We are in the process of marketing our house but have so far only used a local agent.
The property is unique and very desirable to a certain market.
It’s in Cornwall, in a beautiful location, with uninterrupted countryside and coastal views. It’s an oak framed, sustainable house. Plenty of land around it etc etc.
Are there certain places/companies we should advertise, to sell such properties properly.
Or just stick with the agent and right move?
Any advice from folks who know about such things, would be very much appreciated
The property is unique and very desirable to a certain market.
That’s code for ‘has a sex dungeon’, yes?
If that would help sell it, I could build one!
Why? Are you interested if it has one?
Are we talking https://www.fineandcountry.com/uk level?
Be prepared for a long wait. Wife has family on the Isle of Man with a significant property for sale. The issue is as the price rises you are fishing for a buyer in a smaller pool.
Yep, it’s fine and country level stuff but it’s not a grand country pile.
It’s a modern, oak eco house. (Bit of an alpine chalet vibe to it)
I designed and built it...
You can buy a much bigger house for the money but not one that’s as unique and in such rare location
I need a buyer that specifically wants something like this, rather than looking for value per m2
come on, you know you want to put a link up on here
House looks lovely. I'd be expecting better photography at that price point. Looks like it was taken by an estate agent not a photographer. Look at some of the pics on that fine and country site - they look much more like professional photos IMO (I'm a photographer by trade).
@grum
Agreed, it was a bit of an unplanned and last minute agreement to sell
The photos do not do it justice
Wow, what an interesting house!
I've no idea about estate agents, except to say you definitely need a better one. The photos are rubbish, some from funny angles and several out of focus.
You can see GCHQ from the garden....
It's a stunning house.
I've stayed there 😀
I would agree with Grum about the pictures. Usual totally overblown estate agents description but I guess thats par for the course. Describing small bedrooms as generous
Whats the usual selling price for a new build 3 bed in the area? My guess would be that its not worth as much of a premium as you think given the link to other houses in the area for a lot less but its a long way from me and not a market I know either area or type of house
Can’t really compare it to a usual 3 bed new build... location is unique, build and materials are unique etc.
Next to no utility bills etc etc
House prices down here are silly though!
@bregante... how long ago did you rent it off us? Can’t remember
Can't offer any help. Just wanted to say that is a beautiful looking home.
They are poor pictures. The first one, which ought to really pull in the interested, is really poor.
Take same more pictures yourself?
Advert in some posh design / interiors / self build / holiday homes magazine might work?
Do a self promote / article with one of the same posh magazines?
Advert at the local sailing club / riding school / range rover dealerships?
I think we were your very first visitors. The garden had literally just been seeded.
My kids still remember chasing Lily and Special (the chickens) out of your neighbours garden 🙂
Best stealth ad ever.
Em, if you built it, why are all the rooms so small?
Is it a midget sex dungeon as opposed to a regular one?
@bregante haha I remember! Wow, that was quite a while ago... glad you have some good memories.
I wish the seeded lawn had not taken, it’s the bane of my life mowing that bloody thing.
I strava’d it once... 2.2miles of walking To mow it!
@funkmasterp cheers🙌
Thanks all, for the advice
@yourguitarhero small??? Do you live in a palace? They are not exactly small...
Two reasons for the size anyway... it’s a sustainable house, built to a size that’s needed, rather than excessive spaces to heat and built to a limited budget that dictated totally m2. I could have built bigger but couldn’t have done it to the same quality or performance.
There was a thread on Mumsnet recently. The seller was getting no interest from the first listing:
First Estate Agent
After following MN-ers advice on presenting the property better, she switched estate agents:
Second Estate Agent
The new photos seem to have done the trick, and she's now had several viewers.
+1 on the photos. The place I'm in the process of buying, I went round and took better photos point-and-shooting with a borrowed GoPro than are on the sale website.
Don't get me wrong at all I am not meaning to be offensive - its a really nice house but I agree with YGH - the rooms are small but thats par for the course really with modern build is it not
small??? Do you live in a palace? They are not exactly small…
Again, probably the photos. But it looks a bit cramped.
Have you any interest in letting it? It looks like it'd make an amazing holiday home.
Lovely, id buy it if i didn't have to work where i do but 119m² isnt big 😬
it is the size it is, I’ve not said anywhere that it’s a big house... not much I can do about that.
Cramped it isn’t, as it’s open plan for the most part.
Total m2 is 136m2, plus it all opens into 30m2 of sheltered outdoor spaces... looks like I need to check the agents measurements!
Anyway, see explanation for limitations on size when it was built.
Maybe I’m fighting a losing battle if it seems the majority of the market want big houses?
We already holiday let and get between £1500-2k a week, so yep, it definitely works well for that.
We were fully expecting whoever buys it to buy it as a holiday home, rather than a family home, sadly
We are still pretty happy here, with two kids but fancy a new project (with a bit more of a healthy budget this time)
120sqm for a 3 bed isn't small, is it? It's a lovely house, but as suggested, I would want much better photos, and nowhere near as many. Key points in the photos - less is more. No-one wants to see your hall, your stairs, the back bedroom or 18 slightly different shots of the exterior. Some of them show just how close the neighbours are so don't show that if you can avoid it. Focus on angles which frame the house and the space around it, like pic 34, then one looking back the other way but not showing the car park.
Total m2 is 136m2,
thats a bit better - your agent is obviously poor at maths. But by comparison my 1 bed flat is around 90 m2 and the bedroom is 4.5m x4.5 m It is in a 150 yr old building tho
As i said - its really nice and I would love it tho. Just my sort of thing.
Impressive!
Ignore negative comments ^^^ about room sizes.
I agree with various comments about poor quality of agent's photos - they don't show off the house as well as they should.
I think a trip round some other agents is on the cards tomorrow!
As above, don't worry about the sqft nonsense. Nobody buying at that level could care less. A sale will be because someone likes the look of the house & area.
Do go to a better agent though. Ideally one with national reach used to advertising in Country Life etc who will quite probably already have a list of clients looking for your type of property.
That’s a bit rich for a holiday home, but I’d be looking at Savills and their London clients. Nice house. I need to retire back home because it makes where I live look cheap 🙁
We put a sign on the gate and sold in a couple of months for far more than most agents had said it was worth.
True story.
(Also rather unusual property in coastal location).
Cramped it isn’t
I didn't say it was cramped. I said it looked cramped.
We already holiday let and get between £1500-2k a week, so yep, it definitely works well for that.
Sit on it for 6-9 years and you'll have your asking price in the bank, yet still own it.
fancy a new project (with a bit more of a healthy budget this time)
You built that on an unhealthy budget?
Floor plan on rightmove shows no door into the Gf shower/wc.
View of fairfaced block wall outside bedroom window is 🙁
There's too much clutter in the rooms, think of it as visual noise, lots of people find it distracting.
Try the modern house to see if they'd sell it for you
Nice house, nice location and price doesn’t seem excessive. You definitely need better pictures, less of them and a video tour. Your target market is not likely Bude/North Coast locals but London/South East. And don’t necessarily expect second home buyers as the Covid impact has made people think about property lifestyle and WFH meaning migrating away to a different life is desirable.
You need to speak to more agents who play in the £500k - £1m bracket and know how to market it. Having spent a lot of time in Bude and North Cornwall I’m sure a self build like this isn’t that unique.
It looks fantastic - you have my deepest admiration for designing/building such a lovely house.
As for getting the most for it:
Whats the difference between what you think you should get for it, and what the typical sales price for a 3 bed detached cottage (in a nice spot) is? This will give you context to any money you might spend making it more saleable. Might be worth doing all/none of the following:
Drone shots - you need them. Show off the views better, and have one showing the proximity of beaches etc - they do that here in Australia, with a drone pulled right back, and the house/land marked, along with the beach. Something like this:
http://b.domainstatic.com.au.s3-website-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2016443681_1_1_200818_063454-w3000-h200 0" alt="" />
The huge deck/veranda: It needs to be turned into an outdoor lounge - firepit, STW-approved woodfired pizza oven, outdoor sofa type things, designer throws n'shit.... you get the idea. I think the principle is that you are selling the idea of living there, not the house itself.
You need some photos showing its green credentials - people don't read the blurb - they just look at the photos. Have you got a fancy looking biomass boiler or something? Maybe a eco-home report?
This is a bit more, well.....: It seems like a decent amount of land. Could the people who did your oak frame put together a plan for a barn/workshop/garage/outbuilding/annex? Not sure how much that would cost for some basic drawings, and it would obviously be subject to planning, but it would put the idea into peoples heads (who might be worried about size) about the potential to expand. Something like this:
Anyway, just some ideas
It’s on Rightmove which is go to for house purchases regardless of price bracket.
When we last bought we literally viewed 100’s on Rightmove but only viewed 4 in real life. That was in your asking price bracket.
Honest objective opinion, the pictures are poor, rooms are cluttered and don’t make the house stand out at all.
I do get you are passionate about the house but a quick look on RM shows a barn conversion in the area. That’s your competition for a buyers money.
Is it unique because of the build, as you can see there are properties nearby? If so the build if it is Passivhaus standard may well put off some people as they simply can’t grasp the no heating, mechanical ventilation side of things.
Personally I like them and would love to build something to that standard. As for photos I would say de-clutter before you take them, books on windowsill, and kitchen spring to mind. Make it look less busy and more of a blank canvas that prospective owners could see putting their stamp on.
Good luck!
My initial thoughts are too cluttered, and naff pictures.
I would especially remove the pictures with other houses in background as they make the house look small, and detract from it looking like it’s in a unique secluded area.
Also having built the house yourself, don’t do the viewings. People will say things you do t want to hear. Easy to be offended when you ha e such a link to the building. Which brings me to price, I have no idea what it’s true value is, but it’s sounds like you have based value on the emotional investment you have put in to it. Trying to convert that to a sale price may be difficult.
We bought our house off the bloke who built it and lived in it. Afterwards he admitted all of the above.
Thanks all, much appreciated.
I have so far, simply been going on what agents have priced it as.
@batfink lots to think about there... I actually designed the build and construction system to be easily extended.
@cougar you’d be surprised how little we spent building it, when your only costs are raw materials, it’s an awful lot cheaper than having a house built for you.
Sitting on it for 6-9 years and renting it out is not viable as we need to live somewhere
@funkydunc weirdly I don’t have any emotional attachment to it and I am not that connected to it (always surprises people) but I’m pretty indifferent about it. Probably as it stole so much of my life for 18 months! Regarding price, we have just gone with what most agents valued it at and the fact that we are in no rush to sell.
Possibly they might both be better than they appear due to poor pictures and clutter but neither the kitchen or the bathrooms look that great, and for that money and a small (ish) house given the cost I’d be expecting something more impressive here.
I’m sure it’s not the case but one of the kitchen pics looks like someone put some B&Q shelves in the corner...
Photos are not great, why is one of them just after heavy rain? An aerial shot would help show the size of the garden and the location relative to the beach, hills etc.
It's not that cluttered, it is clean and tidy but looking at other people's adverts should help you fine tune it's appearance.
Also, the unique aspect of the house could put people off. Not everyone has your perspective, or will appreciate your design. House purchases are not a rational affair, there are so many subjective elements at play that can influence the decision. At the end of the day, estate agents are useless morons who just look on Rightmove to guide their pricing.
They also use Automated Valuation Models which are generally based on transactional data but are also full of inaccuracies and pseudo-scientific modelling. (A dept of my company creates and sells them).
They sell them to Rightmove, Zoopla (multiple listing agencies) so it's a daft eco-system. Estate agent uses MLA site to guide house pricing, houses get sold at varying prices, AVM models are updated many months later when the transaction data is published and so on
