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As has been said - if a house isn't selling, it's because it's too expensive for what it is. The options are:
1. Drop the price (anything will sell if it's cheap enough)
2. Add value/desirability to make it worth the money
With the attic bedroom of that size, adding an en-suite is almost mandatory. Plus the garden (jungle!?) is atrocious, get that cut back.
For me, the location right on a main road with no front garden and only on-street parking is a deal-breaker though, but not much you can do to change that unfortunately.
I'd probably hack the garden back to show the size (my mapping shows it potentially has a large garden) Other than that, I wouldn't try and do much with it, its likely the new owner will gut the place anyway so better just to put a ballpark figure on what you were thinking of spending, and taking it off the asking price.
PS And like the others said, the Agents photos are terrible. You can go too far the otherway with wide angle lenses, but I sold a small mid terrace and the images made it look bright and spacious. The agent used a photographer.
Having finally looked at the pictures, there's probably some quick wins to be had there.
The garden could probably be hacked back in an afternoon with sufficient elbow grease and swearing. The problem to my mind isn't that it's overgrown per se but rather that you can't even see what space you'd potentially have to work with.
Someone else mentioned a "blank canvas" earlier, I think that's the approach I'd want to take. Dialling down the bold colours in the bedrooms isn't a big job, again that's a tin of paint and an afternoon's work.
You need to do something with what for want of a better word I'll call the "dining room." That open staircase is actively dangerous, anyone with small kids won't want to go anywhere near it. The damp you said "was" a problem, I'd be wanting to tidy that up. A damp issue could be something and nothing or could be a major problem. It's not a big wall, it wouldn't have thought it'd be a big job to get it skimmed.
Basically, paper over the cracks. The major stuff like a new kitchen, new carpets, patio etc I'd probably not bother with. I'd be aiming for "needs modernisation" rather than what you have now which is "a teensy bit ****ed."
Unless, as I said earlier, it's all about the £££ and you're happy doing months worth of work. Which I never really understood the logic in unless you're a property developer; you spend 20 years in a house with say a shitty kitchen then decide one day to move and go "best put in a new kitchen before we leave!" Surely the time to do that was 20 years ago then you could have benefited from it.
I agree with spooky. Some simple free stuff like clearing the garden will make a huge difference. People want gardens right now. Plus take better pictures. Yes, an en-suite would be nice but the lack of one isn't stopping people viewing.
I'd take it off the market, spend some time clearing the garden. Do a bit of decluttering. Find a new agent. Take some better pictures. Then put it back on the market 'fresh'
Oh, and get rid of the "offers in excess of" bollocks. That's for selling things that are perfect, you're not going to get above the asking price when you're getting one viewing every three months.
What's the wiring / plumbing like, out of interest? Is it going to need a top-to-bottom rewire?
Anyway,
Isn't this advice what you're paying your estate agent for? Ask them why it's not getting any interest, if they can't answer then sack them off and get one who can. They should be able to tell you what's worth doing and what isn't, there will be a ceiling price for the property / area.
This was a Day 1 conversation I had with mine. Is the buyer likely to be a family or a developer? Two very different target audiences: one will want it in a state fit to safely move in probably with children, the other is buying a carcass and will have it stripped down to the brick inside of a week.
Has the OP gone into hiding in his garden?
Has the OP gone into hiding in his garden?
Or maybe he's been eaten by the tigers living in it?
He's sat staring at a box of matches while reading the small print of his house insurance! 🙂
Similiar advice saught, not the same length of time though... after 9 months I'd be having words with the estate agent for some honest advice. Mine gets in touch once a week with updates, I'm skeptical about the price of ours, and of yours tbh with the amount of work that would need doing.
Link of ours here -> https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-94279631.html
Has the OP gone into hiding in his garden?
Maybe he is the ghostly figure in the chair (second photo)
😉
Link of ours here
Who thought that throw and the coloured wall were a good combination?
Who thought that throw and the coloured wall were a good combination?
No one, its one of many throws that get cycled around of varying colours. Dog, toddler and new baby are just a touch messy.
From what I can tell from the photos, the properties to either side of the house look awful and that would put me off - why have a beautiful house when the surrounding properties are a mess and there's nothing you can do about it?
Looks like a typical 2 bed semi - so can't see much wrong.
Price - no idea if that is high for your area, but it looks like you don't get a lot of space for your money. And tiny bathroom.
Any scope to make parking like neighbours have?
How much does a new-build 2 bed go for in your area?
Link of ours here -> https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-94279631.html/blockquote >
The Streetview link from the Android Rightmove App takes me to an internal view of the National Railway Museum.
Might be worth having a word with your agent about that.As an occasional visitor to York, my first thoughts are "nice house,
Reasonably central location but isn't that area a bit 'floody'?"
If it is not floody then might be worth putting something to reassure potential buyers so they don't write it off before viewing.
"set back on a rise around 400m from the the River Ouse with open views across parkland from the rear garden" or something like that
@jolmes - that looks pretty decent for York prices. Aren't loads of the tiny terraces around Leeman Rd that kinda money? Potential to extend it a bit, decent garden and view. As peekay says though, the view of the advancing flood water might put off some people. We've just sold in Calderdale so have had the flood questions 😀
Similiar advice saught, not the same length of time though…
That looks ok. Polar opposite of the op. Rooms look neutral, light and bright. Outside shown off well. Nothing really wrong, that would point to price or location (I don't know the area to if either are good or bad)
No one, its one of many throws that get cycled around of varying colours. Dog, toddler and new baby are just a touch messy.
🤣
Fair enough!
No one, its one of many throws that get cycled around of varying colours. Dog, toddler and new baby are just a touch messy.
It can come off for the 3 seconds it takes to take a photo
And mow the lawn
And make the bed tidily
And take the cards down from the lounge window
And get rid of the massive soap dispenser in the bathroom.
I know these sound like petty things, but you're asking someone to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds for something, so, consciously or not, they're looking for something lovely. Give them, that, or as near to that as you can
As for the OP's one, honestly, if you have to ask why it's not selling...
From what I can tell from the photos, the properties to either side of the house look awful and that would put me off
@johndoe - We've asked the Photographer to come back and retake a few photos, still waiting for him but good shout.
Any scope to make parking like neighbours have?
How much does a new-build 2 bed go for in your area?
@the-muffin-man - I always wanted to drop the curb and get parking but the Mrs wanted more green space... it also appears to be only the left hand side houses has parking, looking at the properties from the front.
New builds in York are pretty atrocious for garden space, they literally dont happen this close to the town center and if they do, they are overpriced apartments. You can get a new build 3bed semi with a small garden for £300+.
The Streetview link from the Android Rightmove App takes me to an internal view of the National Railway Museum.
@peekay - now that is a find! Didnt even notice that, will add it to my list to talk to our EA about, thank you :), also the additional flood info. The green behind does flood but never the properties, the flood defences actually work here, even when they mess up the main defences, doesnt affect our home insurance but generally, they are not allowed to anymore.
@DaveyBoyWonder - the terrace houses round here go for a lot less and dont have the gardens and are generally the same space if not smaller. Our next door neighbours extended sideways into their drive and they actually regret it, didnt add much value to the house compared to how much it actually cost and then again compared to the others who have put conservatories on.
@IHN - thanks bud, makes perfect sense now someone else has said it, the lawn only wasnt cut cause it had rained consistently for a week, seems to really mess it up if i cut it in the rain. Its pretty much spot on now especially as the garden is in full bloom.
I think your floorplan is wrong. There seems to be a door missing from hall to kitchen, or have you got to go out the back door and into the side to get into the lounge!?
And are the walls circled below supporting walls? If not get the estate agent to make a big thing about easily expanding the kitchen. As a dining table in a lounge is a big turn-off for many.
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On the subject of the stairs from the kitchen, my friends have something similar in their front room. The kids were playing one day and mum comes in and finds their youngest daughter hanging by her neck from the stairs, she'd climbed though the open riser and got stuck. At that point she'd stopped breathing.
Luckily mun and dad are both Police officers so they knew what to do and managed to get her back and there were no long term effects. Another thirty seconds though and it would have been very different.
They have now boarded over the stairs as well.
@jolmes - good luck with the move! Back in the day my first house was next door to the corner shop at the other side of the Leeman Road area...
@the-muffin-man - wow, those are doors. It seems they've made a right cockup there and its not the first time with the floorplan either. We didnt even notice those walls though, such rookie errors. I've asked them to be changed and to come round and re-do photos, at this point I'm tempted to ask them to reduce the fee.
The York house looks nicely presented. The things that would put me off, no dedicated parking and neighbours, you can't really do anything about. Making it clear that it's not been effected by flooding would be useful as it's near the river and some people will assume it's a problem. The only reason for it to be hanging around is it's overpriced.
This sort of thing https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-76294081.html or ex councils like this https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-95078606.html or this https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72217815.html are your competition. Having a look at actual sold prices is usually a good guide as well.
Mate, those photos are terrible. One of them is a photo of a sink with dirty mugs in it. Another one shows a blurred car through the window which just looks noisy. Seriously, it looks like you aren’t even trying. Fresh paint, chuck lots stuff into storage, strim the garden and get some seriously high wattage bulbs.
Go on a cottage for hire website, look at their photos and try to do the same. You don’t need to spend much to make it look good
Think of your target audience - most likely a large family. So:
If young family, then they'll be bothered by the staircase, and (currently) no outside area to play in (if the garden is still so overgrown).
If older kids, they'll be wanting space for mutiple cars, no doubt.
If it’s the same person doing the Photography then how are they going to improve!?
Take the pic of the window where you can see the road, just kneeling down would have given you trees framed by a nice window, imagine waking up to that view? instead it’s just asking you “how noisy is that?”
Some small dark yard telling me ‘this is where you can store a recycling bin’ or wait until it’s sunny and stick a deckchair there!?
Everything is distorted wide angle and looks like a 10 year old smartphone was used.
As for the house, it’s tired so either spend smartly on several tubs of trade white, fix the damp or drop the price.
And strip lights in a kitchen? Is it a converted care home? Swap them out for something more in keeping with the house.
if its the one linked to then those pictures are awful. Take some yourself or get a pro in. Looks a lovely house if you can see past the awful pictures.
I wouldn't be spending loads on it. I would take it off the market, spend some time or money just clearing the garden so you can see the size of it, declutter and slap some emulsion on the walls where there are dark colours
Then put it back on the market in a couple of months times with a different agent
Assume both houses are with agents who are offering a no sale, no fee? I'd pull them both and go with a different agent.
Regarding the York property, we've just bought in York and viewed a few houses being sold via Ashtons. Out of all the agents we spoke to, we found them to be massively over confident in what they were selling and if anything, overpriced. Showed us around one house which the agent was absolutely adamant would be sold by the end of the weekend (this was on a Friday night). Nearly 2 months down the line and its still on the market whereas other houses in that area are selling in days. Weirdly they also got the floorplan wrong with that house - we walked in and there was a door from the kitchen into the garage that we weren't expecting to see!
On the flip side, we've bought via Quantum who have been an absolute pleasure to deal with so far if you're thinking about switching agents @jolmes.
My two penneth;
Your neighbours house looks terrible. An instant put off. Take some new pics front of house without showing their damp mouldy exterior.
Garden has been mentioned, but my eye is drawn to all that dark stained pine. Rafters fair enough, but all those dark wood desks, wardrobes & tables need removed before you take new photos. Dark wood really encloses spaces, especially where you haven’t got much natural light.
Overall those issues can be overlooked but my overriding feeling of your house is a lack of light. That dining room area looks awful. Wouldn’t want to spend any time there at all. It may well be cheating but get ‘Natural’ lighting akin to a film set before taking new shots.
@thurman-merman
U OK HUN! 🙂
Should we send for mountain rescue?