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

The bedrooms are very small, and I hate windowless bathrooms. I love the rug in the lounge though...where's it from?? 😍

This seems to be in the same place as you, or at least the gym and the bathrooms look identical.

It's £10k cheaper, view looks far more appealing and none of the images make the rooms look so long, narrow and dark.

If I was looking in the area, I'd be looking at this one first over yours at an extra £10k for what?

You are overpriced.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/158824094

Personally I’d add some big pots of evergreen greenery on the balcony as the views aren’t scenic. Create a relaxed outside area. I think as much as some will say a buyer will put their own stamp on a place, for a maximum return you need to sell an affluent young executive lifestyle in terms of decor and photos.

Also OP, if you are looking to make some changes for the photos, though it’s perfectly nice, the interior decor pendulum is swinging very decisively against grey (far too 2015), especially with the yellow that was very fashionable a while ago. (The drawback of having a very fashionable decor scheme is of course that it will date more quickly when fashions change!)

When I’m looking at listings right now it’s always in my mind how much I’d have to spend to de-grey a flat or house. The look right now is beige neutrals/blush tones, gilt, white, green, lots of plants. Incorporating suggestions from other posters, I’d suggest;

-move beds to wall
-dress beds with plain white bedding
-remove as many personal items as possible
-remove cushions
-remove accent items in grey or yellow
-neutral paper lamps
-lots of plants
-books
-four chairs at the table
-plants and decoration on balcony; hang up fairy lights, change photo angle
-kitchen being neutral is perfectly fine; put out cookbooks and coffee cups/espresso machine
-if you can borrow some items from friends etc. to dress the flat as above, that would make a big difference.

What's the ground rent review period? People are right to flag service charge as a risk of cost increase (although ultimately service charges cover a lost of eg maintenance costs that you always have to pay as a homeowner, you just don't see them as a lump sum!). For me tho the bigger issue is the ground rent. Some new builds have a really high rate of ground rent increase baked into the lease and this can't be contested like a SC can, nor does it pay for services. It's literally money for nothing. What's more when you pay to extend a lease, your ground rent is legally reduced to peppercorn eg nothing. This is where such a long lease is actually an issue as there's no way out of whatever the ground rent terms are in your existing lease. So basically you need to be pricing much cheaper than properties without ground rent (and service charge) to get a look-in, as you need to compensate for this.

Did you read my post with specific reasons why that exact location might be problematic?

in short, price, competition from Beaulieu (esp with new station), the view from the balcony (there are tons with Central Park views for sale), service charge, train noise (there is train noise, especially from freight trains - you are closer to the railway than me and we hear train noise). But mainly price.

It’s too expensive for the size.

'Drop the price too. £315k might attract more potential buyers.'

It's been on for 12 days isn't that a bit premature?

its expensive. The living/dining/kitchen is small.

the service charge will only increase as it’s supporting communal chilling area and a gym. Does the groundrent increase?

not a nice view and these sort of properties look great when new but then cost loads as the development needs more and more work.

leasehold is in the news a lot and so people are more wary.

They are both priced correctly.

@Hollietree Except if they aren’t selling, they aren’t priced “correctly”.

The kind of pricing expectations that have been the norm until recently aren’t working at the moment. As a pp noted, there are lots and lots of properties on the market that are very similar - pages and pages of them. Yet not many people are looking to move right now with the current levels of economic instability and job retrenchment. The target market isn’t families who will be keen on the grammar school, but single commuters or a couple, probably without children. FTBs who can pay £300k for a flat are vanishingly rare (even more so now that lenders are keeping credit tight while it’s not clear what the economic outlook is going to be). There are not lots of new buyers flooding into the market at the moment; in fact landlords are offloading flats rather than buying.

So what should the OP do in a market where there is oversupply of similar properties, yet not many target buyers around?

Bingo, “it’s cheaper up north”! Sweeping generalisation. 2 bed flat down my road very far up north has just sold for £290k so prices like this don’t shock me. You only have to click on the map on right move and look at similar nearby properties to see that there’s a lot of competition in this type of property and price range and this one is pushing the ceiling price without offering anything more than the others.

I don’t know the area so my immediate worry is it’s close proximity to the railway line
Only one two bed on Cunard Sq is priced higher that yours @£355. All the others are lower so if you want a quickie sale I’d move to price down in keeping with the others. Don’t be near the top

Its a bit grey
For me I wouldn’t buy purely based on the lack of privacy on the balcony. Too many other balconies staring straight at yours. To make it feel more present I’d put some tall plants on either side.

The first picture isn’t great, perhaps swap with the second

The photos could be improved. Can you buy a ton of geraniums for the balcony and put a nice cushion on the chair? Can you move the sofa blocking the balcony?

I know the area and it is a fab location for commuters into London. It looks like a pretty standard flat for the city center. I think it just needs better photos taken and some tweaking - maybe screening on the balcony and some plants, have a play around with the layout of rooms etc. Make the living/dining/kitchen more zoned.

Some lenders have a limit of £250 quid, which yours is but it depends on the term going forwards. They often double over a set number of years.

I think it looks like a nice flat, but from the estate agent blurb these are the things that would put me off it:

1. The price. You are asking for offers in excess of £325k. That means the minimum you will accept is £325k, but j more. That would put me right off as you can't even really haggle at all.

Drop the use of the "offers in excess of" system. People might then feel they would be more free to make an offer.

Drop the price too. £315k might attract more potential buyers.

2. That service charge, I'm afraid. £2,725 is huge! It is nice to have the gym and the concierge (security etc.) but those are what make it so expensive. People will be seeing £££ before they even notice the actual price of it.

Obviously you can't do much about the service charge and it is what it is. The price of the property you are selling though might have to reflect it somehow. Presently it is very high, so buyers will be hit hard on two fronts - the high price of the flat with the demand for more than £325k and the service charge itself.

I know where you are although I don't live in Chelmsford. Two of my three DDs went to the girls' grammar school. Not a selling point though as few such families will live in flats.

It's Chelmsford. It's the county town of Essex. It's nice and well connected with lots of amenities and shopping and has had a lot of investment in recent years since it was created a city. Mayfair in London though it is not and it looks like your flat is trying to mimic that.

It's a nice flat for a young professional first time buyer but it needs to be priced carefully. I think if you revisit all of that then it will sell eventually.

This is not a desirable area to live. High crime, anti social behaviour etc. it’s on a very busy road, next to a problematic roadabout that is infamous in this city, the road is often gridlocked with traffic, there is very little parking nearby.

The flat being sold by @househelp2025 is right in the city centre, much more desirable area, has secure underground parking, walking distance from the train station.

They are both priced correctly. And are not comparable properties.

The lease length is great.

Are you classed as being in Greater London? Then it’s a higher limit.

I thought it was a good price and a really long lease.

The ground rent is pretty high, especially for a 900 year plus lease. Once you get to 250 a year, mortgage companies don’t tend to like it. What’s the term going forward?

I think the flat looks nice, I assume it’s an expensive area but I do agree the photos look a bit dull.

There’s one in the same postcode and I’m assuming same building that’s at 10k less than yours and looks much brighter and roomier, from the floor plan I don’t think it is, but it looks it.

its also already been reduced.

So I’m guessing the prices are the issue tbh