The Struggle To Sell A Cozy Cottage | The Unsellables | FULL EPISODE | House to Home

selling your property is all about flaunting your assets so potential buyers fall in love marketing curb appeal decor all play a part in how fast your property moves my mission is to give unsellable properties a slick yet affordable makeover to turn them into unstoppable sellers [Music] this adorable three-bedroom cottage in the city is located on a big gorgeous lot in a quiet and serene neighborhood it has one and a half stories dining room loft and one bath it's listed at 399 000 on the outside it looks like a tiny jewel of a house but homeowner lisa hasn't had a single offer and she is desperate to sell so i'm here to help letter carrier lisa has been raising her two kids in this cottage on her own her daughter emma is training as a pastry chef and michael is finishing high school lisa's love affair with her home goes back to her childhood one time we were coming by and i just said to my friend on a lark i go oh i love that cottage i'm gonna buy that one day and then i ended up buying it ten years later her quaint cottage isn't the dream house it once was now three adults are crammed inside i think i'm feeling that we are on top of each other a little bit the weekend comes along and the girlfriend's here and the boyfriend's here and then that's when things get very busy lisa's had enough so she's gone ahead and bought another house we are to take possession of in less than two months but her plan has backfired she thought her cottage would sell within days but after a month on the market still no offers and the thought of carrying two mortgages is terrifying i get overwhelmed sometimes i start to panic a little like what if it doesn't sell what am i gonna do with no plan b she's got to sell it's time to go it is time for us to go this high-end neighborhood overlooks the bluffs along the lake the marina the beach the yacht club all are big draws we're only 20 minutes from the city center but it's like we're smack dab in the country in an area where million dollar houses are snapped up in a week lisa's house should have sold on the outside it looks perfect but lisa the homeowner hasn't had a single bite so i'm gonna get inside and find out what's wrong the porch beam is bent and it looks like the lattice underneath the porch is missing it's a little rustic but hopefully the inside of the house will make up for it feels a bit pokey in here that's because we've got a big black sofa black chair black fireplace dark furniture makes the room feel smaller i'm not a fan of the window treatment and what funny bits of material everywhere kind of mismatched patterns off the living room there are two small bedrooms which acquaint and suit the cottage with yet more of that strange fabric this is supposed to be the dining room but i know for a fact that three people are gonna struggle to eat around that table and buyers need somewhere to eat it's just pattern overload the dining room leads into a rather small kitchen now i feel like i'm in the country because it is very rustic and here this is a blind for a window what is it doing in here that's completely crazy the problem with this kitchen is there's no storage and it's grubby quite a lot of work oh my the kitty litter is in the bathroom this house is like a catalogue of disappointments i was hoping that upstairs was going to be a romantic loft hideaway and you get a student dig oh with quite a lot of water damage that terrifies buyers and yet more fabric crikey it's all over the place this room is definitely the worst room in the house on the outside this house is picture perfect on the inside it is anything but you've got a shabby kitchen with hardly any cupboards you've got a sitting room that's dark and a loft that would give most people nightmares and that is why this house is unsellable if lisa is going to get a sale she needs to hear some home truths these are first of this is such a cute cottage the garden is really beautiful and then you walk into this sitting room and a leather sofa doesn't scream country cottage it's more sort of downtown penthouse and what we want to do is we want to create that country cottage look okay now the dining room do you actually eat in there uh not often really it's used as a place to get from the living room to the kitchen i think one of the most important things for a family is somewhere to eat and buyers look for that so we really need to reestablish it as a dining room instead of a not quite sure this is room now i love lofts i was really hoping i'd go up there and it would be this like little hidey hole and i walked into a student dig so tell me about the room my son reached a certain age 15 14. i got the idea that he needed his own privacy space so we traded rooms purely from a selling perspective that needs to be the piece de la resistance so you draw people up into this lovely loft master bedroom and there's a problem with the water damage okay honestly when i moved here it was like that five years or so after i lived here i then redid our roof right so if there was any issues there certainly isn't now okay the buyers have to know that because at the moment they're going to walk in and go there's water damage and they're going to be totting up in their head how much this is going to cost them and they're going to take it off the asking price now lisa i have one more question for you yes sophie are you prepared to say goodbye to the scarf i think i'll live then we can get started lisa's house is unique and it's on a great plot but it's been language on the market for almost a month now and she and her two kids need to move out fast i just hope they're getting the support they need from their real estate agent candice and she's going to be able to find the perfect buyer for this house candice this is a pretty special property isn't it it is tell it to me straight why is this house not selling well you're in a unique area there are a lot of million dollar homes in this area having a cozy little cottage isn't really conducive to what the area is have you had any feedback from buyers coming through the front door uh yes not liking the kitchen the color of the kitchen the lack of the cupboards yeah and is this information you've passed on to lisa yes now as a real estate agent would you have suggested to her don't buy until you've sold yes lisa's bought a home she got out there on her own without any guidance from real estate bought herself a home while she still owned a home that is just a sleepless night situation and the market right now is telling us this isn't selling if we make the improvements it's going to stand a chance in this market that's what we're counting on improving lisa's odds is what it's all about so to show her what is selling in the neighborhood i'm taking her to a comparable house that got two asking price offers in only one day come on in lisa wow this is gorgeous yeah everything feels like it's tied in there's not you know blue hair pattern there yeah everything has a place it works well come on through so the million dollar question what is this room oh this is definitely the dining room there you go no question but the good thing about this room is when your family walks through the door they can imagine themselves sitting here having family meals and that's really really important very effective i think a lesson's been learned should we go on through [Music] first impressions immaculate lots of prep area storage wow this is a perfect example of how to prepare your kitchen for sale and i would be happy to eat my meals off the prep space off the floor this place is immaculate 10 out of 10. wow now cast your mind back what does the loft look like what are you seeing a mess in a couple of days time you're going to be seeing something like this oh this room says comfort for sure the whole house looks amazing and now i understand you know when someone walks in your house it's important that they don't have to imagine you know where are we going to eat or where are we going to sit exactly they got two asking price offers in one day oh my gosh and sold the house in two weeks wow that's incredible yeah to help lisa sell fast our contractor anthony says will handle the structural fixes uh well walking up to the front of the house it's a great porch i love the feel of it what's up with the post though oh it's uh decorative i think i bought like the wrong one and it just ended up being faulty it looks really bad and the first thing that we should do is change it yeah first impressions where do you already count okay yeah just coming down here in the living room a great fireplace i noticed there's a lot of smoke on the exterior of the brick so what we'll do is paint the brickwork with a smoke and fire resistant paint okay um going upstairs i noticed there's some water damage in the lock yeah so what i'll do is i'll cut out the drywall that's there and then i'll spray like a stucco paint just to match up the two ceilings yeah yeah and i think the great thing is it doesn't sound like it's gonna break the bank no minor changes but they'll make a big impact okay great yeah fantastic well i think we should get started yes come on so it's out with the old and in with the new i've enlisted lisa and her gang to d scarf d clutter and destroy or should i just throw it downstairs those clashing outdated fabrics covered a multitude of sins when selling your home i always say remove at least one fifth of your possessions so buyers can see what they're getting [Music] you've already attached the lattice yeah it just closes it off and makes it look nice and pretty much stops any critters trying to get underneath the deck well i think it looks much much better we will paint it white just to match the rest of it okay and then you're gonna take this cosmetic pillar out replace it with a new one yes it was bent it didn't look good it looked a bit wonky and curved feels so important and i think especially if people are going to see a lot of houses they sometimes just drive past and think oh that one doesn't look great from the outside and maybe just not even come inside yeah brilliant well i think it's gonna look 100 improved with only the initial stages complete lisa has already turned a corner you know now that i see what's going on i'm just so excited about everything oh you're fixing the water damage how's it going well i'm gonna just take this piece of drywall out all together okay replace it with a new piece and just give it the same texture that the rest of the ceiling has so it's actually not too difficult no it's not brilliant because i think having damage like this people see buckling like this they immediately think there's a problem exactly what are you expecting to find under the plasterboard uh i'm hoping nothing wrong that's a whole lot of something anthony luckily it's just the old insulation which we can easily replace to match the stucco you may have to experiment with sponges and rollers to get just the right texture now that the loft is almost done downstairs needs to catch up at the moment the sitting room's a bit dark and pokey i want it to feel brighter give it more of a country cottage feel and anthony's work on the fireplace will give us just that once the brick has been cleaned we're going to use a special primer the primer seals the smoke from penetrating through the pigment of the paint once the brick has dried we can go ahead and do the finished coat of paint very important to get in to all the little nooks and crannies you just got to make sure you cover the whole thing and there's no need to buy new furniture a simple paint job does the trick and costs next to nothing sitting in the sun painting it's actually very therapeutic it is thirsty work though i could use a beer lisa's wonky front porch won't be in ice or any longer the last thing you want is by suspicious that there may be structural problems [Music] and this time we'll make sure it's level if we can keep this pace lisa's two mortgage nightmare may be over when i drove up i just couldn't believe the difference in the house it looked like a new house you know now that i see what's going on i'm just so excited about everything and to be only halfway done just tells me like wow i'm really in for a surprise tomorrow using mdf board the dining room is an easy fix we're making a bench in the corner to seat a family of six the window treatments are getting a much needed upgrade as well in the kitchen gone is that hideous emerald green and replaced by a soft grey giving this small room much more depth and now that the kitchen has been prepped anthony's boys are on to stage two of the renault inexpensive kitchen cupboards with no fabric in sight new paint and new hardware works every time voila the renault is almost complete and at this stage just the right finishing touches make all the difference if you've got a wood burning fire like this one then stack some logs artistically in the grate because they look good they also smell great too when you're selling your house your kitchen should be clean and decluttered but it's still nice to dress it up a bit and add some color and what could be better than edible props you can buy in your grocery store clean is key when you're selling your house so if you've got a grimy old hob nip down to the hardware store get a new burner insert new ring and bob's your uncle almost a new cooker in fact lisa's practically getting a brand new home but will the buyers bite [Music] lisa's house is unique but she and her two kids need to move out fast let's get the curtain out what we want to do is create that country cottage look now that i see what's going on i'm just so excited about everything our work here is done and this cottage looks amazing we've transformed it from a series of unfinished rooms with mismatched patterns and colours into a picturesque harmonious country cottage in the city it's got a lot of charm and with this gorgeous garden i think it really is an oasis of calm away from the hubbub of the city the outside of lisa's cottage promised a lovely country hideaway but inside was a catalogue of disappointments in the living room the chunky leather sofa the black chair and the smoke scarred fireplace had buyers heading for the hills now this room emanates fresh country cottage the sofa has a lovely cream coverlet with complementary coloured pillows we painted the fireplace a clean crisp white and added a sprinkling of knick-knacks new wall hangings and upgraded window treatments complete the wow factor the dining room setup confused buyers and was family unfriendly we've changed the layout by building a banquet with an inexpensive paisley cushion we've added a large country table enhancing the flow of the space now this dining room is definitely a selling feature we all know kitchen sell homes and i really felt sorry for this one so we painted the walls updated the existing cupboard doors with new paint and hardware and added essential cupboard space under the window buyers will now be able to see that this kitchen means business no more sweaty socks we've turned this loft into a teenage free oasis of calm we've repaired the damage to the ceiling and added soothing touches like a neutral colour on the walls crisp designer linens and complementary window treatments this bedroom now meets bars expectations of a master retreat when selling your house the interior needs to reflect the exterior so at a total cost of just over three thousand three hundred dollars we've added value and uniformity throughout maximize the space and transform this cottage into a one-of-a-kind family home if your house is unique maximize it it's probably its uniqueness that will help sell it if it looks like a gorgeous cottage on the outside make sure it looks like a gorgeous cottage on the inside because buyers like it when they walk into a house that knows what it is curb appeal is so important so if you've got a fabulous exterior don't let it down with bent posts or missing lattice because in the end you've only got one chance to make a good first impression know your target market if you've got a family house it needs a family size dining room focus your house and the sale on the people who are most likely to buy it so is lisa sold oh my gosh this is awesome i mean in the kitchen i was like blown away by the new cupboards all the space to put everything i always thought this was such a small room but actually it's like totally feels huge now my house has completely transformed into a dollhouse it's perfect i can't even believe that it's my house now that the transformation from rustic shack to storybook cottages complete let the open house begin come on in guys i like the little seating area here do you think this is big enough to accommodate yourselves yeah huh fantastic well why don't you come on through to the kitchen nice and clean nice and bright i like the baskets and the open shelves there come on in this is a nice cozy house isn't it do you feel that you're transported back to an english country club it does have that style it does oh it's an attractive bedroom isn't it oh absolutely yes it's got a magic to it so what are your thoughts on the look of the cottage as soon as you see it down the street you think oh that's a nice little house and inside it's got the same charm sounds second viewing territory to me okay i think this house ticks all the boxes it's got everything potential buyers are looking for and it's been quite a lot of hard work after five long weeks on the market lisa's house is finally sellable her chances of getting the asking price of 399 000 are better than ever [Music] so [Music]

Channel: House to Home

Views: 99,531

Keywords: DIY renovation, House to Home, Sofie Allsopp, attractive home interiors, boost property value, cozy cottage, cozy living spaces, grubby kitchen, home decor ideas, home improvement, house renovations, property aesthetics, property interiors, property selling techniques, property selling tips, property transformation, real estate market, selling tactics, struggling to sell, student-squat attic, three-bedroom city cottage

Id: tAAuT_Wy6vs

Length: 21min 18sec (1278 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 06 2022