only problem with the new builds that they are similar and competition is huge so all the advice above is mostly constructive..it's getting the person through the door and that starts by how it's presented .

I think when I was selling mine I broke every rule there is , hadn't de cluttered and hadn't finished the jobs that needed doing and did manage to redecorate and re-arrange a couple of upstairs bedrooms form the pics from 2017 shown below .

The link is below and my sale is the first set of photos at the bottom from 1 -58 I think
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/ashbourne-house/lower-eggleton/ledbury/hr8-2tz/10730504

need_an_answer

In fairness I quite liked the house,I'm not sure how much it would appeal to a family and as such that's where I thought it was pitched wrongly.


I could imagine a professional couple making it very nice and using the garden as a lovely decked area with a table and chairs.

The problem for me was that you could see too much evidence of the personal taste of the family that currently love there...


But tone it all down,neutralise it a little and maybe think about the mural being painted over and actually I think with a better set of phots it would seem a whole different property.


OP if you are still reading this then you might want to focus on what the house could be for the next owners rather than displaying it as the current house from which you are now leaving.

I genuinely don't think the target market for this property is a family and as such those viewing perhaps arnt seeing it as a place they can settle into easily.

babyblade41

Yes possibly pitched wrong.

I'd take it off the market ,get different pics and possibly neutralise it. Pitch towards professional couple and dress it accordingly if only for pics and viewings

You have to remember on a house like this where there are so many comparisons and when price reduction isn't much of an option then be brutal.. It hopefully won't be your home much longer

I would dress for a professional couple who might think of a family in the future but not imminently

Dymphna60

Sorry I know this is off track for the OP.
I am not yet ready to buy a house but pre house buying browsing on Righmove and along with awful photos and a lack of floor plans I really dislike when the EA tells me who the house is for .
As in “ one for families “ “ would suit families and couples alike “ . As a now single person these houses are never for me . Would the vendor really not sell to me ?

sillyhilly

Doozergirl wrote: »

I distinctly remember being criticised for the lack of a toilet roll holder.

You say that, however I've just moved into a house without one, and I've done my back in trying to turn around and grab some from the top of the cistern!

Agree with the rest of your post though - some people can be a little 'cutting' with their words. Although, at the same time most of the feedback was valid - especially re: the Estate Agents.

quantumlobster

Doozergirl wrote: »

I think you should remove the link. The OP removed it, they politely asked me if I would remove the clicky link that I put in post 2 as well, which I did.

I can understand why people get touchy. You, quite literally, said their garden was rubbish. Telling them that (as well as every reason you wouldn't buy it, none of which can be changed) is not constructive, it's just sport. Which is what these posts are for a lot of people. The fact you've put it up again proves it.

All houses have compromises directly linked to budget.

Just take the link down. The OP is upset, that's enough.

This site only makes any sense if people can read a question/rightmove link, see the feedback (as blunt or as fluffy as it is) and go "hey, that's just like my situation! I have now gained some insight!". If it's an endless parade of context-less responses to long-gone OPs, then it's pointless - people will rock up here, get their free advice, hate it, delete their OP, and disappear.

And whilst you might think my admittedly brusque appraisal might be "sport", that's merely your opinion and you're entitled to it. But don't impute a motive, please.

None of the things I expressed an opinion on can be changed, true, but they all can be placed into a context. Marketing this house as a 2-bed 2-person house might be more successful. Dropping the price 25%, Crashy-style, might also be more successful.

So, unless a mod wants to edit my post, the link is staying.

getmore4less

When up against new builds your starting point is blank canvas.

That's the I can live with it till I decide what to do.

Anything that is away from that or not appealing to the lifestyle of a potential buyer just says job to do before or soon after moving in.

Same with outside, fences need to look like new, space needs to be blank canvas or appeal to lifestyle.
Decking is a problem, the I hate decking just see a big job to remove and start again.
The ones that like it tend to understand the maintenance issues unless a good job in composite has been done.
For small space it is often that selling alfresco is the only option.

I can't do the detailed analysis of what's selling/sold but it is clear there is a very active market from the forsale/SSTC numbers so once there are viewings it will shift.
I suspect within 10% of asking.