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The floorplan of the house is chopped up and not conveniently laid out. I'm looking at three distinct wings consisting of the original main house, the kitchen/breakfast area in the middle, and a family room to the back. Plus a separate in-law suite that feels like an afterthought to the main house. There is no true flow through the house. Your dining room is separated from the kitchen by the foyer, you have a living room adjacent to the kitchen while the family room is further away from the kitchen and separated by a massive brick fireplace. You have both the home office/in law suite and a separate solarium (which doesn't look like a sun room to me at all).
I also cannot tell where the front of the house is. There's no clearly designated front door leading to a graceful entry hall with a staircase. You have a foyer that is separated from what I assume is the "front" by a laundry room and solarium, which are usually features found at the back of a house. Yet you and your visitors likely approach the house from the driveway side, which means you walk straight into the living room or a mudroom off the kitchen.
In short, despite the age of your house you actually don't have properly formal living and dining rooms, nor do you have the open floor plans with a kitchen/family room combination that's so desirable these days. In a way, you have the worst of both worlds.
People have commented on the bedroom sizes. I'll add that your master bedroom is 19 by 10, and 10 feet is narrow for a bedroom. It works fine enough but compared to typical master bedrooms in this price range (so I assume) it's a bit cramped and the bathroom is very basic.
The finishing in the kitchen and bathrooms are also outdated and not what one expects to find in this price range. The kitchen is also isolated from the family room and in today's world people really do expect to have a big kitchen-great room combination.
The pool is some distance from the main house (as has already been commented) and many if not most buyers don't want pools (as has already been commented).
I looked at the other options in the 1-1.5 million bracket for Hingham and those houses are much more livable and laid out for a more open flow, with less wasted space, no little rooms you can't figure out how to use, bigger bedrooms (and more bedrooms on the same floor).
I do like the exterior charm of your house for it does have personality and a wonderful New England family compound atmosphere. But I would not want to buy the house unless I could drastically reconfigure the floor plan, completely rebuild and update the kitchen (likely in a different location), redo the bathrooms, get rid of the pool and potentially demolish the inlaw suite.
However, I wouldn't say it's all doom and gloom. Your house does have features that would be advantages to certain buyers, namely the carriage house for a home office and the inlaw suite. You just need to wait for the right buyer to come along.
Can any real estate professionals give me some insight as to why this house has not sold? It has been on the market since May in a really hot town south of Boston. The realtor has had tons of open houses, advertising, brochures, traffic, showings. Not a single offer.
Obviously it's not professionally staged. We emptied it out a few months into the process. There is still old stuff in the basement and barn, not a lot, but some. What's your gut feeling? I took it off the market yesterday. Plan to realist in the spring. You can be honest, I really want to sell it and need help! Thanks!
Agree with everyone that the flow of the house is the challenge, and the photos aren't doing it justice--they're not terrible, but it's impossible to see how it all connects, and by the end of scrolling through (on MLS), I'm just confused. A Virtual Tour may help with that, and the interior photos could be improved upon, in addition to staging.
I'm in MA, but not the South shore, and I can say is that's in not uncommon for our large old homes such as these to have 'unusual' floor plans. Have your agent bring a stager in, who can help alleviate some of the flow concerns, and make some of the shots more interesting. They can't move walls (unless you want to), but they can definitely suggest ways to use & connect spaces that you & your agent may never have thought of, and that buyers have a hard time envisioning.
That will help maximize the price you will get, but it may be that with the 3 price reductions you've had already you haven't quite reached the sweet spot where a buyer sees the value even after factoring in the improvements/updates they will want to make.
I recently worked on a 100% renovated Victorian that had failed to sell multiple times. There was a portion of a wall between the large family room & kitchen area that they ultimately removed to connect them better, which absolutely transformed the space and I believe helped tremendously in selling it. It also had a 3rd floor bedroom space that had been tricked out as a "teen flat and/or man cave" and was a great transformation of what was probably a scary place prior to that.
Pretty house and grounds. But where's the front of the house? Is that the first picture? Or is the first picture the back of the house? If that's the front, why are there three doors in the front of the house?
From the pictures, I don't get a sense of the flow of the house. IMO, there should be a series of pics that lead you, first, into the house, then through here, then through there, then on to the kitchen, etc. Then show the stairs, then a pic of bedrooms upstairs. THEN the outside areas.
From the pics it's hard to know what room is where, and how situated in the house. The pics gave me the feeling that the house had been added onto over the years, which is why it seemed...I don't know...odd. Altho I didn't spend time looking at the floor plan pic.
Better pics that show the flow of the house, like you'd see when walking through, I think would help. And highlight the front of the house as your first pic, unless you want to hide that for some reason. Other than that, I've been told that when a house doesn't sell, it's either the market in that area, or the price. If the house is otherwise in good shape & clean and such.
This is great advice. The photos are less than optimal and so is the agent's display of the photos. OP needs to have their agent pay for pro photos and when they put them in MLS they need to go in an order that helps the buyer understand the flow of the house. IMO picture #2 or #3 should be picture #1. Also, why is the foyer picture #13? That makes no sense.
This house has an atypical layout and it's going to be hard enough for a buyer to wrap their brain around it. The order of the photos is not going to help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallybalt
The floorplan of the house is chopped up and not conveniently laid out. I'm looking at three distinct wings consisting of the original main house, the kitchen/breakfast area in the middle, and a family room to the back. Plus a separate in-law suite that feels like an afterthought to the main house. There is no true flow through the house. Your dining room is separated from the kitchen by the foyer, you have a living room adjacent to the kitchen while the family room is further away from the kitchen and separated by a massive brick fireplace. You have both the home office/in law suite and a separate solarium (which doesn't look like a sun room to me at all).
I also cannot tell where the front of the house is. There's no clearly designated front door leading to a graceful entry hall with a staircase. You have a foyer that is separated from what I assume is the "front" by a laundry room and solarium, which are usually features found at the back of a house. Yet you and your visitors likely approach the house from the driveway side, which means you walk straight into the living room or a mudroom off the kitchen.
In short, despite the age of your house you actually don't have properly formal living and dining rooms, nor do you have the open floor plans with a kitchen/family room combination that's so desirable these days. In a way, you have the worst of both worlds.
People have commented on the bedroom sizes. I'll add that your master bedroom is 19 by 10, and 10 feet is narrow for a bedroom. It works fine enough but compared to typical master bedrooms in this price range (so I assume) it's a bit cramped and the bathroom is very basic.
The finishing in the kitchen and bathrooms are also outdated and not what one expects to find in this price range. The kitchen is also isolated from the family room and in today's world people really do expect to have a big kitchen-great room combination.
The pool is some distance from the main house (as has already been commented) and many if not most buyers don't want pools (as has already been commented).
I looked at the other options in the 1-1.5 million bracket for Hingham and those houses are much more livable and laid out for a more open flow, with less wasted space, no little rooms you can't figure out how to use, bigger bedrooms (and more bedrooms on the same floor).
I do like the exterior charm of your house for it does have personality and a wonderful New England family compound atmosphere. But I would not want to buy the house unless I could drastically reconfigure the floor plan, completely rebuild and update the kitchen (likely in a different location), redo the bathrooms, get rid of the pool and potentially demolish the inlaw suite.
However, I wouldn't say it's all doom and gloom. Your house does have features that would be advantages to certain buyers, namely the carriage house for a home office and the inlaw suite. You just need to wait for the right buyer to come along.
It's an antique house that's been added on to a few times over its life. This isn't unusual around here. However, antiques (depending on the town and the house) don't have as broad appeal to buyers as newer houses do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KJMoves
Agree with everyone that the flow of the house is the challenge, and the photos aren't doing it justice--they're not terrible, but it's impossible to see how it all connects, and by the end of scrolling through (on MLS), I'm just confused. A Virtual Tour may help with that, and the interior photos could be improved upon, in addition to staging.
These are below average photos IMO. They appear to have been taken by an amateur so they don't have the clarity, range of field, or quality of composition that you would see in a pro photo. Many of them are crooked as well. I'm sure that Subzero in the kitchen was not installed leaning over it's actually the photo for example.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KJMoves
I'm in MA, but not the South shore, and I can say is that's in not uncommon for our large old homes such as these to have 'unusual' floor plans. Have your agent bring a stager in, who can help alleviate some of the flow concerns, and make some of the shots more interesting. They can't move walls (unless you want to), but they can definitely suggest ways to use & connect spaces that you & your agent may never have thought of, and that buyers have a hard time envisioning.
I'm a big proponent of staging and I do stage all of my listings. I think it will help but the floorplan is so jumbled that it's not going to be able to solve the problem IMO.
This is my take. The house is pretty, appears in good condition. I don't see an issue with where the pool is if you market the barn as a pool house or writer/artist studio. First floor, the dining room seems far from the kitchen so this could be an issue, however you can't change it, but maybe you could furnish it differently such that the breakfast area which seems pretty large is the actual dining room and the dining room is more an office/sitting room/music room. If you need to take down a chandelier to do so, do it. If someone who buys it wants to change it back, it's easy, but making it a different space will appeal to more buyers. Market the first floor family room, bedroom bath as a inlaw suite.
The second floor bath is far from the two smaller bedrooms; however, for a family with young kids that may not be too much of an issue. The play area is nice. Master bedroom is small for a master but it is what it is.
Third floor, great for teenagers, but lacks a full bath. Is it possible to extend into the closet area to create a full or at least 3/4 bath? Even if you don't wish to do it yourself, getting a cost estimate and ability to do so might appeal to buyers.
Yes, you have a one car garage but it also looks like a lot of land is available for someone to add a separate garage.
It's a unique home, typical New England style. I do think it is priced right, but perhaps needs to be marketed a little better. Also, when you do bring it back on the market, can you bring in someone to stage the first and second floors? Furnished homes show much better.
These are below average photos IMO. They appear to have been taken by an amateur so they don't have the clarity, range of field, or quality of composition that you would see in a pro photo. Many of them are crooked as well. I'm sure that Subzero in the kitchen was not installed leaning over it's actually the photo for example.
I'm a big proponent of staging and I do stage all of my listings. I think it will help but the floorplan is so jumbled that it's not going to be able to solve the problem IMO.
Unfortunately I've seen "pro" photos that look similar .... but agree these are not what I would expect from a pro.
And agree that staging isn't a cure-all remedy, but I believe it could help enough to justify it in this case.
Unfortunately I've seen "pro" photos that look similar .... but agree these are not what I would expect from a pro.
And agree that staging isn't a cure-all remedy, but I believe it could help enough to justify it in this case.
Yup. There are plenty of bad photographers out there just as there are plenty of bad RE agents, plumbers, lawyers, doctors, etc. There is plenty of room for improvement in these photos though.
Staging is not going to hurt and as someone else suggested if the OP can stage in a fashion that will re purpose some rooms into being other types of rooms so that the floorplan flows better that will help a lot.
OP, I remember from your post in the MA forum that you moved to Hull already. Is your old house in Hingham empty now? If it is, with this atypical floorplan I think staging becomes even more important but renting furniture gets real expensive real quick.
Don't advertise it with multiple bathrooms that are out in the barn and in-law suite. That disappoints them when they see it.And they are already bummed about kitchen Take that rug off the wall if you have not done it. Where did you park?
There is another listing in area with water view and one with acreage-what is your hook?
Is the house empty now ?What does it smell like?
First let's look at the drawbacks of selling your home.
1: The age is against you. It is an old home, that has been built on to, and the bedroom locations and sizes are not popular today, while others in the same price range, are better laid out, and much newer. Your bedrooms, are not a good factor for a buyer to consider. The size and width of the bedrooms, works against you in this price range.
2: There are other bigger, and nicer homes in the same price range, that have sold while yours just sits there, and there are others for sale. The lay out and styles of the other homes, is superior in most buyers eyes.
3: The color of the kitchen cabinetry is going to turn a lot of people completely off of this home. Green cabinets are one of the worst color for cabinets and is a real do not do.
4: The pool is a big turn off, for the majority of buyers in a climate like you have in Ma. In fact a home without a pool, will sell faster at the same price in your climate. I have seen people having to fill up their pool, and do away with it, in similar weather areas of the country, before they could sell the home.
5: The garage problem. Most people in that price range, will not buy a home with a single car garage set up as yours is. They want a 2 or 3 car garage attached to the house, where they step from the house to the garage in winter. As a large percentage of families have at least 2 cars, they want a garage to handle both cars.
6: Your home is nice, but it lacks the Wow factor some others on the market have, and people do like to feel a big wow, when they look at a home they spend the rest of the their lives.
And that is just the start, from someone that spent from 1972 until he retired as an Investment Real Estate Broker.
The only thing that makes an out of sync home like yours sell, is the price it is being offered at.
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Thanks!
