Why won't our house sell?

_CC_ · 12 July 2018 at 8:50AM

Two things would make me not consider your house if searching:

1) Leasehold

2) The driveway / parking

The driveway does look more like allocated parking and I'd be concerned that stupid random people would just park there because they look like parking bays. Also, properties on estates like these often come with covenants that don't allow alterations to the appearance of things like the driveway, so that would also be a concern as a potential buyer.

Shame, because it looks nice inside.

quantumlobster · 12 July 2018 at 8:51AM

That is a good point - OP, could you reassure a buyer that they could, if they wanted to, rip up the drive and do as they choose with the ground - e.g. turn it into a lawn?

lindens · 12 July 2018 at 8:53AM

The good thing about the house is the rooms are big and it's ready to move into - neutral decor, good condition.
I also dislike the photo of the front door - unnecessary and makes it look like a prison cell.
The house has been decluttered to the point of removing it's soul. I made this mistake when i sold our home and it was until it was on rightmove it occurred to me. I ran out and bought a large canvas for the wall, and colourful cushions and matching rug. It doesnt feel homely, it's too hard. Not enough softness, colour. Easily remedied with some pictures and colourful cushions/accessories.
Both gardens have no appeal whatsoever. I appreciate in the middle of a heatwave but you can easily pick up ready made hanging baskets and pots and plonk them down, just remember to water them daily.
It maybe even worth spending the money fencing in the parking spaces as you suggested to make them feel more part of the property.
I don't find the estate aesthetically pleasing one bit, so you need to make your house stand out even more but little extra bits and bobs and finishing touches, buyers need help to imagine themselves living there. If there is no sign of anyone living there, this makes it harder (eg soulless)
Remember these comments from people on here are not a personal attack, they are suggestions to help you, as estate agents are just salesmen with no qualifications and are no actual help generally.

davidmcn · 12 July 2018 at 9:00AM

Mrsburg wrote: »

Leasehold is fairly normal for where we are.

But you appear to be hiding the fact it's leasehold in your listing (though not mentioning the tenure tends to be a clue in itself!) Why aren't you giving buyers any clues about the terms of the lease? Could be 60 years left with a billionty pounds of ground rent/management charges for all we know.

ciderboy2009 · 12 July 2018 at 9:02AM

Leasehold doesn't bother me on older houses. On modern ones though I'd like to see the core terms in the house particulars so I knew it wasn't one of the ones where the charge doubles every 10 years etc.

In my opinion this house is one where de-cluttering has just gone too far - about the only thing that makes it look like somebody actually lives there is the stair gate!

I'd also be concerned about the size of the bedrooms - none of the photo's show any wardrobes so I'd be concerned that there isn't any room for them.

The picture of the third bedroom doesn't help - it makes it look tiny.

moneyistooshorttomention · 12 July 2018 at 9:03AM

dlmcr wrote: »

The problem with these types of threads is you get an opening poster who is usually not sure why their houe isn't selling. There are normally 2 motivations for them starting a thread like this:

1) They genuinely want to sell and are realistic about the postives and negatives and want other opinions to try and improve the possibility of a sale,

2) They do not really understand much about why their house isn't attractive, perhaps they are emotionally attached to it and so are unable to distance themselves and clinically see a list of positive and negative points. They will then go and start a thread expecting everyone to agree with their point of view about things and then get angry and defensive when the responses made reveal there are a number of things that are in fact negatives and that they have possibly made a poor choice in originally buying what they did...

Have to agree with this:T

Harking back to the leasehold issue - it does seem to be the norm in some parts of the country. But - these days - any property that goes up for sale is likely to also have buyers looking at it online/maybe visiting it in person that come from somewhere where it isn't the norm at all and therefore won't be expecting it/taking it for granted and may not accept it at all.

Having moved from one part of the country to another - that becomes rather clearer. Those of my friends that also moved here around the same time and myself keep coming across aspects to our properties/their locations that seem to barely "register"/are pretty normal for here and I expect people local to this area may not notice/may not even be concerned (because it's their norm). We notice/we are concerned - because it's not our norm. I've just realised something very recently that may be an issue for my house that doesnt occur to us in my home area - and shared it with another incomer friend of mine and cue for her promptly panicking and saying "I hadnt realised that - and it will apply to my house too". Cue for us both now trying to find out if our "out of the norm" thing could ever be a concern to us/how to "deal with it" if it ever is.

Most of us take for granted various aspects about our home that objective strangers need to point out - as we simply won't see it ourselves.

AnotherJoe · 12 July 2018 at 9:21AM

_CC_ wrote: »

Two things would make me not consider your house if searching:

1) Leasehold

2) The driveway / parking

The driveway does look more like allocated parking and I'd be concerned that stupid random people would just park there because they look like parking bays. Also, properties on estates like these often come with covenants that don't allow alterations to the appearance of things like the driveway, so that would also be a concern as a potential buyer.
Shame, because it looks nice inside.

You wouldn't even need stupid people. What is it about those two spaces that makes them look allocated to the house in front?

There's white lines (as someone else said who paints white lines on their own drive?) no numbers on the ground, and the front garden has a definite edge and is clearly separated from those spaces with no clue it's all owned by the same house They could quite easily be communal parking spaces. That alone would put me off.

Davesnave · 12 July 2018 at 9:30AM

As I've said a number of times on here, my leasehold first house in Bath, which is a small, run-of-the-mill, end terrace, no allocated parking, recently sold for £340k.

I don't know, because I sold it in 1987, but I imagine those who've owned it since could have bought the lease. No one has, so on its own, leasehold doesn't look like a huge problem, especially in a desirable location.

Mrsburg · 12 July 2018 at 9:39AM

dlmcr wrote: »

This thread is going to turn into a classic "why isn't my house selling" and then when the opening poster gets feedback that they don't want to hear they passive aggressively turn on certain posters. Comments from the opening poster such as :

"Salford is in Greater Manchester and thanks but I won't be paying you to buy it. Carry on."

"You seem to think you're an expert but I'd hazard a guess that you're not. Thanks for the constructive feedback, I think you've offered all that we need from you."

.. together with several other comments from the opening poster demonstrate they are not really interested in objectively receiving and acting on feedback but would rather the resonses received re-inforce their own position that they must absolutely positively be right in being bemused as to why their house isn't selling.

Here is some feedback from me - shock horror - I actually own a house, isn't that amazing - so I can give feedback as a fellow homeowner! I also have life experience and approximate ideas about what would be attractive to buyers when looking at potential houses so that's amazing as well!

- Location is not good - faaar from stations and you need a car to get anywhere, not good if you want to commute into Manchester, what about if you want to pop out in the evening for a meal? Got to drive there... in fact, got to drive anywhere.
- Sorry the area just looks really soul-less. It's a shame so many new build houses are being build in these sort of areas where there is really no infrastructure and it is only your fault in the sense you bought a house there. I cannot imagine living anywhere that is semi urban and yet so far from infrastructure that you would need to drive everywhere. All of the disadvantages of being urban but none of the advantages?

- Leasehold - again not your fault but there is a theme of new build houses being leashold. Do you understand what leasehold is? Rather than just saying you don't see what the probelm is do you actually understand the legal differences between a leasehold and a freehold?
- Offers in Excess of - always gets my back up. (on a house in Salford, seriously?)
- That old chestnut - price. Unfortunately or fortunately I think the price is not that far off the mark. In my city as in many other "northern" cities prices in the last couple of years have just gone mental and to be honest defy belief. I have seen countless times in my home city (Nottingham) places coming onto the market that have been priced at 40 - 60% than it sold for only 2 - 3 years ago. Nothing has been done to it and so it is essentially the same house. Time after time they sell within days and yes they complete at the agreed price so the banks must agree with the pricing!

- The house itself is just a little bare and I have trouble visualising how I could live there. Maybe a few more touches but not overboard.
- The garden looks very unloved and again a few touches here such as pot plants would make a lot of difference.

So in summary in my opinion: basically there is not much wrong with the house other than the leasehold issue and some cosmetics but the area for me is just terrible for various reasons. I could quite easily afford your house thanks as I have a well paying job and plenty of money (!) but I would not chose to view because the location is poor and I can get better for my money.

The problem with these types of threads is you get an opening poster who is usually not sure why their houe isn't selling. There are normally 2 motivations for them starting a thread like this:

1) They genuinely want to sell and are realistic about the postives and negatives and want other opinions to try and improve the possibility of a sale,

2) They do not really understand much about why their house isn't attractive, perhaps they are emotionally attached to it and so are unable to distance themselves and clinically see a list of positive and negative points. They will then go and start a thread expecting everyone to agree with their point of view about things and then get angry and defensive when the responses made reveal there are a number of things that are in fact negatives and that they have possibly made a poor choice in originally buying what they did...

I do very much appreciate the feedback - but there are a certain minority of posters who seem intent on offering nothing constructive and only criticism that is out of our power to rectify - such as "it's in Salford" or "it's a new build". Well funnily enough I can't pick the house up and move it and I can't knock it down and build it 50 years ago. So whilst I am incredibly grateful for the many helpful comments, the annoying troll ones are just that!!

We have very much acted on the advice received on this thread already - we've taken on board the comments about the drive and have already instructed the EA to retake pictures and include them on the listing. We will try and 'soften' the house a little more for viewings and we certainly feel better in terms of managing our own expectations re. timeframes since reading this post.

Re your feedback - being a homeowner doesn't necessarily make you an expert in selling houses - quite evident from the fact that I too, shock horror, am a homeowner and clearly am no expert and asking for feedback!!

-Agree not near a station, but very well connected on buses.

-Yes I do understand the concept of a leasehold vs a freehold. We have considered applying to buy the freehold but there is a time constraint involved and this would be a sort of last-ish resort if the feedback we got from viewers was that it was a problem. What I meant by not considering it a problem was that many of the houses we have looked at have been leasehold and whilst it's been a consideration it hasn't been an automatic no-no for us. Maybe for others it's different.

-OIEO - this is something we weren't keen on either to be honest but EA convinced us it was the way to go. Now we're unsure whether to change it or would that have an impact on the advert etc?

-Thanks for info on price - that is certainly what we're experiencing locally.

-Soft touches, I think this is something we will invest more in. We do have some lovely, colourful pot plants in the garden but I've now realised that on the pictures they are in the shaded area to the right and can't be seen. Will see if we can get more pictures of those.

Thanks on the whole for your help, much appreciated.

Mrsburg · 12 July 2018 at 9:47AM

quantumlobster wrote: »

OP, you need to understand that the (free!) advice you're getting here may well be very blunt, but it it is meant with the best of intentions - i.e. to help you sell your house.

When I recently sold our old house and bought the new one, the most challenging part was disconnecting my emotional attachment to the property and instead viewing it as an economic/business situation. It's really difficult when your home is getting slated, but it's only your home - to other people, it's a house.

Ultimately, being realistic and pragmatic about all aspects of the property is what gets it sold.

Thanks, I think I am doing that quite well. Have taken much of the very useful feedback on board already and made changes within the >24 hours this post has been up. It is just a shame that certain posters seem intent on offering nothing but rude comments that aren't helpful or constructive about things that I can't change.

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Why won't our house sell?

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