Overlooked house - will we sell?!

HRH_MUngo

To avoid overlooking when sitting in the garden, a gazebo with sides is a good idea.  Just put the sides where the overlooking is and enjoy privacy in your garden!

https://media.4rgos.it/i/Argos/6014650_R_Z001A?w=1500&h=880&qlt=70&fmt=webp

Woolsery

HRH_MUngo said:

To avoid overlooking when sitting in the garden, a gazebo with sides is a good idea.  Just put the sides where the overlooking is and enjoy privacy in your garden!

When I lived in a top floor flat in a 5 storey Georgian terrace, no garden below escaped my gaze from the living room window. Those flats with gardens and basements are now worth over £1m and no one seems to worry much about the 'poor folk' in the attic rooms looking down on them!

However, directly below me, the people on the ground floor had solved the problem of privacy when sitting out in summer. They had a verandah structure clothed with vines, so in the warm weather they were invisible from above, enjoyed shade and got a crop of grapes into the bargain.

Abbafan1972

Our garden goes back to back with other houses and it doesn’t bother us. I suspect people might be put off by the price. 

diystarter7

It may not bother you but it bother me as we live in a house that is not overlooked. We all have different standards and experiences. As per my other post here, before we had OSP, I did not think much about OSP. Now we have a house with OSP, I would not freely buy another house without OSP or one that is overlooked.

markin

Abbafan1972 said:

Our garden goes back to back with other houses and it doesn’t bother us. I suspect people might be put off by the price. 

I see 4 houses with large windows closed off, past 9am, do they stay like that all day?

As you have 4ft fences you probably would't care if they sat at the windows watching you anyway. But if you did you at least have ok sized gardens and the houses are low.

Skiddaw1

pinkteapot said:

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).

I didn't mean to pick on Story in particular - they do build solid houses, and actually they don't stock them as densely as Persimmon/Taylor Wimpey! Just an example of recent houses (last 10-20 years) being more overlooked than older ones. I've previously lived in 1980s-90s houses and they were more spaced out, so I'm just not used to being this close to neighbours and I notice it. Thing is, if you get buyers who have lived in recent houses then they probably wouldn't bat an eyelid. As this thread has shown, there are buyers out there who don't mind this.

As everyone's said, it all comes down to price. Anything will sell at the right price. OP's house would sell instantly if it was listed for £100. It's not attracting interest at the current price. The 'right' answer is somewhere in between. OP - I'd have a serious conversation with the EA about what's going on - are people just not viewing in your area, so do you need to wait, or are other houses selling in which case it's that your price is putting people off. 

We really noticed the difference when we were house hunting in Cumbria. We'd looked at a few modern detached within striking distance of where we lived previously and there was no way we'd have seriously considered buying one. You were so close to next door that you wouldn't even have needed to leave the house if you wanted to borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbour . We were living in a Victorian mid-terraced house at the time and I think our dear wee house had significantly more space than the new-builds we looked at. Of course, the issue was that we just couldn't have afforded the style of detached house we now live in. Our current house would have been at least 300k above our price ceiling in the south. I agree with you about that particular development of Story homes however- having been past it a few times the houses are noticeably closer together than they are where we live. We have a very decent gap between us and our neighbours and our garden isn't overlooked either. Hurrah!!

OP, I do hope you get some viewings soon.

gwynlas

Whilst there have been a number of replies we have not seen your listing so eople are commenting without knowing the facts. There are a number of reasons you might not have secured viewings such as poor photographs and description not highlighting the positives of your village setting. 

Abbafan1972

markin said:

Abbafan1972 said:

Our garden goes back to back with other houses and it doesn’t bother us. I suspect people might be put off by the price. 

I see 4 houses with large windows closed off, past 9am, do they stay like that all day?

As you have 4ft fences you probably would't care if they sat at the windows watching you anyway. But if you did you at least have ok sized gardens and the houses are low.

We have since had the left hand fences replaced 
For extra privacy