Unable to sell house

housebuyer143

Bailey1980 said:

our_des said:

I'm buying an ex rental, the rooms have been measured up by a carpet fitter to replace whats currently down as soon as we get the keys. Don't waste your money replacing what's already down or adding plants/towels (seems odd IMO in an empty house)

I found your listing from the images and my biggest concern isn't the house, its the outside view on streetview...do the neighbours always have that many grotty caravans outside? Could this be what's putting people off??

Thanks. We've not been in/at the house for a while so the caravans might have been added in the meantime. None of the feedback the estate agent has passed on has mentioned that, but equally it's taken them months and about five or six phonecalls before they have told us about all this additional work that needs doing in order to sell it. 

Street view dates it as September 2023 (there's a skip on your driveway and a 'charming' teen giving the fingers at the end of the road) so might well be new additions. Not everyone looks a streetview on listings but if I turned up for a viewing with 2 caravans, a motor home, car on the drive with another car and camper blocking next doors gates then I'd worry about parking and if they'd block access to the property.  Although not much can be done about neighbours when viewings are going on. 

List it with new agents if they're not giving you any updates/feedback & hopefully you'd have some better luck. There's 6 other houses listed on the street we're buying on, 4 have dropped dramatically in price since they were listed in summer (one by 85k) and 2 have just been re-listed after being taken off the market - some areas just are not selling.

Personally that would be the deal breaker for me. I always street view my houses and I wouldn't even view it if that's what it looked like on Google unfortunately. 
Who is your target market? I think you need to have a think about that. Is it FTBs? If so, then I can imagine they are more inclined to want the property looking nice enough to move into and may think there is more work than there is or it will cost more than it does. .

It kind of sounds like your agent has no idea how to sell it so it just mentioning everything possible. When you go in though definitely try and smell the house as soon as you open the door. Closed up empty houses tend to smell musty at the best of times. When selling my empty house I went around once a week and opened the windows to air it and before viewings would go early and open the windows to get rid of the smell. It's not possible for you to do this, but it is possible the house does smell. 

GDB2222

Get a friend to go round and have a good sniff. Make sure it's a friend who doesn't have pets. 


There's a budding poet at the estate agent: "WELCOME TO A SUN-KISSED SANCTUARY ON  ... AVENUE WHERE VIBRANT HUES AND TIMELESS CHARM UNITE TO CREATE A WHIMSICAL YELLOW HAVEN THAT WILL STEAL YOUR HEART. "  I don't think it matters, though.

swingaloo

How are people posting actually finding the house on Rightmove?

strawb_shortcake

swingaloo said:

How are people posting actually finding the house on Rightmove?

Google lens with the pictures provided 

thegreenone

I'm going a little against the grain here.  I would replace the carpets with a beige fleck.  We have it and oh my, it doesn't show the dirt!  Boring yes, but you're not going to be living there.

Also, I would tidy the garden; jet wash the patio and put some colour in, particularly at this time of year.  Clearing and put bedding plants around the edge of the patio would help, so that's the first thing viewers see and then hopefully will see the potential of the rest.  My two sons are 32 and 30.  Both rent.  Both can wield a paint brush, heck they helped me redecorate the outside of our bungalow when they were 10 and 8 (yes, pocket money was paid) BUT neither would have a scooby-doo about the garden, apart from cutting the grass. 

A large number of FTB's and young families probably won't have a clue about renovation/garden and just want to move in and get on with life.  I think @RHemmings alluded to the fact that a lot of renters have never lifted a paint brush (I know your property is decorated) and I think that could be why your viewers are saying "too much work".   It's not, it may be that they've never had to do it and don't have a clue and ..... don't have the money to do the jobs.

I haven't seen the Rightmove listing so won't comment on the area.  Good luck.  Oh and definitely change agents and have new photos taken.

gazfocus

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. 

RHemmings

thegreenone said:

A large number of FTB's and young families probably won't have a clue about renovation/garden and just want to move in and get on with life.  I think @RHemmings alluded to the fact that a lot of renters have never lifted a paint brush (I know your property is decorated) and I think that could be why your viewers are saying "too much work".   It's not, it may be that they've never had to do it and don't have a clue and ..... don't have the money to do the jobs.

I haven't seen the Rightmove listing so won't comment on the area.  Good luck.  Oh and definitely change agents and have new photos taken.

I'm definitely an example of a long-term renter who has never lifted a paint brush. Hence, for anything that requires work I would be thinking of bringing in a professional. Looking at the price of the OP's house, I would guess that FTBs would be a good proportion of the potential buyers. And, therefore that may have an effect. I do have some money left over from the purchase, but particularly if I had to go into debt to buy the property then I definitely would want to avoid increasing that debt through redecoration etc. And, many FTBs will need mortgages. 

Off-topic, but I am planning to lift up paint brushes etc. in the future, but I may cheat by practicing at the allotment I have just rented first. I note that various things there in other people's plots look 'built' etc. I  have a shed which is a bit ... structurally dodgy but I guess I can try staining it further or painting it. Then hopefully I'll get confidence to do this at home. 

prettyandfluffy

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!

JGB1955

GDB2222 said:

Get a friend to go round and have a good sniff. Make sure it's a friend who doesn't have pets. 


There's a budding poet at the estate agent: "WELCOME TO A SUN-KISSED SANCTUARY ON  ... AVENUE WHERE VIBRANT HUES AND TIMELESS CHARM UNITE TO CREATE A WHIMSICAL YELLOW HAVEN THAT WILL STEAL YOUR HEART. "  I don't think it matters, though.

If you google the above phrase you will find that the property has already featured on MSE - see 
New "Have a Look at This" thread - Page 992 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Bailey1980

thegreenone said:

I'm going a little against the grain here.  I would replace the carpets with a beige fleck.  We have it and oh my, it doesn't show the dirt!  Boring yes, but you're not going to be living there.

Also, I would tidy the garden; jet wash the patio and put some colour in, particularly at this time of year.  Clearing and put bedding plants around the edge of the patio would help, so that's the first thing viewers see and then hopefully will see the potential of the rest.  My two sons are 32 and 30.  Both rent.  Both can wield a paint brush, heck they helped me redecorate the outside of our bungalow when they were 10 and 8 (yes, pocket money was paid) BUT neither would have a scooby-doo about the garden, apart from cutting the grass. 

A large number of FTB's and young families probably won't have a clue about renovation/garden and just want to move in and get on with life.  I think @RHemmings alluded to the fact that a lot of renters have never lifted a paint brush (I know your property is decorated) and I think that could be why your viewers are saying "too much work".   It's not, it may be that they've never had to do it and don't have a clue and ..... don't have the money to do the jobs.

I haven't seen the Rightmove listing so won't comment on the area.  Good luck.  Oh and definitely change agents and have new photos taken.

RHemmings said:

I'm definitely an example of a long-term renter who has never lifted a paint brush. Hence, for anything that requires work I would be thinking of bringing in a professional. Looking at the price of the OP's house, I would guess that FTBs would be a good proportion of the potential buyers. And, therefore that may have an effect. I do have some money left over from the purchase, but particularly if I had to go into debt to buy the property then I definitely would want to avoid increasing that debt through redecoration etc. And, many FTBs will need mortgages. 

Off-topic, but I am planning to lift up paint brushes etc. in the future, but I may cheat by practicing at the allotment I have just rented first. I note that various things there in other people's plots look 'built' etc. I  have a shed which is a bit ... structurally dodgy but I guess I can try staining it further or painting it. Then hopefully I'll get confidence to do this at home. 

thanks both, we had it painted off white as to be honest the walls hadn't been painted in about 7 years so they were marked/dirty and some walls hadn't been painted at all in the 12 years we lived there and we worried about choosing colours because again they wouldn't be to people's personal taste so we stupidly thought an off white was the best bet rather than picking colours that people wouldn't like.