Viewers saying flat is too small

[AlabamaArkansas]

Has anyone else selling received feedback that their property is too small?

Our flat went on the market the day before lockdown so obviously no viewings. Since estate agents were allowed back to work we've had loads of viewings but consistent feedback that the flat is too small. Slightly confused as to why anyone would bother coming to look at it really as you can clearly see the size of it in the floorplan.

To be honest we didn't think there was much point keeping it on the market as we thought it'd never sell in the current climate, but as we had so much interest thought we might as well keep it on the market. But not much I can do about the size of it, is there! We've already decluttered as much as humanly possible and put stuff in storage.

a common tactic is to use a fisheye lens which is really misleading re size.

I'm excellent at scanning floor plans, but unfortunately house hunting involves a bit of trying out in order to nail down what's really important.

For example, if your parking is indeed a rarity, they might think, "yep, it's on the small side, but it's the right area and I've got three other viewings that afternoon round there".

But size is an immediate comparator, whereas the expense and inconvenience of not having direct parking is a future one. So they see a lot of slightly bigger flats and prefer them.

I bought the slightly smaller house with parking but I can't pretend that the slightly larger ones without parking go quicker round here (and get sold on more quickly when the buyers realise what a nightmare it is!).

How annoying. Do you know whether viewers have specifically requested to view your flat of whether the agent is pushing viewings?

I ask because when we bought our house we organised 2 days in the area to view the houses on our shortlist, only to find on the day that two of the EAs had sandwiched in extra viewings of properties they thought we might like. All wildly unsuitable. I felt so bad for the poor vendors who’d had to rush around and tidy up ready.

Zero outside space really apart from a small communal front garden.

Is there anything in the wording of the listing that leads people to believe that it's bigger than it actually is?

Have you checked whether they are being offered a list of reasons for rejecting by the Estate Agent? Is Too small at the top of that list of options?

People tend to choose a bland reason for rejecting rather than explaining that they didn't like the road/ the trampoline and five small children in next door's back garden/ the state of the house next door or whatever has really put them off.

Seems ridiculous to view it if you already know it's too small. Maybe it's overpriced considering the size?
If nothing happens after 20/30 viewings that'll be it, I'm positive. Not to worry everybody tries to get the max

I hired a storage unit quite cheaply to put my stuff in.

We have one!! But there are three of us living here and we are here all day every day at the moment so there is a limit to how much stuff I can actually clear.

I think the price point is tricky also as it's on for £375K which will attract extra stamp duty. A lot of people are expecting 10-20% drops and unfortunately London is an overheated market. Mortgage lending has tightened up too at the moment so, if this flat is a first time buyers flat which it sounds like, then big deposits are needed. I think the situation will be worse in a year due to the incoming recession/depression so I'd cut my losses, reduce it to £360 and expect £340K. You'd still have £80K equity to take away.

Or wait and hope that everything drops in line with yours but then buyers will have a choice of larger flats for their £350K.

Obviously I can't answer for your viewers, but when we were looking to buy as first time buyers, many years ago we were badly 'burned' when the owner of the property we were buying informed us the day before exchange that he'd actually been running us against another couple to see who got to that stage quickest. By that time we had spent a lot of money on solicitors, surveyors etc that, as fun, we could not recover in any way. When we began to look again, one of the questions we always asked was that if our offer was accepted and we paid a holding deposit, would the vendor continue to market the property. If the answer was yes, we just wouldn't even consider making an offer. We probably told the ea that those properties were too small/garden too small/not on a bus route etc.
Could it be that 'too small' is a convenient reason that is inoffensive but not the real reason?

People tend to choose a bland reason for rejecting rather than explaining that they didn't like the road

I'm actually surprised no one has mentioned the road it is on as it's quite busy and that nearly put us off buying it (in the end it hasn't bothered us at all).

How big is the flat OP? I agree with some of the PPs that viewers probably mean it's too small for the money.

Can you ask the agents to try and find out which rooms viewers particular think are too small and then you can see if there's anything you can do. If it's the living room and you've got huge sofas, you can get something smaller.

If you are able to post a link, albeit you'll get lots of blunt answers, there may be a common theme such as the weird angle of some photos. It's fine for agents to make houses look their best but counter-productive when the real thing looks completely different.

I think the situation will be worse in a year due to the incoming recession/depression so I'd cut my losses, reduce it to £360 and expect £340K. You'd still have £80K equity to take away.

I would be totally fine with that but i will struggle to talk my DH into it as he will say "but then we're losing money".

I don't see it that way but he does.

I've just looked at 2 bed flats round where I live and one in a neighbouring block is 637sq ft, the one that I live in is over 800. I wouldn't call the 637 one small though, it has a good size open plan kitchen / living room (they've taken the adjoining wall down), 2 double bedrooms and a good size bathroom. There's definitely space for a dining table and sofas in the living space. A good starter flat size or even 2nd rung on the property ladder sized space IMO. Small to me would be 2nd bedroom a single only or more of a boxroom, tiny kitchen and a shower rather than bath in the bathroom.

Can you ask the agents to try and find out which rooms viewers particular think are too small and then you can see if there's anything you can do

Specifically it is the second bedroom, which is a weird shape meaning you can't fit a double bed into it, and the hallway, which people say is too narrow. I can do nothing about either of those - there is already nothing at all in the hallway. I used to get a baby in a large pram through that hallway!

our kitchen is also very small but people have said they like the kitchen, weirdly.

They're probably going on viewings to get out of their own house!

Some people view places they have no intention of buying - we had one lot of feedback that the house 'wasn't open plan enough', did they look at the floor plan? Another said the garden wasn't big enough, the garden was actually rather large, as big as you'd get in that area for the size of house and the price, they'd have been looking at another 30% of the price at least for a bigger garden.

Conversely, we viewed one that we thought was going to be perfect, but the EA had used the magic lens on the garden, we knew it was small, but in reality it was practically non-existent!

Most people can't visualize a house from a floor plan or dimensions.

If this is a common comment, then my guess is that it's cluttered, painted in dark colours (which makes things look smaller) or you're asking too high a price (compared to similar sized flats).

Have you asked your EA?

What, Intrested you to make you buy it OP?.

Would you consider zharing a floor plan of that bedroom? Rearranging the furniture might help? Is there a cot or a single in there?

Buyers are so weird though. I used to have a (beautiful) house with an upstairs kitchen and if I had a pound for every viewer who said 'but it has an upstairs kitchen!'...

Just to be clear I am not remotely averse to lowering the asking price, but my feeling is that if somewhere is too small for someone to contemplate living in at 350k, it isn't going to be suddenly big enough at 325k. Or am I wrong?

I think you're wrong, yes.

Most of the time when people are buying a home, they're making compromises between what they want and can afford. Some of your viewers will be people who just can't or won't live in the space whatever the circumstances, but most people would be willing to make compromises on their preferences for a home if the price was good enough. However small it is, if you put it on for a tenner someone will buy it in 30 seconds. Obviously you're not going to do that, but the purpose of that thought experiment is to show that even if your flat is undesirable to most viewers because of size and layout, there's going to be a price that will persuade someone to compromise the level of space they desire.

The difficulty is going to be finding that price, particularly in an uncertain market and with a DH who doesn't seem to understand the implications of that.

I used to live in a three-storey town house. On the ground floor were the kitchen, a 25m2 family room that backed on to the garden with full width windows, a cupboard and a guest cloakroom off the hallway.

People would come round and go, 'Oh, we wanted to put a bedroom downstairs for my mum/dad/granny and there isn't any room for that.' No shit, Sherlock. Try looking at the photos and floor plan!

The second bedroom has a toddler bed in it at the moment. It actually isn't a small room but the shape means you can't get a double in it.