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.

Exactly what @MummaGiles said. It's code for "we didn't like it"

It's like when you go for a job interview and you get rejected on the basis of not having enough experience, even though they saw your CV before the interview so it's just a lazy way of giving feedback

this is a bit of a project but could you transform the second bedroom to a study and take new pictures? It sounds to me like it would be a lovely starter flat for a young couple and you may want to promote it as that rather than a flat for a small family. like someone has mentioned before, people are now just seeing that the room is too small for a bedroom and it probably puts them off. turn it in to a nice office instead and suddenly they might realise that yes, they would have enough space for their current lifestyle and still have the option of turning it in to a nursery later on. I realise that you can not do this every time you have a viewing but maybe just for new pictures?
People often forget to think outside the box and instead of picturing the life they could have in this flat they are picturing how small it will be if they have a child after a few years.

I think I may have found your flat as well .
If it is the one with the dado rail in the front room and hallway ...I would remove that and paint the lower parts white . The darker lower walls make the space seem small , a bit like looking into a box.

The second bedroom would be better with a single bed in .

No dado rail!!

I cant make the second bedroom into an office, my son and all his things have to live in there

We eventually sold a very small flat. We cheated.

We went to Argos and bought children's furniture. All shelving units, the wardrobe etc were small. And we bought a low bedstead, no headboard and borrowed 2 small 2 seat sofas with pale throws.

That and pale paint was pretty much all we did. Sold the flat very quickly and sold all the furniture, got back about 50% of what we paid. It was pretty cheap!

Maybe you could make the floorspace look bigger with a similar cheat.

We had a rather unusual house a few years ago to sell. All the houses in the road were different so EA wanted to test the market with the price.

He got some great feedback but no one mentioned the price so we knew we had set it at the right level.

Apologies. I missed a page or two.

Your flat sounds exactly like my flat I sold at the tail end of 2013 - it was a middle floor 2 bed flat in a converted Victorian semi with large main bedroom but weird shaped second bedroom (did fit a double but nothing else so we had a sofa bed in it) with long narrow hall and small kitchen! Doesn't happen to be in Forest Hill does it? We sold ours before having kids so didn't have the same issue of containing child clutter (2 kids now and dreading ever having to move as we basically look like a branch of Toys R Us now).

@clary please share the link. I read through all of this really hoping that @alabamaArkansas would give in and let us see the listing. Pretty please.

I think some people view houses that they know aren't quite right, but are hoping that they may love it on sight enough to overcome that problem. That isn't unreasonable because no house is perfect.

Absolutely this.

For us it was all about location, so we went to see pretty much everything within our budget that wasn’t a dundering inn. There were some things I didn’t like, but could see past them if the rest of the house was great.

The house we’re buying at the moment has a crap garden, which was clear from the listing, and it was only because DH was dying to view it that I even enquired. But the rest of the house is perfect for us, so I don’t mind having to sort the garden.

[quote Mumdiva99]**@clary* please share the link. I read through all of this really hoping that @alabamaArkansas* would give in and let us see the listing. Pretty please.[/quote]
You seriously think another poster should violate OPs privacy just because you want a nosey at her flat?

If OP wants to share the link, great, but it would be unacceptable for anyone else to do so.

@sunglasses123 my aunt's buyers came back to ask if she would consider putting her dog into the sale because they thought she was so cute.

Lots of people didn't like that our house was "on a main road" well, yeah...

I'd really rather the link wasn't shared.

Do you have a large Teddy bear asleep in your lounge?

I was wrong about the flat anyway, but even if I was right, of course I wouldn't share the link.

Usually buyers need to make compromises to find the right property. They will view a lot of “nearly right” places to work out exactly which compromises they’re willing to make.
Would you really rather that those on the fence who think it might be a bit small but that might be ok didn’t view?
If so take it off the market.

Solved!

(Sorry )

Sorry for the sidetrack but I'm fascinated by heartsonacake's post. Are you an MNHQ employee or are you a premium member who has now been given the power of quoting another post?

@RainMustFall

Sorry for the sidetrack but I'm fascinated by heartsonacake's post. Are you an MNHQ employee or are you a premium member who has now been given the power of quoting another post?

Neither - everyone has the ability to quote how. Have a look at the thread in site stuff, it shows you how depending on how you’re accessing the site

*now

Gosh, the Tech Team have really outdone themselves. It took them over two years to fix Advanced Search and now we have Quote. No doubt they are laying down in a darkened room to recover

Thanks for the info.

You will alas always get some PITA viewers who don’t bother to look at floor plans, or who are too thick to understand them even if they do. Or estate agents who urge people to view even before they’ve seen the particulars.
In the past I’ve had all of these.
Hang in there, you’ll find a buyer eventually.

I used to have a 2 bed house and when the viewings started, I got the same feedback. The reasons given included:

• we just wanted to see it as it looked nice
• we’ve never been in one of the houses on this estate before
• we didnt check the size of the bedrooms
• we didnt know we couldnt park right outside (this was in BOLD on the particulars, together with a map of the house and parking spaces which were50 yards from the house
• we fancied a day out
• my mum booked the appointment
• my girlfriend booked the appointment

It’s infuriating but unless youve got a great estate agent to filter then you’re screwed.

My house is fine, size-wise for us. Usually. But when we’re all here, all the time, nowhere is ever going to be big enough!!!

It’s go to be a tough time to sell a bed-and-a-box room flat.Stick with it!