Best way to add value when selling a house

MovingForwards

The property looks fine, painting / touching up and new carpets is just spending unnecessary money. Most people won't like the carpet choice anyway. 

GDB2222

I agree that it does look okay in the listing. You could powerwash the drive, I guess.

Which begs the question why it hasn't sold. It was on at £300k in October, and reduced by £10k in January. Is the person resident in the house putting off potential buyers when they come round, perhaps? Or are there no viewings, anyway? It is significantly more expensive than any other houses in have sold for in that particular road. Could that be a problem?

Greymug

Looks ok to me, but in general I'd do what most estate agents suggest.
- declutter 
- clean it
- invest in some soft furnishing and plants (people like that stuff)
- make a pot of coffee and a batch of freshly baked cookies before the viewing. Viewers won't be able to get any because of current covid restrictions, but apparently coffee and cookies make a house feel more homely

Skiddaw1

Davesnave said:

Skiddaw1 said:

Looks OK to me too, certainly in the EA pics. Note it is leasehold- wonder if that's putting off prospective buyers?

In what way would a 900+ year lease at a never collected peppercorn rent put people off?

I agree it seems most unlikely. Just wondered if it could be a factor being as the house looks fine otherwise. Some people see the word 'leasehold' and immediately back off.

daivid

Molly_girl138 said:

Thanks guys,  the property belongs to both myself and my husband,  I've asked him numerous times to touch up paint and get new carpets where they haven't been maintained by him.  He's not the quickest person to get anything done and this is dragging out our settlement.  Due to our wages,  we're taking a 60/40 split in my favour so my liability is higher.  We've already dropped the price by 10k, and the property is larger than others in 

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85892002#/

 Nothing jumps out, though the the adjoining house looks a bit shabby (and only a bit really) and is there an old TV aerial hanging out of their front gutter? The picture is a bit blurry but if there is and you get on with the neighbour asking them to remove it/let you remove it may help. As someone else mentioned before a jet wash of the drive could help a bit.

Neil49

As mentioned in an earlier response, who is doing the viewings? Purple Bricks can be quite good but it is down to the individual and we have found a couple of them to be ill informed about the property and not promoting the benefits. What feedback are they giving you about the viewings and is the property presentable when they are showing prospective buyers around. 

If it's your husband doing the viewings then you could have a problem, particularly if he doesn't want to sell up in any particular hurry. 

I don't know what the market is like in Swindon but with Honda closing down I can imagine that a lot of people are probably a bit wary about committing to any big financial moves. 

Overall, the house looks nice although the lounge looks a bit tired. Keep an eye on sales in the area by checking Rightmove with Sold Subject to Contract included in the parameters in order to see what has sold recently. This may give you an idea of how the market is moving. 

Best of luck. 

Molly_girl138

We have an expert doing the viewings as I didn't trust him to do it! 
We're getting people through the door but something isn't going right after that! 

Molly_girl138

Greymug said:

Looks ok to me, but in general I'd do what most estate agents suggest.
- declutter 
- clean it
- invest in some soft furnishing and plants (people like that stuff)
- make a pot of coffee and a batch of freshly baked cookies before the viewing. Viewers won't be able to get any because of current covid restrictions, but apparently coffee and cookies make a house feel more homely

Trouble is,  he won't do that.  I'm thinking it's the general appearance when the viewings are happening,  I'm not sure he knows what a hoover is...  in the beginning I was going round 30 mins before the viewings to generally tidy and run the hoover round but I can't always do that....

Molly_girl138

GDB2222 said:

I agree that it does look okay in the listing. You could powerwash the drive, I guess.

Which begs the question why it hasn't sold. It was on at £300k in October, and reduced by £10k in January. Is the person resident in the house putting off potential buyers when they come round, perhaps? Or are there no viewings, anyway? It is significantly more expensive than any other houses in have sold for in that particular road. Could that be a problem?

Apparently he did jet wash the drive before the photos haha! 
Our house has been significantly extended whereas a lot of the other houses are still only 3 bedrooms,  no extensions or conservatories. 
Hey ho, hopefully someone will call in love with it soon!  Really appreciate all the feedback tho, make me feel better about it. 

Crashy_Time

moneysavinghero said:

Best way to add value is to drop the price.

Yes, that is a very direct route to value!