Our house won’t sell. It’s been on the market nine months and had three viewings. So Brexit, the last election, Xmas and then Lockdown, probably hasn’t helped. But aside from those issues we cannot control, what can we do to make the house more appealing to potential buyers? Or is it really all about location location location?

PROs:
– It’s a cheap, 5-bedroom, end terrace, period house in the Cotswolds.
– Master bedroom (converted attic) is a whopping 33ft long.
– Two receptions.
– Convenient, semi-rural location.
– Very roomy.
– Off-road parking (front) for two/three cars.
– Great views from the top of the large, long garden.
– Car-port to side of house.
– Unbelievably low council tax band.

CONs:
– It’s habitable and water-tight, but most people would probably like to modernise it (throughout, really) and it is undoubtedly tatty. (Other than a lick of paint and/or new carpets here-and-there and adding double-glazing, not much has been done to it since the 80s/90s. When my GF [now wife] moved-in 20 years ago as a single-mum with four tearaway kids, she had other priorities).
– Only one bathroom/toilet.
– Directly on a main road.
– Kitchen is v tatty and there was mild damp in its back-wall (its subterranean – built into the hillside and the guttering above was shonky for many years), blown plaster, peeling paint.
– Garden is pretty-much unusable. Very steep with small terraces and nearly all shrub (with a tiny, overgrown lawn and a broken patio).


Do we put the work in and solve the damp in the back wall? If we do that we will need to put in new open-plan stairs, a new kitchen floor and a new kitchen.

Do we put some work in to the garden? Relay the patio? Clear and level-off a larger area to put some turf down, or decking to create some usable space?

Not averse to doing any of the above, but is it worth it? Is the first thing new owners will do put in their own kitchen? Or re-do the garden to their liking?

Of the three couples that have viewed the house, two have given feedback that the garden is too off-putting. So maybe it’s not the location on the main road that’s the problem.

I kinda figured it’s just a matter of us waiting for the right buyer to come along: a couple on a budget with four kids.

Ask yourself: What would Kirsty and Phil do?

I suspect you’ll need to post a link.
Prepare yourself… 😂

But it sounds like it’s too expensive. Sounds like a 50k project to do up and families with that kind of free cash and requiring the space will really struggle, it’s probably the kind of house you do up then move into and it’ll need to be a bargain at the moment.

Our house won’t sell. It’s been on the market nine months and had three viewings.

It’s too expensive.

tatty

Paint.

Everywhere.

Neutral colours. Magnolia and white.

Create a blank canvas for the next owners

A five bed house in the Cotswolds needs a particular sort of buyer. One bathroom is too few. Small garden will knock out some of your potential buyers, ie families. General tattiness is not good for your market, which is either older people or young families without the energy to sort out a doer-upper.

Price is obviously the driver, unless you are willing to smarten it up a bit, and rectify some of the issues.

In the current market, market one of your five bedrooms as a home office.

Post up the link, I’m sure we won’t be too brutal… 🙂

How much was it worth in 2010? I reckon it’ll sell for that but not what it would have sold for in 2019. Tidy it up and price to current market conditions.

Edit: Madame has been looking at Spanish property this morning, the site she looked at has 33 000 properties in the reposessions catergory, Covid is starting to have an impact on the property market whichever country you look at.

If your not getting footfall the price is too high

We noticed around our area which is currently moving very fast, that the doer-uppers arent going as fast as the ready-to-move-in type houses whereas as previously they’d be just as popular…maybe in the event of further risk of lockdowns and general wariness of infection etc folk dont want the added hassle of getting in builders/trades

…but, yeah, as others have said, it will always come down to price

I always find it a bit peculiar that people think that converting a loft into a bedroom increases the price to as if it was built with one more bedroom. I mean, it’s not like the house actually got bigger.

I always find it a bit peculiar that people think that converting a loft into a bedroom increases the price to as if it was built with one more bedroom. I mean, it’s not like the house actually got bigger.

No more peculiar than a house selling for more than the same plot of land without a house on it.

It has to be the asking price I am afraid. To only have that amount of interest it couldn’t be anything else.

No more peculiar than a house selling for more than the same plot of land without a house on it.

Read it again. I didn’t say “increases the price”, I said “increases the price to as if it was built with one more bedroom”.

I can see it adds value, but all things being equal, would you have a 4 bed + loft conversion or a 5 bed with a useful loft space?

Think I agree with Nuke – a house with clear work needing won’t be as attractive now. From your list of negatives, I would say:

5 bed 1 bath is pointless. You need another bathroom in.
Garden said to be a key feature currently, particularly with all those bedrooms.
Blown plaster, peeling paint and a shabby kitchen are not expensive to fix – evidence of other issues.

I suspect you’ll need to offer a bargain or fix some of those issues.When you say it’s cheap, how cheap compared to other places that have sold. If you cost up fixing the above, is it still cheap?

I’m guessing it’s the “double fronted former public house” ?

I wouldn’t have described it as “cheap”.

From the description in the original post I think that I have found it on Rightmove.

I would declutter a bit, brighten some of the walls up, open the curtains properly then ask the estate agent (or a new one) to take some better photos. All the photos are quite dark, having the lights on in almost every room just makes it look like an even darker house. Some of the photos are not even in focus.

Price.

I’ve just sold mine. The first I knew that the sign had gone up outside was the neighbour knocking on the door going “you sell house?” I’d had six viewings by the weekend. When it went online a couple of days later I had another eight viewings that week, I cancelled the last two because it’d sold.

It was up for £65k. I was hoping for £60k and accepted £58k for a cash purchase with no chain.

From the description in the original post I think that I have found it on Rightmove.

share the link then for the lazy

share the link then for the lazy

Not for me to. Easy enough to find but OP could share if he wanted.

Comparing this https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-79019642.html to this https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-86730770.html one would seem vastly overpriced. With the incentives available on new builds you’re also competing with £400k newbuilds as people won’t need to find £40k in deposit and fee’s.

Price

Gribs, suspect your first one has a more serious damp issue than the OP though, if you have a look at the map.

I’m guessing it’s on London Road is it not?

Could well try agents who have London offices with clients on their list.

Though it’s Stroud and let’s face it, it sure isn’t the good side of Cotswold lifestyle.

All best though

Photos too dark. Get the strimmer out and attack that garden. Clear some space so you can at least set it up as a courtyard with seating. Declutter. Where’s the parking, not sure I saw from the photo?

Oh, and…master bedroom. 3am. KLUNK! Is there any way you can reposition the bed?

😄

Hmm – you say you have parking, but to me and many others on street parking is not dedicated parking. And you might squeeze a smart car down that alley! 🙂

5 bed house and no dedicated parking would put me off straight away.

Looking on streetview as well – if your neighbours houses are as scruffy as they were in 2019 that won’t be helping. It looks like the sort of place that is forever mucky due to dirt kicked up from road.

Looks like its needs a lot of money chucking at it – £50k to £100k

Garden looks like there could be an ancient long lost tribe in it! Get it hacked down and cleared.

Stairs out of the kitchen are lethal for anyone with small kids.

We sold our house this year at full asking in 2 days and 3 viewings – we even got £50k more than the estate agent initially valued it and it was far from perfect. Most importantly, we got rid of the clutter -removed all the personal stuff, photos etc because buyers need to see it as “their” house no someone else’s. Also get rid of strong colours – just repaint it white – brightens it up and gives feeling of space. Also, not sure whether their bannister-less stairs would be liked by someone with young children – but who else is going to buy a 5 bedroom house?

I am looking at houses every day and my views are.

1st thing too dark inside, I want lots of natural light. Those big trees behind put me right off, did not even look at orientation.

Not bothered about slightly institutional look inside, I would rip everything out.

If I liked the house I would look up sales history, fact you have been in situ 20 years is a massive plus, I would talk it up.

I really don’t like busy roads, neither do cat owners and I suspect there are a few.

So many houses to look at I reckon I spend about 2 mins per ad, so it’s location, price, light, orientation, off street parking, council tax banding.

To add to what has already been said…get some new photos, but lose some stuff first – several of the pictures make the house looks cramped with lots of things in view. If necessary get temporary storage for a while / buy cheaper smaller things such as your table which makes the kitchen look small.

Paint the shabbiest of the rooms – the pictures look bad, so it probably appears worse in the flesh.

The visible damp, plus the cold looking tiled hallway would put me off a viewing. Can you decorate the damp wall at least, and consider a carpet in the hall.

The stairs are a major downside to a family home. Add a bannister at lesat.

Most major issue for me would be the garden though as others have said. Get it cleared at least.

I haven’t seen the house but we struggled to sell a beautiful family house until an agent asked us if we had had many no-shows. We had. “Paint the front door, then” was his suggestion. “People have turned up, taken one look at the outside and buggered off”. The windows were tatty, the hall was dark and the 1st room on the right had an ugly fireplace. “That’s four pieces of bad news before you’ve even said hello” he said. He was right.

If it’s the one I think it is, I don’t think the pictures are terrible. Wouldn’t put me off viewing. Lack of parking might, especially for a 5 bed.

I think you’re being a bit delusional thinking that it’s “cheap” though*, at offers over £325k. That’s exactly Zoopla’s estimate, which I’ve normally found to be on the optimistic side.

Nationwide’s house price calculator comes up with £295k based on the last sale price/date.

* especially when it needs a reasonable amount of work.

Offers in excess of – lose the bollox, you don’t live in Scotland, put a price you’ll accept.
Declutter – too much crap in the photos.
Paint with whites and magnolias to brighten it
Sort that garden ffs – get it hacked back, you can’t even work out how big it is.
Get better photos done after decluttering and painting.

If this doesn’t work, then you have to drop the price.

To be brutally honest it doesn’t look like you’re making any effort to sell it. Also a house that could potentially hold 6 people needs more than 1 bathroom and an outdoor space you can actually get into. For me personally if I saw a subterranean kitchen with blown plaster I’d be straight out the door, too much hassle.

Think what you have is quite niche i.e. five bedroomed semi / terrace without ‘proper’ parking.

The right buyer will be out there at some point, whether or not you do anything.

But to speed things along, I’d tackle the garden as a minimum. Get it cleared.

Kitchen stairs should get a bannister as you suggest.

Beyond that, get some new photos done on a dry sunny day when you’ve cleared the garden. That will also change percepions over any damp issue.

Possibly also look at an agent in a bigger (and expensive) local town who may have clients looking to up-size. Cirencester maybe?

Good luck!

We’ve had a struggle to find something Stroud way good properties priced right were just flying out before we could get a viewing.

We’ve got somewhere now it was right ready to move into, proper off street parking so we paid asking.

Price is probably the issue there’s some crazy optimistic pricing from local agents Andrews were probably the most out…

And if the Agents haven’t made these suggestions, bin them! they don’t deserve your money!

The reason agents don’t give you that advice is because everybody gets huffy and refuses to employ that nasty person who was rude about their house.

There’s a few examples above of agents that do…

tiny, overgrown lawn

I thought it was going to have knee-high grass, not be an impenetrable jungle!

crazy optimistic pricing from local agents Andrews were probably the most out…

We are between Bath and Bristol and Andrews have tendered for two of our house sales and came in with much higher valuations than all of the other agents.

Jesus that’s a proper jungle going on there 😀 looks like a great house but limited market, get yer machete out and loose the offers in excess of – it’s an instant put off.