Overlooked house - will we sell?!

Karenmrks

Hi everyone, I have a question which I'm pretty sure I know the answer to, but I wanted to gauge what people's thoughts are. We currently live in a large 4 bed townhouse in a nice village with a decent size garden, however we are very overlooked by the same house style x 2 in our garden, like they are seriously very close. It's a new build house so when we bought it, we thought it would be further back but nope, their gardens aren't that long. So yes when you look out the window, you see them straightaway. Anyway our house itself is nice (in my opinion), good sized rooms and lots of windows so very light. We are currently on the market and in the last 3 weeks have had 0 viewings..... Now I know it's not extremely long but I'm quite concerned that the houses might be putting people off. I know it will bother some people but surely not everyone? I'm getting so worried as each day goes by and our phone doesn't ring I thought we would get atleast one viewing you know. I have it in my head that we won't ever sell. I just wanted to see if anyone has sold a very overlooked house before I guess for reassurance? But also to see if people would still go for a house if it ticked all the boxes but was overlooked, is that a game changer for you? 

staffie1

It is a game changer for me personally, although I suspect there’s not much you can do about it, except account for it in the selling price. Having said that, if you’ve had no viewings yet, it might be premature to blame the overlooking problem.

babyblade41

I would look at what comparable sold prices are then factor in the problem.

Anything will sell at the right price , just depends how low you can go 

LateNightHunter

I know that a lot of people tend to avoid new-builds at the moment (A trend? A fad?) so that may factor in a little

Bendy_House

Is your house part of a new estate? Do other houses on there have a similar issue?
I 'suspect' there are other reasons why you haven't had viewings, as surely folk wouldn't know 'how' overlooked it is 'before' viewing?
On that point, just how bad is it, and could a screening tree be planted? (You wouldn't necessarily have to do this yourself, but if it 'can' be done, then it's something that can be pointed out to potential buyers.

Karenmrks

Bendy_House said:

Is your house part of a new estate? Do other houses on there have a similar issue?
I 'suspect' there are other reasons why you haven't had viewings, as surely folk wouldn't know 'how' overlooked it is 'before' viewing?
On that point, just how bad is it, and could a screening tree be planted? (You wouldn't necessarily have to do this yourself, but if it 'can' be done, then it's something that can be pointed out to potential buyers.

The house is on a new estate, been around for 2 years and still building. As far as I can see we are the only ones that have houses that close overlooking our garden, and that being 2 3 storey houses. The other houses on the estate don't seem that bad. Its because it is 3 storey houses that make it worse I think. We have planted lots of shrubs which have grown quite tall and also an olive tree so far. The estate agent put photos on where you can see we are clearly overlooked. I do think it is good to include this so people aren't shocked when they see it. 

JReacher1

0 viewers in three weeks would worry me. Would assume it’s massively overpriced as otherwise would expect at least one. 

Don’t think the overlooked garden would be a problem if people don’t come and see the house. 

Domaco16

It would put me off unfortunately- and I wouldn’t even have a viewing if I saw that in one of the photos. 

0 viewings in 3 weeks - sorry to hear that xx 

Fromthebrink

Hello @Karenmrks. Your issue is not unusual, developers will use every angle to shoehorn as many units in as possible. This often leads to situations of windows facing neighbours windows or windows facing gable walls. It all looks and presumably feels a little closed in.

We recently scoured the market looking for our new home, so have viewed hundreds of properties online, but viewed only 5 physically. Being overlooked would have excluded a property from our shortlist, mostly to do with liking to use our back garden for exercising, relaxing and socials. I suspect more people have these same habits post pandemic. 

There are some very good points within the posts on here though. The house will of course sell for the right price, and there are natural screening methods than can be used to create a greater sense of privacy. Ultimately though, it will come down to your EA finding the right buyer, or the right buyer coming across your property. Remember, very few homes are absolutely perfect, and we will all have made a compromise or two when buying, so don’t feel too deflated. 

Wishing you the very best of luck with your sale 🙌🏼

elsien

How does your asking price compare to the price of equivalent houses that the developer is still putting up? Wondering if that’s an issue - people going for the brand new ones instead. 

pinkteapot

It’s definitely an issue with new builds as they’re allowed to cram so many in these days. For example, here’s one near me (get to pic 17): 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123365051#/?channel=RES_BUY

To be honest, it would put me off and the house would need to be quite a bit cheaper than a similar house that’s more spaced out from its neighbours. 

Look critically at where you sit in the Rightmove list - why are people viewing other things for sale at the same price before yours?

Depending on the market in your area, a new build may not be worth what you paid for it if you’re selling within just two years. In some parts of the country the market has shot up in recent years so sellers of recent new builds would be ok, but not everywhere. 

Agree EA should include the garden pic, otherwise you’ll waste your time having people view and immediately be put off.