Overlooked house - will we sell?!

UnderOffer

0 viewings may indicate overpriced, what are similar properties priced at? Also if they are still building what can you get brand new (price) compared to your second hand home? 

For what it’s worth our home is over looked, newish build estate, didn’t put us off to purchase as almost every home here has some compromise. We did add some trellis to hide our “view” of the neighbours house when sitting in garden, just made us feel more enclosed, of course they have full view whenever they are upstairs and doesn’t bother us at all if they want to view our washing drying 😂

jog

Hi, Whilst I do agree with others about the fact that being overlooked will put some buyers off, I also live in a house on a newish estate that is overlooked by three houses. 

We are in the process of selling our house, and in fact the purchasers were the first people to view the house and offered above asking price, within two days of it going on the market. In our case there is very little else on the market in our area of a comparable size / type, which I am sure helped.

My thoughts therefore are that to have had no viewings at all, may suggest either the price is a bit too high or there are also other factors? 

What is your competition in the area, for similar houses? How are they priced? Do you have any other factors that might go against your property? Eg road noise etc. In my experience, there are always compromises when buying a house, the more ‘negatives’ your house has, the more likely people will be not to bother viewing, if being overlooked is the only negative, then I would expect you to get viewings. Also think about how the agent is describing your house, if you have a garden that is actually one of the bigger ones on the development, make sure that is being made clear in the details. Really important that the positives are clearly laid out.

Good luck 

Woolsery

A friend of mine had a pergola built about 10 -12 metres long running the width of her garden right at the back and about 0.3m from the rear fence. This is considerably higher than the 2m allowed for fences and when clothed with climbing plants will give her privacy from the houses behind.

I appreciate town houses over 3 floors are harder to screen off, but usually something can be done to create a private corner, even if it's with something less permanent like sail awnings.

Skiddaw1

pinkteapot said:

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. 

Mind you, to be fair, Story homes are very well built. We live in one (on a small estate in a village) and whilst there's houses to either side there's plenty of space and the gardens are a decent size. I love our house and I never thought I'd fall for a new build (or nearly- we're only the second occupants). They seem to sell on easily too (or at least around Penrith).

Re the OP, to have no viewings at all in the space of 3 weeks would suggest to me that there's another factor at play (most likely price I would imagine).

peterhjohnson

JReacher1 said:

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

Absolutely! Unless the adverts are seriously bad

housebuyer143

Karenmrks said:

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? 

If the house is priced right it will sell. If you have had no viewings then it's priced too high. 
It would personally put me off, but that's why I don't buy in new build estates.
Doesn't mean it will put everyone off though. Everyone has different priorities when buying a house. 

theoretica

Overlooked properties certainly do sell - but being overlooked is, I think, one of the reasons terraced properties usually fetch less than similar detached ones. 

markin

Are you in a rising market, Are old house up, raising and selling? 

This could be 2 years outdated now and depends on area but the new build premium usually means its not always easy to sell for the first 3-8 years, When they can customise their own new home for the same cost, so why would they want someone else's customised house.

If your not ready to share the listing yet, You could take your own photo to post.

As you have the bigger garden trees should have been planted as soon as you could see how close they where going to be.

Tiglet2

Skiddaw1 said:

pinkteapot said:

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. 

Mind you, to be fair, Story homes are very well built. We live in one (on a small estate in a village) and whilst there's houses to either side there's plenty of space and the gardens are a decent size. I love our house and I never thought I'd fall for a new build (or nearly- we're only the second occupants). They seem to sell on easily too (or at least around Penrith).

Re the OP, to have no viewings at all in the space of 3 weeks would suggest to me that there's another factor at play (most likely price I would imagine).

A friend of mine also has a Story home and very happy with it - also in the Penrith area!  I wonder if you are neighbours!!

Tiglet2

I agree with other posters - not to have had a viewing in three weeks suggests the price is too high and may not be competitive against other properties of the same price.  I am also another one who dislikes new build estates due to the proximity of other houses to each other, the overlooking and not enough parking - hate driving down roads with cars parked either side!