Personally wish yor property was in my area as I would snap it up.
Yes the interior is a little dated and takin the red carpet up would be a plus.
You havent said are you gettin plenty through the door with no offers or nobody through the door?

can you post to Aberdeen?

Don’t agree with not having plans on – would drive me mad and potentially stop me from viewing if I couldn’t get an initial idea of layout on the web viewing.

Thanks again guys. Some good help here and confirmation of what we suspected.

It’s been a brilliant family home for 25 years, warm, happy, creative and echoing with laughter but now it’s time to smarten it up and move on.

To pick 2 voices out of many positive ones – Psling (Hi Pete!) and Tinybits – yes, I think you nailed it.

People are looking at that ad and thinking “good size, nice house but needs work”. They are then working out and mentally pricing up what needs doing to make the house what they want, this will include

– knocking down walls to make a large family kitchen with room for a table and then installing a new kitchen
– making at least one on-suite
– installing double glazing

They need a floor plan to do this. Some pics of the upstairs are also essential.

Your house needs to be priced such that this work can be done and leave £10k spare to its ultimate value if this was done to tempt people with the hassle. It also needs to be £10k – £50k less than similar houses in the area, depending on how busy that main road is.

A bit of tarting up wont change this so I’d keep your money. It won’t change the 3 big things that need doing which are driving the price and it won’t get people in the door as nothing is going to stop it looking like a project and projects are all about price and potential.

Also, is it on right move? It needs to be. Right move generates about 80% of the viewings for a house such as this which will most likely be bought by a young family. Zoopla is shit.

I guess most people would be put of first by the proximity to the main road, then by the horrendous colour scheme in the lounge

Carpet, obviously, but you know that already.

My experience of house buyers is that many will be put off by anything that needs doing to a house, even if it is priced to include the work – and that even includes stuff that can be fixed in a day, like carpets. Many people just want to move into the finished product, superficial as that is.

I think the back garden area looks cracking, the front is a bit dull and dark looking in comparison, so might be best to either prettify the front – maybe move some pots and plants round, perhaps even thin out the trees on the left looking in, or make the first picture on the slideshow the ‘Sky News’ shot.

Don’t know how busy the road is, but I assume it will put some people off regardless of what you do to mitigate that.

Agree that without pics of bedrooms, you’re going to put off viewers.

Kitchen looks fine to me, perhaps a bit small for property of that size, bathroom seems OK as well. Not much you can do to improve them, anyhow.

Its in Highfields innit.

U R Scrubber.

Overpriced?!? Bugger me, if you’d be looking at at least £450k for that round these parts. If only the north wasn’t so grim; we’d be able to afford a veritable mansion 😆

Cheers,
Jamie

When I prepared my previous house for sale I bought a book on how to tart a house up (can’t remember which one)but it was full of good advice and things that I wouldn’t have thought of. Each time I i did a bit of tarting up i got the house revalued and the asking price kept going up. When I eventually put it on the market it sold quite quickly, so my advice would be to get a good book on the subject….

Bugger me, if you’d be looking at at least £450k for that round these parts.

Where’s that then? In Harrogate it would be somewhere nearer double that valuation.

This is what we’ve just bought (in Harrogate) – probably half the size and more expensive. *AND* needs a sizeable amount of work doing on it…

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36960913.html

To add my two penneth…as its a bit of a specialist subject.

Some people really can’t see past the dated decor, so you have a choice…you HOPE that someone comes along and find that the house ticks enough boxes and can see past the decor. Or, you do a drastic makeover, which virtually involves moving out.

I reckon if you do the following, allowing £10k spend, you will not only sell the house, but also get about £20k more than you will at present.

All you have to do is basically put all but essential items in storage, strip out all old fixtures and fittings, redec, re carpet get a few focal points sorted and hire some nice quality furniture for a month.

Relaunch with top photos and new agent and it will go very quickly.

House looks nice, take it 50 miles south and you could probably charge double. Its location, location, location.
Family home – so schools always going to be a big factor. Can’t change that.
Plus you are overlooked at the back – again can’t change.

So I would not spend any money on it as you are going to have to compete on price.

To echo all above, nice house, decor tired. You may not want to watch Phil and Kirstie but expect Phil Spencer Secret Agent will give you lots of good ideas. Basically pale colours are your friend.

+Spend some time/moolah on decorating,

+Decluter.

+Possibly try and get some outside space inside pace thing going on, needn’t cost a fortune

+Get a better agent, better ad, better photos

Profit.

I reckon if you do the following, allowing £10k spend, you will not only sell the house, but also get about £20k more than you will at present.

I’d disagree with that. Your layout is very old fashioned, the windows need doing and a £10k makeover isn’t going to change either issues; you will be throwing good money after bad.

If you don’t need to move then I’d stay and do the work yourself. Spend ~£30-50k on a complete refurb, make the place a nice modern house, neutral colours, modern layout, new kitchen, energy efficient. It will then sell quickly when you choose to move.

If you do want/need to move now then drop the price and get rid. Re-advertise with a better agent, on right move, and emphasise the potential of the house. The size of the thing will be enough to sell it to someone who wants a project and these people do exist but they are very price savy.

Get planning permission to knock it down and build two decent sized family homes on the same plot? Just a thought.

Floor-plans in the brochure are good.

If there isn’t a photo for each room I assume its because there’s something wrong with it.

It looks amazing, if I had the money, I would view 😉

Funny how people view things differently, me and my Mrs are classic examples, I head for the garden, garage and distance to the nearest decent pub, while my Mrs, hits the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms.

I would not be put off by the decor either, as it looks like its been well looked after and changing it would not be an issue.

For me the garden is the big attraction, its beautifully planted, good use of the space and all the features blend well, you can tell its been well loved and would be a great place to sit out, as long as the photographs don’t hide a glaring issue.

The only thing I would do is add more photographs of the bedrooms and any other rooms that have been missed out.

Good luck selling

Pieface has a point about the pics of the other rooms.

I think the house is stunning & none of the decor stuff would put me off, but it really does hamper other peoples vision.

You sound like you know what to do about the decor & previous opinions are all valid.

Something like that would hit 750k where I live.. It really is an attractive house.

ski curiously how old are you ?

mid 30s folk starting a young family – ill bet the size of the garden is a downside for most. They will be baulking at the time taken to look after it ill bet – its a comment most of my friends who are probably your target market make when they come to my gaff “how can you be bothered looking after a garden this size” (it doesnt take long , the key is doing a little each week instead of letting it get out of hand)

And mines nothing compared to that plot – which by the way i think is the major selling point of your house , the garden is lovely multi use space

What is your location like ? proximity to the road puts me off , the fact its been on the market for so long puts me off , the fact you have fairly poor photos puts me off – but if it hadnt been on the market for so long id probably have gone for a look – thats how i got my house , really bad photos and description but went to view it and it was what i was looking for almost exactly

The cost of running that house would put me off , its big , its probably going to be poorly insulated- it certainly doesnt mention anything to make me think different , its singleglazed – in todays world insulation and energy efficiency are big sellers.

think also about the type of folk who are buying these houses , the “ladder” as the government have conditioned folk to think. 10 years ago that house would have been snapped up in a sinch , modernised and turned round at huge profit. These days that house will be modernised to live in and be lucky to get back what it sold for – with folk using zoopla etc to see what it sold for before that and trying to make offers UNDER THAT price.

Hence why folk are keen to buy new properties needing nothing as they represent less risk for them.

Looks OK to me. Obviously needs updating and decorating to taste but it’s not that bad. The lounge looks pretty dated, is there a better room to photograph? Maybe borrow a modern TV from a neighbour for a photo so it doesn’t look quite so stuck in the 90s 🙂 The office is a bit tired and single use. I’d take down the curtains (and maybe replace with plain white ones from Ikea), rip out the desk units and replace with a free standing desk and a sofa bed so people can see it as a more useful extra space. Again take down the curtains in the kitchen. All that will hardly cost anything.

I don’t like the aerial shot. Its actually a big house on a good size plot and not overlooked but the aerial makes it look a bit compacted.

As above it really needs a layout tweak. Turning the front bathroom into an en-suite looks easy, knocking the kitchen through to the diner might be a bit more work.

Personally I’d take it off the market for a month or two, do some minor updating/neutralising then put it back for a bit of fresh interest.

warm, happy, creative and echoing with laughter

That’s it.. where do I sign?!

(ps. Estate agent photos are crap aren’t they.)

It’s off the market now until it’s done up and ready to go again. So Rightmove and Zoopla don’t bring it up.

I may do an update as it goes along, but yet again, STW proves to be a fount of great knowledge and opinion. Ta muchly, all.

Gutted I missed the zoopla link, from the other properties it looks like I grew up on that road and parents still live there. I possibly may even know you. The best estate agent in the area was Carl who managed the place by the malt house near mill street. We wanted to sell a relatives house quickly and for market price and he advised us on what to do (ie decor) and it sold in 3 months.

No, you were right first time about Stafford.

But no, I’m starting to realise that most people look on the internet and rule out properties very quickly just by the first impression, and that’s where we’ve been falling down.

of course they do. It’s reserach and a lot easier than trudging around a whole lot of unsuitable buildings.
People will also select on photos (do I need to do a lot) and price.
You seem to be getting upset with people commenting on the price – but a) it hasn’t sold b) by everyones comments it’s not being marketed well c) and it looks dated

I’m looking to buy a house in the next 12 months. I would pay top dollar – if it is finished to an excellent standard, and I like the taste and decor (cos it will save me time etc). But I will go and look at the good ones, at the right price and that look good.

It’s a buyers market.

“It’s a buyers market.”

location dependant 😉

a colleague put a house up for sale in dyce on monday

3 bed ex council on an estate in dyce.

from the outside it looks horrible – on the inside its finished and decorated nicely

offers around 200k – he had multiple viewings on monday night and on tuesday he had offers over his price…….

Id say the sellers callign the shots .

“It’s a buyers market.”

location dependant

Its very location dependant.

Not many houses are coming on to the market at the moment so when a good one in a good area comes on it will get snapped up very quickly.

In the 5 square miles of sheffield where we live it is certainly a sellers market. We sold our house in 2 weeks for above asking price, next door sold theirs before it even went up on rightmove just from the board outside the house.

A nice house in the area and you can almost pick your price. But anything that either isn’t in the right area or isn’t perfect and it will hang around for ages and buyers can expect to get at least 10% of the asking price.

BigJohn – Member
It’s off the market now until it’s done up and ready to go again. So Rightmove and Zoopla don’t bring it up.

I may do an update as it goes along, but yet again, STW proves to be a fount of great knowledge and opinion. Ta muchly, all.

Please do update, I for one am interested in how it all turns out, it looks a nice house with a lot of potential.
GLWTS

I thought this said ‘tarting up a horse to sell it’

Disappointed.

Tarting up a horse earlier…

Didn’t the OP indicate the hall was dark? I’m about to try mounting a mirror I’ve ordered in my porch, to reflect more light into the hall. Then I have to schedule visits between 1030 and 1200 GMT on sunny days. Easy-peasy.