Why isn't my flat selling?

[mynamechange94]

I've name changed for this, for obvious reasons. It's been on the market since June, we sold it at one point for £440k but the buyer pulled out. We're out of exclusivity with our agent next month so trying to work out if it's worth doing anything different with the flat before we move agents. What do you think?

Here's the listing...

It looks (& is) tiny. I agree it’s really off putting to just put “ask agent” for crucial things like lease length, service charge & ground rent. Lazy lazy lazy agent.

Typical though. The length of the lease could be more important to a buyer, than how many bedrooms a place has, so why the hell do you have to 'ask the agent' ? If they know, then why do they not include such key info in the sales pitch ?

Also the giant fridge I think makes the kitchen even darker could that be moved out? I do think that would allow loads more light in.

It's so sparse it reminds me of a rental advert. You've literally got one lamp that's moved across several rooms and a handful of frames hung oddly high on the walls, making the ceilings look low and the spaces dark - why are they all hung 30cms from the ceiling? 😂

The furniture is too big for the space, even the fridge is overbearing. The camera angles are also not flattering. Image 1 vs. image 6 look like totally different rooms, one is empty and the other is stuffed, you need a medium between the two. Is image no. 1 really the best your flat can get?

• the dining area and window shot is much stronger but could be improved
• put your telly on the wall and ditch the living room kallax, get a smaller circular coffee table
• More plants! Add a bit of life to the space
• repaint the pepto bismal pink bathroom
• dress the beds with plain coloured bedding.
• the lamps make the ceilings look low, also oddly located, in the bedroom it's positioned in front of a wall light
• rugs would soften the spaces
• bigger art on the walls would create better scale.
• Kallax boxes in the bedroom look cheap, even if you kept the open shelves and styled them it'd be an improvement

Why are there no lights on in the video? It makes the place look like a cave!

Whoever is filming is constantly blocking the light from the windows and it looks awfully dark everywhere.

Agree not having the lease length/ground rent/service charge in the details is a biggie. Would make me think they're expensive/short lease.

Our buyer pulled out after 2 months too. I was livid, but there was nothing we could do. I agree the market is tricky at the moment. This place was valued at £450 at the beginning of the pandemic and although I wouldn't have expected it to go up during that time, I'm a bit gutted it's gone down!

Does a 2-bed flat need that monster sized fridge freezer? Get a smaller one and let some light in.
Put some nice grey fluffy towels in the bathroom.

Needs lease details
Monthly charges
Bathroom dated

I think flats and London in general have dipped. People can now WFH and live in more flexible locations and want outdoor space. Depends how desperate you are to move - if you are, just reduce the price. No point spending money on the flat, when you could just sell for a bit less.

I used to live in this block! I think the photos make it look really light but it needs dressing more. You are trying to sell a lifestyle.

• Living room looks really cramped
• Dress the bathroom - maybe fancy soap, fluffy towels etc
• Dress the kitchen - fruit, flowers, fancy coffee maker
• Add some plumped up cushions to the beds

Have a look at the marketing photos from some new developments for inspiration! Fwiw I don’t think it’s overpriced and will sell.

OMG that video is bloody awful! Get the agents to take it down ASAP. DH works on EA marketing, and I can't even show him that video because he would gauge his eyes out.

You could get some really nice photos of the flat, but it does need some dressing, the sofa looks tired and the bed isn't too crisp. It has sooo much potential, but to get people through the door you're going to have to get better pics, firstly by dressing the flat and secondly by re-doing the photos.

Not sure if it's been said but the fact that the lights are on in almost every photo makes me think that it's going to be a very dark apartment.

I think it looks great for the price! I’d buy it if I was looking for that sort of thing. I agree with @Teenyliving that dressing isn’t that important really - I’ve bought houses in the past that look terrible online but I look at floorplan, layout, location, price, not if they have nice plants or cushions!
i don’t know the London market at the moment but where I am (south east) things have slowed a lot since summer & also come down in price since May/June.

A couple of the pictures make the flat look cramped (one of the living room with the big sofa and the one with the fridge taking up a large part), also what's the length of the lease?

I know the area quite well, I'm afraid I think that's a lot of money. You could easily buy a Victorian house with three bedrooms and a garden within half a mile for less than your asking price and not have to bother with ground rent/service charges etc. I accept that the Arsenal has some cachet but people moving to Woolwich want value.

I do think it could be dressed better, bowl of fruit

Yep that'll clinch the deal 🤣

It'll be the price, OP.

The video is horrible really dark and like through a soft lens. Fridge looks massive as does the sofa and just crowd the rooms. Needs a bit of dressing. Usually houses are very cluttered with junk this is the opposite there seems to be zero personality.

I don’t live in London (was born there, left at 26: £440
for a 2 bed is nuts!

shock aside, despite the white paint, the ceilings are very low and the furniture is too big.

so glad I left the smoke.

It's a bit bland and the living room furniture looks like there's hardly room to get around the coffee table, the living room lamp is in a weird place and isn't straight. Just looks like a lack of care - bedding is all rumpled. The flowers on the table are too small for the space and dont break the whiteness. Nearly half a million quid you could fling a few cushions about and iron the duvets

Looks like a rental, not necessarily a home. Needs aspirational dressing and pops of colour. Your photos aren't the best, outside nondescript, inside plain.
I'd change agents because they aren't giving you good advice.

What else is for sale in the nearby area? That's your direct competition. It looks like there are 5 flats for sale in that development alone. (Two of them appear to have internal-only windows in both bedrooms!) I'm sorry OP but none of those flats would appeal to me unless they were ridiculously cheap. And as a SE Londoner, the location is on the wrong side of the Thames Barrier for my liking.

It doesn't help that the map doesn't show the nearest stations. The only station icon is a long distance from your flat, but when I clicked on the whole map it turned out to be Plumstead station, whereas Woolwich station is almost on your doorstep and even Woolwich Arsenal is closer than Plumstead station. It seems to be the same map on the pages of the other flats, so it must be a Right Move problem.

I know, like a bowl of fruit will convince someone to spend that money 😂

OP, your flat is lovely and I’d be interested if I had double the budget I have as a singleton. But, to be harsh, it needs to be dressed better. I can look past it but many others won’t be able to. Can you swap some furniture for neural bits from ikea, pop some nice (fake latex ones- white tulips for example- from Amazon are fine), and give the bathroom a lick of off-white paint? And really show off the space, particularly in the sitting room?

Photo one! Is that the first photo on Rightmove? Dude, it's such a bad photo.

Better photos always help. The furniture is not doing you any favours. There no room to swing a cat in that living room but it doesn't have to look like that in the photos.

Get the giant sofa in a mates garage and buy a cheap IKEA one or something so it looks smart and spacious.

• neutral, not neural.

       And please ignore my lack of      paragraphs.

This and style it nicer - look up more expensive flats and you'll get a sense. You could spend a few hundred in dunelm and make it much nicer. People want to see something aspirational. Also photos of all the rooms.