Brant – if that’s been on the market a year, there’s something ‘else’ wrong. It’s pretty small, but then anyone looking at it will know that before they view it and won’t expect much more at that end of the market. The pictures/dressing etc could be improved as per Martin’s comments, but none of it is that bad.

If it’s not shifted in a year, I’d say it’s either the location/situation putting people off (I’ve no idea of the area though), or it’s just plain overpriced against the local competition.

are you selling it or is it available to buy?

the difference between the two is presentation and as has been mentioned above you need to aim at “show house” standard. Tidy doesnt cut it, immaculate is required in every last corner. Below are a couple of the things we did before marketing our last house to give you a flavour.

new matching bedside tables and lamps for the ‘kids’ bedrooms
full set of brand new duvets and ironed duvet covers – these were only out for show, never used
Zero clutter – excludes one mtb magazine, one daily newspaper both ‘arranged’ on the coffee table, next to a cafetierre and half drunk cup in the conservatory.
heating on, low, windows cracked open
every wardrobe, half empty, 1″ space between every hanger and clothes organised (suits – shirts – trousers – jackets)
All out of season clothing/shoes stored (off site)
We were horrendously fussy about the marketing pictures, get the lighting right, but many Estate agents just dont GAS about what they are doing, rely on ever inflating house prices to do their work

We spent about £3k on finishing touches tables/lamps/flowers/pictures (after completing all outstanding minor DIY/work – £7k)
It took in the region of 1hr to set the house and a further hour to return it to a liveable state, for each showing, which i admit is a tough way to live for the 3 weeks from first view to Sale STC.

I look back at the marketing picutures now and dont recognise the house i lived in for 8yrs. The downside is, when you have done all that, you have to stay focussed on the reasons for selling in the first place.

Zero clutter – excludes one mtb magazine, one daily newspaper both ‘arranged’ on the coffee table

Did you tailor the mags/papers to the prospective buyers – Privateer and the FT – Singletrack and The Guardian – MBR and Daily Star?

Brants one, when you widen the search to half a mile I can get a 3 bed semi for 10 grand less.

My immediate reaction would be that its overpriced by as much as 25% and poorly presented.

Who is your target marked? BTL or FTB, if its the former reduce the price a lot, if its the latter drop the price and smarten it up I reckon

If i had time to research the viewers, i would have (excludes MBR/Star – does anyone aspire to that?)

brant.
pics – external, remove next doors bins. pull blind fully, clean upstairs window
2. clutter on mantlepiece
4. garden looks like a jungle
5. kitchen floor and window
6. bedroom layout
8. pile of bachelor cd/dvds – dress the room to be a 3rd bedroom/guest room/office/play room
9. is the car required here to define the parking?
10. further parking? but the text says parking for 1

it currently either belongs to an old person, possibly dead and property being sold by family, or to a bloke, recently separated/divorced, where the whole life of the house was taken away in boxes by the woman. As above, does anyone aspire to that situation? and want to pay £100K for the priviledge?

dont want to be harsh/rude/insult so please dont take it that way

There’s 20 pictures but they seem to be the same ones over and over again. Are you hoping people get bored before the outside shots?
I like the inside though.

Would you be thinking about viewing house in this weather?
Things will pick up!

in the interest of fairness, ive dug this out.

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/property-history/24-honor-road/prestwood/great-missenden/hp16-0nj/28673590

abuse most welcome, with hindsight, a couple of the pics could have been better. The 12 pics dont include the conservatory, dining area or downstairs double shower room/wc

Looks nice to me, I like the exposed brickwork in the bathroom!

Rusty;
I’d sort out the stairs. There are no handrail(s)/ side/ bannister/ risers etc. Also make the 2nd bedroom look like bedroom. And hide your shoes.

Other than that it looks well finished. One more thing, would you pay £170k for it?

Feedback also welcome here – http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33434157.html

+1 for the £100k threshold.

£99,995 for a start looks lower, and means that search engines looking for <£100k will pick it up. Then viewers inevitably buy the most expensive house they see, as it’s obviously going to be the nicest. At £100k, you’ll always be the worst house for people looking for £100k-£120k.

One more thing, would you pay £170k for it?

All depends on what the going rate in the area is….

it currently either belongs to an old person, possibly dead and property being sold by family, or to a bloke, recently separated/divorced, where the whole life of the house was taken away in boxes by the woman.

Giggling, but yes, I can see how that it looks like that.

It’s my girlfriends 🙂

ooops.
if you share that information with her, please provide some relevant STW context

Brant: imvho I would (as suggested above) try to have photos done on sunny day (if you ever have them up there…). Get rid of the futon/floor on mattress in second bedroom – I don’t care what happens in Japan, it’s the furniture equivalent of Pot Noodle and loneliness. 😉 get rid of the stack of DVDs in the attic and put a lampshade on the bare bulb – it looks like a room that’s been a dumping ground because the owner couldn’t work it how to use it; ideally paint over the howking paint in white; +1 on dressing the room as a home office. Get rid of the Fiat – it’s a tiny car that shows how small the parking space is. Clean up the garden. Condensation in the kitchen “tells me” it’s cold and damp. Move the shower curtain so it’s not blocking the window (and make sure shower curtain is new). The place looks sparse and a bit abandoned rather than just clean and tidy. Get rid of the white stools under the table in the living room – then get rid of the table that’s neither a coffee table nor a dining table.

Who is going to buy your place? Couple with one kid, a couple or a single, probably? What sort of stuff do they want to see?

I have no qualifications in this area behind being a chump that is trying to buy a house.

Brant: I wonder if that would look better if it was completely empty. At the moment it looks abandoned, and it doesn’t look like a loved/loveable home. Also agree with re-taking the exterior photos on a sunny day, moving the car first! And preferably tidying up the garden.

+1 De-clutter. Make it clean and presentable but retain a touch of reality.
Put yourselves in the shoes of different kinds of buyer and ask “What do they want to see / not see?”

For the OP’s

Too much clutter for me – a lot of stuff looks like afterthoughts/not enough space. There are a lot of things in “clumps” that don’t flow together. You’re not telling me that the stool in the kitchen really lives there? The bin doesn’t match etc. Bedroom has a lot of big furniture cramped into corners.

Looks spacious “ish” but with stuff thrown in. “Dress” those end sections in the kitchen cabinets, some lifestyle rubbish that’ll impress – flowers are missing too. Expectations are high thanks to all the programs on TV, if you are paying top end you want to be able to move in and not really have to do anything. I think your house finishing level is high, it’s how everything is set out (I hope that makes sense). It is a shame those stairs don’t go up the other way tbh, look pretty cool, I just wonder if the photographer can get a good shot with them moving up away from you (inviting you upstairs and all the jazz). As a parent I hate them though, see if bannisters can be put in that keep the sense of space – maybe as a feature (ie some iron railings that either look period/industrial to go with the stone work or something hyper modern as a juxtaposition) rather than trying to blend them in.

For Brant.

Clear/tidy the garden, looks like a shit load of work to get it manageable, in spring chop loads back, sort the raised beds/veg plot add rows of garlic and chives, look good need no looking after as nothing will eat them, maybe something like a rosemary/sage plant too – it’s 2-3 days work for the photos but at the moment it looks more like 3-4 weeks work. I don’t understand the parking either looking at the photos. Bathroom is nice, kitchen is tiny and layout looks poor, is that the photo? In soobalis photo/house the doors at the end lead you into the garden, looks large and drags you outside. I’m sure you could do better because I like a tiny kitchen but that layout is a putoff atm – use the window (light) better and why is everything beige? Get some accents/highlights in there. With the loft, I’d board/shelf out the eves that are useless (and that you are highlighting as useless with the books parked on the floor) so that space is useable. I’d also re-paint the loft (yellow and duckegg blue atm?) and get that light sorted – it does look like a deceased relatives – either go mini office style or guest bedroom. The 2nd bedroom? Either office/guest bedroom (opposite of the loft, although having an office in such a traditional bedroom space always “jars” me for some reason). I like the front (is it the front?) room a lot.

Soobalis’ looks like a show house – there is no question about enough space because everything is not there to worry about where the mop/hoover/iron lives. V. impressed, obviously set for the photos (or the person is OCD and lives alone with a bottle of bleach) but everything is set to allow people with no imagination to see how good the rooms are/work/flow.

Feedback also welcome here – http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33434157.html

Perhaps it’s just “shoe valley” – this has been on the market for a year.

i look at those pics and it makes my shoulders hunch and i feel cold, it just makes me think of condensation on cold tiles and the remnants of an unhappy divorce. i would get rid of the odd things lying around but maybe put something in the kitchen even if you borrow a posh toaster or kettle or a fruit bowl it looks like somebody very sad did their pot noodles in there.

i look at those pics and it makes my shoulders hunch and i feel cold, it just makes me think of condensation on cold tiles and the remnants of an unhappy divorce. i would get rid of the odd things lying around but maybe put something in the kitchen even if you borrow a posh toaster or kettle or a fruit bowl it looks like somebody very sad did their pot noodles in there.

Poor Brant/Brant’s missus… 😀

Nothing compares with the sadness of putting up your pics and getting laid into by the STW hive mind though…

Agree with most although we had stairs like that when growing up as my folks got bored of the bolt on bannister, wasn’t that big a deal as I was fine getting up stairs by that point. I’d happily live in that as is and worry about decorating much later. Bloody hate magnolia but as a quick fix from the state we moved into it wouldn’t have gone far wrong.

On spending £3k on tat and a further £4k on decorating, that’s just madness, if I wanted to look at an Ikea catalogue I’m more than capable of finding one myself. And anyone who gives those stupid **** ‘sleep’, ‘cook’ and ‘defecate’ sculptures house room deserves everything they get. I’m more than capable of figuring out what the rooms function is thanks.

No on-road parking at the front and I don’t like your neighbours.

I won’t say which side, but I’ll say ‘Hi’ in the morning when I drop the kids off at school.

ooops.
if you share that information with her, please provide some relevant STW context

It’s ok. She knows all about STW.

Thanks for the feedback. I did laugh that people thought it belonged to a dumped bloke or a dead person. Interesting that no one seemed to notice the weird tiled floor in the lounge; pretty useful for bringing the bikes through from the cellar though.

No on-road parking at the front and I don’t like your neighbours.

I won’t say which side, but I’ll say ‘Hi’ in the morning when I drop the kids off at school.

I’m intrigued-email in profile!

Both/all the neighbours in the hamlet of the 6 houses here are and have always been great – and we will miss that if/when it sells.

suburbanreuben – Member
There’s 20 pictures but they seem to be the same ones over and over again. Are you hoping people get bored before the outside shots?
I like the inside though.

+1 – that’s proper sloppy of the estate agent and I’d be going batsh!t mental at them if I was paying for that. You could have many shots showing exactly what the property is like from many angles but you’ve got multiple repeats instead. Just looks like they can’t be bothered.

I’ll second the slightly cluttered/nice one the inside dodgy on the outside bits but it’s relatively cheap considering the finish but then I’m not aware of the market there.

oh and steps out of the kitchen – looks like the cupboards are too high. ;o)

Slightly off topic why do you never see pics of garages on Rightmove? It’s pretty fundamental for me and a large chunk of house so why no pics?

The problem isnt the cupboards being too high – its more my Mrs being tiny!

Massive thanks for the STW feedback 😀 Really appreciate it.

will have a good declutter, take a few new pics and sort the website photo’s out.

RNP – it’s probably been said before, but take out the desk and computer from the spare room. Turn it in to a nice well presented bedroom (maybe buy stuff early that would work for the new house too if you need to). Most people would be looking for a second bedroom rather than an office, so it’s good to make it look like a bedroom.

Other than that (and the aforementioned clutter) I think it’s lovely. I get rather jealous of people who can make rooms look homely, but modern. We’ve done ok with bathrooms and the kitchen, but frankly our living room and bedroom look very bland!

Having never sold a house before how realistic is it that people viewing would give feedback?

See, I absolutely would if I was being shown round by an agent. I’d tell them right away what about the place I liked/disliked in case they had something else to show me that was perfect but that wasn’t up on the web yet. I wouldn’t do it because I care about fine-tuning your pictures.

But you’ve only got the one house to sell me, presumably, and it’s your house and you are (probably) proud of it in a way that a slimy-haired twattock from Foxtons isn’t. So I’m probably not going to tell you that your house makes me think of condensation on cold tiles and the remnants of an unhappy divorce. I’ll just tick it off the list and move on.

🙂

Slightly off topic why do you never see pics of garages on Rightmove? It’s pretty fundamental for me and a large chunk of house so why no pics?

This. Couldn’t agree more. A manky bathroom or a picture of a spare room doesn’t excite me – where are the shots of the garage / land / cellar etc?

See, I absolutely would if I was being shown round by an agent. I’d tell them right away what about the place I liked/disliked in case they had something else to show me that was perfect but that wasn’t up on the web yet. I wouldn’t do it because I care about fine-tuning your pictures.

This, which harks back to my point about owner-led viewings.

you are right IHN, ive seen houses shown by the owner and its regularly been awful.

however, with a bit of thought and planning, the owner can be the best person to sell it.

So I’m probably not going to tell you that your house makes me think of condensation on cold tiles and the remnants of an unhappy divorce.

😀

I don’t like your neighbours. I won’t say which side

I’m being slightly facetious. I know Mark and Maz quite well (kids the same age) but the other side I find a bit, er, less approachable.

I’m sure they are fine as neighbours though.

Update.

The house sold a month or so ago, we didnt get round to taking any new photo’s but did de clutter and had two fairly quick offers, the 1st we accepted but their chain fell apart, the 2nd we accepted £162.5k.

On reflection House Network were really good – it cost us £625 to list it with them and they were good with comms with the buyers.

How easy and good an online agent was came into focus when dealing with a bricks and mortar EA for the rental we are currently in – they were absolutely shockingly shite. I cannot express just how incompetent they were – there is no way I would sell through an normal EA in the future.

How easy and good an online agent was came into focus when dealing with a bricks and mortar EA for the rental we are currently in – they were absolutely shockingly shite. I cannot express just how incompetent they were

We are dealing with one now over a purchase. They are ridiculously bad. Can’t see that business model lasting much longer.

We’ve just been through buying a house and viewed quite a few. Some estate agents chased for feedback but as a buyer what’s the point? If it was what I wanted to buy at a price I’d pay I’d offer to buy it.

Of the houses we viewed probably 50% we didn’t like because of the house / location, the other 50% were decent but overvalued in our opinion. You can’t add £30k on just because you’ve painted the walls and added an ikea kitchen.