Unable to sell house

Bailey1980

gazfocus said:

Just to give another perspective…

If I was looking to buy your house and I wanted to have new carpets fitted, I’d be much happier buying the house with the carpets and underlay already removed as whenever we’ve had new carpets laid, we’ve had to remove the old ourselves and it’s a big hassle. 

As others have said, there’s too much uncertainty if you choose to put new carpets in because the buyers may not like the colour you choose (I’d personally have grey but other people prefer browns/beige/etc). 

So my advice, for what it’s worth, would be to take the carpets and underlay out but don’t put new carpets in. 

I guess I'm worried that the carpets being removed and not replaced would lead to the same feedback i.e. it's too much work/will cost too much for buyers to put their own carpets in. 

Bailey1980

prettyandfluffy said:

Here's another way of looking at it: what is it about your house that's going to make someone buy it in preference to another? That decision usually comes down to a combination of asking price; location; what needs to be done to it.  You need to tip the balance in your favour.  I would definitely tell the EA you want new photos and text, and make sure both are accurate but flattering.  Look at it through buyers' eyes.  A modest amount of effort and spending would greatly improve the impression to potential buyers who do visit; and if there's any doubt about the carpets then replace them and the underlay.  Go as cheap as you like but it will make the house look better and more appealing and new carpets smell better too!

I guess it just feels like we will be having to spend a lot of extra money and the estate agent has said even if we do that we need still drop the price so we are looking at a £5k-£10K drop in price as well as a couple of thousand on more renovations

prettyandfluffy

Bailey1980 said:

prettyandfluffy said:

Here's another way of looking at it: what is it about your house that's going to make someone buy it in preference to another? That decision usually comes down to a combination of asking price; location; what needs to be done to it.  You need to tip the balance in your favour.  I would definitely tell the EA you want new photos and text, and make sure both are accurate but flattering.  Look at it through buyers' eyes.  A modest amount of effort and spending would greatly improve the impression to potential buyers who do visit; and if there's any doubt about the carpets then replace them and the underlay.  Go as cheap as you like but it will make the house look better and more appealing and new carpets smell better too!

I guess it just feels like we will be having to spend a lot of extra money and the estate agent has said even if we do that we need still drop the price so we are looking at a £5k-£10K drop in price as well as a couple of thousand on more renovations

I would do the improvements as quickly (and cheaply) as you can, get the EA to re-do the whole listing.  See what feedback you get, if you then need to drop the price you can do that.  

GDB2222

Bailey1980 said:

gazfocus said:

Just to give another perspective…

If I was looking to buy your house and I wanted to have new carpets fitted, I’d be much happier buying the house with the carpets and underlay already removed as whenever we’ve had new carpets laid, we’ve had to remove the old ourselves and it’s a big hassle. 

As others have said, there’s too much uncertainty if you choose to put new carpets in because the buyers may not like the colour you choose (I’d personally have grey but other people prefer browns/beige/etc). 

So my advice, for what it’s worth, would be to take the carpets and underlay out but don’t put new carpets in. 

I guess I'm worried that the carpets being removed and not replaced would lead to the same feedback i.e. it's too much work/will cost too much for buyers to put their own carpets in. 

I wouldn't just remove the carpets. You said you can get them replaced for £500.  But, only do that if they are actually smelly - so ask a non-doggy friend to check for you.

robatwork

ProDave said:

Care to post the sales details, we won't be able to smell it, but might otherwise judge the condition.

Sadly (especially on the "Have a look a this" thread) you can often smell a house through the internet. 

In this case I'd endore your suggestion to rip up the carpets and hoover. Bare floorbards would be better and not smell. Could even paint them white if there's still no offers. Not too much work or cost. 

ChasingtheWelshdream

My family are estate agents (not me) and we had never got around to replacing a manky stair carpet, or even putting any down in one room when we wanted to sell.

The advice was to not bother doing anything, as in their experience many buyers will want to replace with their own anyway. We did throw the stair carpet but didn’t bother replacing.

We had no problem. We bought a house that the very first thing we did was to rip out the very smelly carpet but it didn’t stop us buying it.

For what it’s worth (I have no idea on pricing), I can’t see anything in your photos that’s would put me off if I were viewing it. It looks liveable and clearly isn’t a renovation project. I expect - and want - to redecorate to my own tastes. I would certainly never expect to ask for a price reduction because the carpets were not new.

swingaloo

Having looked on Rightmove, sorry but I do think you are over priced. Putting in the price parameters  between 150 and 180 and within a mile radius there are several houses for sale which I would look at first.  When I first looked at your photos I thought the house looked ok but looking at the others on offer for the same price or less yours doesnt compare favourably.

housebuyer143

swingaloo said:

Having looked on Rightmove, sorry but I do think you are over priced. Putting in the price parameters  between 150 and 180 and within a mile radius there are several houses for sale which I would look at first.  When I first looked at your photos I thought the house looked ok but looking at the others on offer for the same price or less yours doesnt compare favourably.

I tend to agree. The one on the same street was marketed at just under £180k and it was 3 good sized bedrooms and a huge conservatory. This one has the 3rd bedroom less than 2m wide, so it's 2 beds and a box. 
The slanted roof also puts people off in my opinion as it's awkward for furniture and lowers head room. There are many others in the same area that are cheaper and seem to be larger properties. 
Although OP doesn't want to lower the price, ultimately that's what the issue looks like to me.

Bailey1980

GDB2222 said:

Bailey1980 said:

gazfocus said:

Just to give another perspective…

If I was looking to buy your house and I wanted to have new carpets fitted, I’d be much happier buying the house with the carpets and underlay already removed as whenever we’ve had new carpets laid, we’ve had to remove the old ourselves and it’s a big hassle. 

As others have said, there’s too much uncertainty if you choose to put new carpets in because the buyers may not like the colour you choose (I’d personally have grey but other people prefer browns/beige/etc). 

So my advice, for what it’s worth, would be to take the carpets and underlay out but don’t put new carpets in. 

I guess I'm worried that the carpets being removed and not replaced would lead to the same feedback i.e. it's too much work/will cost too much for buyers to put their own carpets in. 

I wouldn't just remove the carpets. You said you can get them replaced for £500.  But, only do that if they are actually smelly - so ask a non-doggy friend to check for you.

Thanks, the £500 is a rough estimate but I didn't think to include underlay in the calculation as I thought what was already there might have been salvageable.  we aren't making any rash decisions but yes we are going to get friend's opinions on the smell. 

robatwork said:

ProDave said:

Care to post the sales details, we won't be able to smell it, but might otherwise judge the condition.

Sadly (especially on the "Have a look a this" thread) you can often smell a house through the internet. 

In this case I'd endore your suggestion to rip up the carpets and hoover. Bare floorbards would be better and not smell. Could even paint them white if there's still no offers. Not too much work or cost. 

ChasingtheWelshdream said:

My family are estate agents (not me) and we had never got around to replacing a manky stair carpet, or even putting any down in one room when we wanted to sell.

The advice was to not bother doing anything, as in their experience many buyers will want to replace with their own anyway. We did throw the stair carpet but didn’t bother replacing.

We had no problem. We bought a house that the very first thing we did was to rip out the very smelly carpet but it didn’t stop us buying it.

For what it’s worth (I have no idea on pricing), I can’t see anything in your photos that’s would put me off if I were viewing it. It looks liveable and clearly isn’t a renovation project. I expect - and want - to redecorate to my own tastes. I would certainly never expect to ask for a price reduction because the carpets were not new.

I just want to the right/best thing but I'm not sure what that is anymore as every decision I make seems to be wrong or comes back to haunt me. 

I've found this which might be a bit of a compromise but might look odd with the landing. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B084HKJVG7/?coliid=I2RPDD4XBHVHG7&colid=2BOQZDTR3NKR&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1 

housebuyer143 said:

swingaloo said:

Having looked on Rightmove, sorry but I do think you are over priced. Putting in the price parameters  between 150 and 180 and within a mile radius there are several houses for sale which I would look at first.  When I first looked at your photos I thought the house looked ok but looking at the others on offer for the same price or less yours doesnt compare favourably.

I tend to agree. The one on the same street was marketed at just under £180k and it was 3 good sized bedrooms and a huge conservatory. This one has the 3rd bedroom less than 2m wide, so it's 2 beds and a box. 
The slanted roof also puts people off in my opinion as it's awkward for furniture and lowers head room. There are many others in the same area that are cheaper and seem to be larger properties. 
Although OP doesn't want to lower the price, ultimately that's what the issue looks like to me.

Thanks both. I think at the time it went on the market it was rightly priced but that was before mortgages went mad. 

I guess we thought that people would make offers under the asking price at say £170k-£175K which we'd be willing to consider but concerned if we put it on at £170K or lower, then offers would be £150K-£165K. 

We are getting other estate agents out for valuations as well. 

From what I can remember the garden is 80ft long by 40ft wide so plenty of room to add a conservatory/sun room but appreciate that this is an expense. 

The two bigger bedrooms we managed to fit a double bed in each; one of the bedrooms has built in three doored wardrobe and there was a six and six chest of drawers as well as two bedside tables. The other big bedroom had a three door sliding wardrobe, two bedside tables a small chest of drawers and ottoman. It does also have a cupboard which acts as a wardrobe as well. 

The box room we used an office - it had a desk and wall to ceiling bookshelves on two of the walls, before we bought it, the box room was a nursery. 

We also added a porch that slightly increased the footprint of the house

These are the photos of when we bought the house, but they were taken in the summer so i think the weather does make a bit of a difference. 

sheramber

Staging is to detract from the starkness of the empty house. 

The garden wouldn’t bother me as I love gardening. I have remodelled the garden in every house I have lived in. Usually finishing just in time to move again. 

Lack of carpets would bother me as it would delay moving in. I would not move in with bare floorboards. 

You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please everybody.