House for sale not generating much interest, advice please 3 July at 11:09AM in House Buying, Renting & Selling 44 replies 4.8K views

MrsA2010

Hi, we've put our house on the market two weeks ago and have only had one viewing with another viewing booked for two weeks time (!).
I did a lot of research before we picked our estate agent: they are popular on our estate and have good feedback, have an average selling time of 5 weeks and achieve 98% of their asking price which indicates they are good at valuing the properties.

We took their advice regarding the guide price range, other houses the same shape and size are £10k lower but have no garage or driveway (allocated parking space instead).
We've spent time decluttering and tidying up both the inside and outside of the property.
I'm being told the market is busy at the moment.

I wasn't expecting to have sold it by now, but am surprised we haven't had more than one viewing. Any thoughts or advice would be very welcome.
I can't post the link but on Rightmove the property ref is GAM200157

Thanks in advance

jackieblack

This one?
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71269878.html

MrsA2010

jackieblack said:

This one?

Yes, that's the one - thank you

ProDave

The tiny garden with loads of other houses overlooking it would be the deal breaker for me.

jackieblack

firstly, I must say that I don't know anything about the local property market in Cambridge.

The house itself looks lovely to me, two decent sized bedrooms and a box room, which is fairly standard I think, but may put some people off if they have 2 children and really need 3 decent sized rooms - not much you can do about that but a possible reason for low interest.  Also the garden - small, oddly shaped and overlooked - personally that would put me off.

I also think listing a guide price of £300,0000 then stating on the listing "Offers considered between £300,000 - £325,000" will put some people off. If their max budget is £300,000 your home will come up in their search, then the "offers considered" bit puts it out of their price range and/or smacks of 'game playing' - personally I can't be bothered getting involved with that kind of scenario...

MrsA2010

ProDave said:

The tiny garden with loads of other houses overlooking it would be the deal breaker for me.

Fair comment but on a par with other houses around our price. It’s a new build estate and 10 miles from Cambridge city centre.

getmore4less

6 3b+ within 1/2mile SSTC under £325,

how does it compare to those?
300 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-89021126.html garage
290 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-83503457.html  garage
260 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70772061.html
300 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70902729.html garage
240 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68538816.html garage
230 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-80521153.html garage

sst1234

ProDave said:

The tiny garden with loads of other houses overlooking it would be the deal breaker for me.

How is that helpful? OP cannot make the garden bigger.
OP, have you considered pricing at the same level as the ones without garage, driveway, then seeing if people start bidding to drive price up to that £300k mark. 

gwynlas

The open plan frontage puts me off and describing third bedroom as a double which although you have put a double bed in there would work better as a single. The  photos do not show the best either, dining table looks small to fit those four chairs and there appears to be a lack of storage everywhere, Is that a pair of boots I see on the side?
Get one of those fabric wardrobes for your daughters room or better still move her into single, declutter and hide everything even if it is in the car boot or boxes in garage.
Spend some money on staining fence panels, a bit of garden furniture and some colourful pots you can take with you, gaardens should be looking their best at the moment/
As above reply shows you agent does have more attractive houses on for £325K what makes yours stand out?

getmore4less

Forgot to add there are 3 4 beds in the price(300-325) range and 1 on offers over 325.

some sold prices might not be helping.
Feb 4bed 235   asking was 250
March 3bed 245 
Dec 4bed  308  

AdrianC

getmore4less said:

6 3b+ within 1/2mile SSTC under £325,

how does it compare to those?
300 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-89021126.html garage
290 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-83503457.html  garage
260 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70772061.html
300 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70902729.html garage
240 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68538816.html garage
230 https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-80521153.html garage

No1 is 20m2 smaller floor area, 80m2 instead of 100. Listed in Feb for £325k, reduced same month to £315k, to £300k in March pre-lockdown.
No2 looks to be identical - listed Jul 19 for £300k, reduced to £290k in October 19. Now STC, but don't know when.
No3 is also 80m2, no garage. Listed May.
No4 doesn't give a floor area, but looks larger - and it flew off - listed early June, already STC.
No5 is 86m2 and not as well presented, but without being so overlooked. Listed Feb
No6 is 75m2... Again, flown off - listed a month ago.

All taken together suggests that the issue isn't necessarily price (going by £300k). £325k is cloud-cuckoo and that sentence needs removing from the listing. There's nothing wrong with the listing itself, but the strange shape might put a few people off.

At £325k, you're up against...
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68697156.html
...and not far off...
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-82698623.html
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-73814749.html