Please give your opinions on why we have not had any viewings on our flat? Listing included

I’ll preface what I think by saying I live in Chelmsford, in a flat:

• price: that’s a big part of it. It’s overpriced
• the aspect. There are flats on the market with much nicer views in Chelmsford.
• the service charge (it’s actually not as high as ours but that will put people off)
• proximity to the railway line. There is noise, especially from the freight trains
• massive competition from beaulieu (especially with the new station about to open).

A lot of people are complaining about the view of the car park. I actually don't find the view bad at all but since so many people mention disliking it, could be wise to add hanging some planter boxes with a fast growing trailing plants (e.g Japanese Wisteria) along the length of the rail to both pretty it up & give a little more privacy. The openness, proximity to other balconies & barren lack of any greenery in sight would bother me way more than the car park. This would solve both niggles somewhat.

You can get boxes that hang on the rails so you don't have to do any DIY to add them on & they can be hung exteriorally (made up word haha) so as to not lose any space on the balcony. Also you can remove them easily when you sell, should you so desire.

IKEA have them for £10 & £15 pounds:

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/vitloek-flower-box-with-holder-in-outdoor-turquoise-30584755/

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/rosenkal-flower-box-with-holder-outdoor-turquoise-00584771/

Fwiw I think your flat is very nice & wish you success with your sale.

I think it doesn’t represent good vfm. It is pretty small, the balcony over the car park and the service charge would be offputting. It would work for a single buyer who just needs a base and wants to rent out a room with an en-suite to help pay the mortgage. Likely to be younger, so would use the gym. You could buy a flat in some areas of London for that price and not need to spend over 5K for an annual season ticket.

Before you get to the layout/lack of windows etc a lot of landlords are selling as a result of changes and the knock on of that is that the market is flooded with two bedroom flats

Offers in excess of would instantly put me off so maybe change that.
Hard to comment on price as local to me you’d get a nice 4 bed detached with garden for a similar price but it often comes down to price.
The service charge seems a lot!
I think the main living area looks really small. It almost doesn’t look like there’s room to eat at the table. Maybe better pictures?
Also the balcony looks like it has a really sad view. Maybe just use 1 picture.

Not far off west London prices , either the price is inflated or the place too small

either way perhaps look into renting out ?

its definitely rentable

On top of all that, a lot of people really, really don't like "offers over x" and swipe left on that immediately.

I always think that. Also, the two bathrooms and nowhere really to eat. I wouldn't be interested because of that.

'Op your home is beautiful and what would put me off is the view outside onto the road/street. It looks quite bleak and I think I’d feel very lonely there'

Lots if not most town/city dwellings have road views.

It wont be the layout It'll be the service charge putting people off. Since the cladding issue we hear time and time again how service providers double or triple these charges willy nilly with no protection in place for residents.

Storage?

I assume your clothes are spread across two bedrooms but where for ironing board/vacuum/cleaning stuff?

Yes, this. I didn't look at the pictures and went straight for the leasehold info and I wouldn't buy a flat with that service charge or ground rent, unfortunately. I struggled to sell a flat due to ground rent issues and they are a nightmare.

If this ends up being a bit of an issue in the future, there's plenty of info on the National Leasehold Campaign Facebook group. There are things you can do such as the indemnity insurance and a deed of variation, but I'd definitely be looking for a cash buyer. Or it may not be an issue in which case you're lucky. 😃 I was just chatting to someone and we both had noticed that the market is slowing down because people don't tend to move over the summer. I think things pick up around September. Good luck!

Picky me here again! Can you put some planters on your balcony? The other thing that hit me was all your curtains are pulled to one side. Don't know why but that jarred with me and yes I could change that but I'm wondering if this can't be changed, it would irritate but that's me

Other people have commented about the lack of windows in the bathroom. Have no idea how expensive this is but could you get some of those glass bricks and make a window into the hall or line them down one side of the doors? Probably cost too much.

New photos on a brighter day would help

Pictures 3 & 4 won’t be doing you any favours. The pictured generally are very badly taken. It looks dark, I’m sure it’s not.

Your flat is perfectly nice but it’s expensive. Nobody is buying at the moment because everyone’s anticipating a market fall. The U.K. simply doesn’t have the salary growth to support prices at current levels, and all the little bits of stuff that were propping up the end of the market under the last govt are coming to an end.

If you can drop your price I’d drop a bit more than you expect in this market to get a sale - otherwise you run the risk of chasing the market down and not selling in the meantime.

Good luck OP - it’s not a great time for property. The constantly expectation of increasing prices that people have had for over two decades just isn’t sustainable in the long term, and it’s all petering out.

I'd defo switch agents. 1 - it will look like a fresh new listing and bump it to the top of people's searches. And 2 - the photos they've taken are awful! A good agent will take pictures which make the place look the best it can - they'd photoshop out the cars, they'd make the lighting better. LIke someone else said, a photo of the hall and the aspect when you walk in really helps me picture a property. So I'd switch agents, but one which you've researched and takes better pics.

If your table can fit 4 people round it then display it like that for the photos. It looks like you can't sit anywhere.

Also agree re balcony. A few plants would make a big difference.

For me, the off-putting things are:

• no windows in the kitchen or either of the bathrooms. I refuse to buy anything with windowless bathrooms now as they end up getting damp and mouldy.
• balcony overlooking a car park
• service charge is high and who knows how much it could increase by

The bedrooms are tiny, the view isn’t good and the kitchen looks brown and gloomy. And it’s a daft developer thing to give you two bathrooms so they can call it luxury, but no storage space.

Maybe take a couple of new photos, with a big fake plant at each end of the balcony so there’s something green to look at outside? And put a bunch of flowers on the kitchen counter so there’s something cheerful in those photos. What is the kitchen splashback made of? Would it be easy / cheap to swap it for something in a nicer colour?

The description could be better too - it says walking distance to the city centre, rather than how long it takes to walk, so I’d be assuming they haven’t specified because the walk is 20 minutes plus. Some things about it can’t be changed, but your description of the commute to London is more appealing than the estate agents, so you could start there.

The flat is nice/ could do with sectioning off living room with a longer dining table. I think your main issue is where the flat is- every window view appears to be out in to concrete that would put me off

That's almost £200 pcm on service charges which is expensive on top of a monthly mortgage.

Without looking I guessed £325k so price would seem ok. Its a nice flat, not everyone cares about overlooking the carpark

It’s really annoying how RM doesn’t/can’t show the price a properly previously sold for.

How much did it cost you and when @househelp2025? this will help with the current valuation and whether it’s appropriate

Op your home is beautiful and what would put me off is the view outside onto the road/street. It looks quite bleak and I think I’d feel very lonely there.

Can you perk up the balcony a bit with some greenery in pots and make it look a bit more inviting.

Definitely move the beds! It’s a very American thing for them to be under the window and over here feels like there’s nowhere else for them - the rooms seem smaller. And lots of plants on the balcony, maybe throughout the flat too? It doesn’t look very homely. The kitchen is quite clinical. Add the extra chairs to the table too - show that it seats four! You could get someone to style it properly for new photos? I really don’t think they’ve done a great job with the pics to be honest. When we had our small one bed flat photographed it looked a lot lot bigger. If you think it is brighter and bigger in real life you could ask the estate agent to upload a video tour too. Good luck

Is it residents parking or allocated parking?

That and the open plan kitchen / living space would be the two main reasons I wouldn’t view.