Problems selling and best plan

BikingBud

Herzlos said:

Clearing out will make the moving part easier too, but there's no need to avoid living in the house for the duration. 

Just stage everything as nicely as possible for the photos, and tidy up before viewings. In both cases it's pretty common for people to hide stuff in their cars for a couple of hours. 

That's quite different from depersonalising the house including, bathroom kids clothes and toys and clearing the kitchen worktops, that is not one or two items that you can hide in the car it might need an ISO container.

Reality needs to be sustained, not getting interest is a wider malaise than a house being lived in.

GDB2222

I’ve certainly seen tidied stuff poking out from underneath the sofa. I’m looking at family size houses, and I don’t expect them to look unlived in. 

Herzlos

There's lived in and photos being so busy you can't see what the rooms look like. Plus any additional 'stuff' makes a room feel smaller. 

I haven't seen photos of this place so can't comment. I think mention was made of them being dark. 

Most people can easily have a declutter and then take another pass at it. 

Grumpelstiltskin

I know where your bungalow is, the problem I can see is the fact that these days there is virtually nothing in the village. OK a least you do have a reasonable bus service but the type of people who buy bungalows may not appreciate the walk from the bus stop.

ReadySteadyPop

Herzlos said:

There's lived in and photos being so busy you can't see what the rooms look like. Plus any additional 'stuff' makes a room feel smaller. 

I haven't seen photos of this place so can't comment. I think mention was made of them being dark. 

Most people can easily have a declutter and then take another pass at it. 

A declutter is good advice but people are looking at size and price for the location, and many people still make offers that their lender won`t back up, so the price is the absolutely biggest lever you have for securing a sale, buyers don`t even look at silly sellers now, they just scroll past.

Herzlos

I don't buy any of that. 

People get an AIP from their morgage lender, and then look for something they like that they can afford. Almost no-one is going to turn a house down because the cost per square metre is too high, but they will if they can't see themselves living there.  If it's too small at £300k it's still too small at £250k.

People in general aren't analysing and doomsaying house prices in the way you are, few people give it much attention at all beyond "Can I afford it?" and "Do I want to live in it?". For the latter, you need to make it as easy as possible because as I said, people have no imagination and almost need spoon fed. 

I'm of course assuming the house is priced sensibly for the market, and disagree with your baseless claim that it's hugely over priced.  

I'd certainly recommend looking at making the house look more appealing before slashing the price unnecessarily. 

If the house was appealing but overpriced, then I'd expect viewings and some cheeky offers, but from the comments about the photos being dark I think people are being put off before viewing. 

GDB2222

Herzlos said:

I don't buy any of that. 

People get an AIP from their morgage lender, and then look for something they like that they can afford. Almost no-one is going to turn a house down because the cost per square metre is too high, but they will if they can't see themselves living there. 

I'm of course assuming the house is priced sensibly for the market, and disagree with your baseless claim that it's hugely over priced. 

I don’t think that this is entirely logical. On the one hand you say cost per square metre is not important. On the other hand, you say that the house must be priced sensibly. Pretty obviously, one of the key measures of whether a house is priced sensibly is the cost per square metre. 

In any case, it doesn’t matter. The op has reduced the price to the minimum they can afford to take, and the market will decide whether that is too high.

Herzlos

There are many other factors than floor space, which rarely has much relation to price. 

A large 2 bed may be worth less than a smaller 3 bed. My 4-bed is about 30% bigger than next doors 4-bed, which about twice as much garden. It's worth maybe 5-10% more. 

Price can be affected by all sorts of thing unrelated to just size - plot shape, plot location, room layout, quality of fittings, distance to shops/train/bus/motorway, view, orientation, parking, etc. 

What the typical buyer does is figures out what they need from a house, what they can afford to pay, and then looks for a house that fits the criteria as well as feels like somewhere they can make into a home. It's ultimately somewhere to live and not an investment ledger, so the fuzzy feelings and impressions is a huge factor, and the best way to approach that is to make the house look as appealing as possible from the listing photos. 

Stuff like nearby/historic sales figures has a bit of bearing when it comes to negotiating, but except for a very small subset of recent newbuilds, no two houses are directly comparible for "feel". It doesn't matter if a house half a mile away sold for £10k less if you like this one better.  It doesn't matter how good a deal a house is if you don't like it. 

jimbog

GDB2222 said:

Herzlos said:

I don't buy any of that. 

People get an AIP from their morgage lender, and then look for something they like that they can afford. Almost no-one is going to turn a house down because the cost per square metre is too high, but they will if they can't see themselves living there. 

I'm of course assuming the house is priced sensibly for the market, and disagree with your baseless claim that it's hugely over priced. 

Pretty obviously, one of the key measures of whether a house is priced sensibly is the cost per square metre. 

Here in the UK very few people would know the sq meterage of their home or a sensible price per sq metre. More important overseas

GreatShout

I think a lot of sellers just think “I’ll just knock £5k off and see what happens” but if the photos still look gloomy and cramped then buyers will just scroll past 225k the same way they scroll past £230k.

Worth fixing every other part of the listing then worrying about adjusting the price if you still don’t see interest. Dropping the price before improving the listing just means you’re giving money away without solving the actual problem.