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.

I'd swap your dcs bed for a single with drawers underneath (the Ikea daybed pull out into a double so would do for your dc in the next house). Maximise storage in that room in particular.

Ensure the description on the website has the square footage early on. Ensure the sec9nd bedroom is listed as "single bedroom/study"

I had this with my first house, it was tiny. It had been on the market for nearly two years, kept bringing the price down.
In the end I put nearly all my stuff into storage, went minimalist and painted the whole place bright white with white curtain. everywhere.
It sold in 2 weeks.

I'd come and look despite the floor plans. You often need to see things 'in the flesh' as it were to really appreciate size

I once had someone view a house and the feedback -was lovely house, wrong village. Errr did the signs confuse you?

Whereabouts in London are you @AlabamaArkansas?

Oh yeah, the most irritating piece of feedback we got is '[name of commuter town] is too far from London' - did you not check that before you considered moving here?!

Sometimes photos are deceiving. We viewed a house not long before lockdown. The photo of the driveway was taken on an angle that made it look as though there would be room for both of our cars. When we arrived it was clear there was only room for one car and the street was packed with parked cars. Apart from that, it was a nice house that we would have liked.

Where room sizes are concerned I do tend to look at the floorplans and dimensions and compare them to what we currently have so probably wouldn't turn up to view something we felt was too small.

I think I've found you OP - lovely flat if so. Fwiw I think the child's bed is deceptive, makes the room look bigger. Could you put in a full size single and clarify "second single bedroom" in the details?

clary

I'd be surprised if you had! And impressed! Pm me the link and I'll tell you if it's me

It's too small for the price not just too small. The viewers will be seeing larger for that price point and hence the "its too small" comment. Look and see what else is available near you for that price.

@LisaSimpsonsbff and @summerdaywinterevenings

Again, I think you have to see these kind of viewings and feedback as somewhat like loving the dress on the rail but not in the changing room - especially when there are other dresses to try on too!

It's easy enough to see on a map what a commute looks like, but when you view it, you experience it then compare it to the others. Same goes for a village. You can only compare what you've seen for real - and feedback like that is made in comparison to other real options.

And the reverse can happen too - a house that you fall in love with even though it missed a previous "must have criteria".

Maybe the issue is that you've now got a child, so the couples (in particular) are viewing it as how their lives will be in the future with a child. 60 square meters is quite small for a 2 bed, although if the child's room only has a toddler bed, can you actually fit a full size single in it? I'm not sure how practical this is to do (particularly with lockdown) but can you remove all elements of the fact you've got a child when the viewings happen?

I'd also be asking the estate agent exactly what language they're using when buyers ask "why are they moving?" as if they say "they want something bigger" this immediately brings the size into question.

We bought our first London home in 2014 for just under 350k. I was very specific about the fact it needed to be big enough for a small family and we dismissed a lot of flats and houses because they felt too small and the people were clearly leaving as they had a small child and needed more space. We ended up selling that one whilst we were pregnant and were very cautious with what the estate agents told people - we asked them to say we were moving for work reasons, which was partly true.

Also Victorian properties tend to attract a price premium when compared to say, 1960s flats which are generally bigger and you get a lot of storage. If there's also those on the market in your area people will be comparing them and seeing you do get more size for your money in 1960s flats which is why they might be thinking yours is too small. We discounted anything Victorian/Edwardian in our first search, then in our second search kept an open mind and realised we still felt period properties in our price range were small and oddly shaped.

It’s just a polite way of saying it’s not for them, without giving you the impression that if you change something or the price that’d be ok.

So if they said “Don’t like the colour of the living room” you’d maybe think you could paint it and get back to them, or if they said “bathroom needs updating” you might offer to knock off 5k.

It’s just so as not to give you false hope.

Second time we were hunting we went to see a lovely modern flat- split level with double height living room with massive windows, underground secure parking with lift right to flat, impeccably kept and decorated. Just knew from viewing though that we couldn’t see ourselves living there.

Owner asked what we thought we and we said it was a lovely flat there was nothing wrong with it, she sensed the “but” in our voices and said “But it’s just not for you is it?”. We said, no it wasn’t, it was lovely but we just didn’t get that feeling. She said it was much better to know right away rather than hold out hope til the phone rang in a few days time.

So the “it’s too small’ is just a way of saying “not for us” so you don’t spend money or get your hopes up.

It will be a mix of people who saw a nice flat in an area they like and arranged a viewing with no further thought or research, people who are interested but trying to haggle with you on the price, people who have no idea what they want and think they will eventually wander into the perfect place, people who can't be bothered to check measurements and then people who have no intention of buying any property at all but just fancied a nose around the place.

It's stressful selling a house, good luck OP.

I appreciate that you have decluttered as much as you can. The problem is that the biggest piece of clutter in a flat is a child.

The best look for a two bedroom flat is to be childless offering the option to be able to home child if or when he or she comes along. At the moment your home tells the buyer it’s too small for a family. And that means they will have to sell before long just as you are doing. Buying and selling property is expensive in high price areas.

Childless single people or couples want two bedrooms for space. The second bedroom needs to be a guest room or study. Play areas need to be places where you can entertain friends.

Best advice will be to reduce viewings to specific days when you can dechild the whole place. Pushchairs and toys and all the rest need to go in the car or shed or wherever

The thing is there isn't market for all size flats - we don't know if yours is tiny, but even tiny ones do sell at the right price.

At the moment, buyers are expecting prices to fall and want more for their money. When thry say yours is too small, they might likely mean too expensive for that size, in terms of how they think prices are falling. It doesn't mean no-one will buy your flat because of its size but if it's a competitive market and prices are falling you might need to lower price too.

Some of them would probably happily accept the size if the price were lower. They do t necessarily mean it's too small for them. And yes, when EAs ask for feedback, they have to say something and as prices are uncertain at the moment, small size is easy and not controversial. It's not offensive like saying your flat is ugly or smelly or you're crazy about your elected price.

What is the square footage? Isn't. A typical 1 bed about 50sq ft? I think quite a lot are smaller too.

So have a look at the decor and furniture for minor adjustments but essentially it is the size it is. Buyers are likely to want money off at the moment and quite likely to lower offer again in a few weeks. It's a very hard time to sell and you will probably havebtomseriously lower your expectations or delay selling. Sorry, but being a bit small (or not) will probably be the least of your worries.

What they really mean is 'I'm just starting to look since Covid and feel a bit uncertain about the market and feel most things are probably over-priced now, but I'm not exactly sure how much or what a sensible offer or asking price might be, so I need to keep looking and waiting and thinking and hoping it becomes clear and it'll just be easier to say yours is a bit small'.

We had someone view our cottage who wanted 2 double bedrooms (it was one double and one single) and he was about 6 foot and wide. As soon as I saw him I knew he wouldn’t buy. Agent shouldn’t have sent him. Agent said we should get rid of the TV to make the room bigger. We changed agent and sold in a week.
As long as the price reflects the market I’d stick with it.

It's not just property. An awful lot of people have a very poor attention span when reading or looking at pictures etc.

I think that's also made worse now that people tend to look on their phones instead of larger laptop screens or the old fashioned paper leaflet. It's far easier to miss some written details or not see photos properly on a tiny phone screen.

You can give people all the information they could possibly ever need, but they still want to see something in person and have someone tell them the details.

Estate Agents have a bad habit of showing people who can only afford a 2 bed a cheaper 3 bed to get an idea of their budget. In my experience that is the only time when ‘too small’ ‘too big’ or other stupid reasons come in as viewers haven’t had time to see the specs. In this climate I would be talking to the estate agent and remind them that all viewings should be serious buyers only - they should be showing them a video of the property first.

I got this from some people when they were viewing a 2 bed flat I let out.

The flat is actually a good size - probably a bit larger than average. However the family of 4 who came to view it commented on how it was rather small. Actually it wasn't the flat that was too small, it was the family that was too large!

You need to just ignore it. The right person will come along in due course.

I think I may have it too. Does your sons room have a bay window

If you're not willing to post a link why not post room measurements here?

We bought a two bedroom flat where the second bedroom was a difficult L shape because of the stairs. The owners just had a toddler bed in it and it looked tiny.

Anyway, we have bought a small four foot double that is also a couple of inches shorter than normal and it fits in fine. The awkward L shaped bit is now a trendy open wardrobe type arrangement with some IKEA drawers and rails. Honestly, it looks great and I feel like we got a two double bedroom flat for a really good price.

You either need to make the changes to maximise the space yourself or wait for the right buyer with a bit of vision to come along.

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

Yes, property too small/ big, the garden/garage/drive is too small/ big. (All still the same measurements /descriptions, photos provided on the agents particulars and independent Home Report).

There are plenty of timewasters for whom viewing properties is a hobby/weekend entertainment with absolutely no intention (or capability) of buying; it's all fantasy.

I'm sorry to say that in my experience some estate agents deliberately don't filter out the timewasters, presumably because they hope number of viewings impresses the seller with how hard the agent is working.

I always conduct viewings of my own property myself; and get as much info about the viewer as possible, all recorded in my little book.

I'd take the advice offered by GrumpyHoonMain, and ask the estate agent to remove that feedback.

Why are so many people posting 'but I can't tell how big things are from looking at a floorplan'? Surely if you can't visualise size, you wouldn't leave negative feedback about it?