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...

The living room and kitchen both look like they have too much furniture for the size. The only way you can do anything about that with the kitchen is likely a smaller joint fridge freezer, which you may not want to do, but you can move the stripey thing out of the way.

Can you swap the fridge for a slimline slim one, or a small feature one?

Looking at your listing, I’d feel certain that your lease must be short or the ground rent/sc was astronomical for them not to be listed, so I’d scroll past.

That’s something you can do something about. Get them onto the listing asap.

There are also issues you can’t do anything about, but would also put me off - not to be able to ventilate a bedroom to outside chief among them. And I would also expect at least one of the bathrooms to have a window. The lack of any built in storage would be a deal breaker for me in a small flat, too - adding storage furniture would make some of the rooms tiny.

As PP have said, your furniture makes the living room look much smaller than it is. I like the idea of swapping the bedroom for the living room.

Basically your main issue is it looks pokey, so the more you can remove, within reason obviously, the better.

I can't justify the expense of swapping the fridge/freezer out at the moment. It is too big for the space, but I wasn't here to supervise the buying - my husband bought it before we met. Given we might end up moving somewhere with an integrated unit or similar, I cannot justify the expense. See also, sofa. I will do what I can to plump up the cushions etc though, before viewings and photos.

I would spend a bit of money on some house plants for the bathroom and perhaps some of the other rooms. You could just move them around for the photos. It looks bare and not terribly inviting. More shots including windows, light being very important.

Cupboard on dining side of fridge, remove that too.

Remove coffee table in lounge and unit in lounge, hang TV on wall.

Get a slimline corner sofa and a couple of small coffee tables, one on each corner?

Remove sloth maybe, Altho cute 😁

You might also need to drop price, check out your competition to decide on this, sorry OP, v.frustrating for you.

This. I'd want to know up front. Also agree on some of the pics making it crampt looking. It is a nice flat though. I hope you sell it soon.

The big fridge doesn't do any justice to your kitchen and the bathroom is certainly very basic. I am another one who would need to know the service fees as I have lived in flats before and they were high.

And dress the bed, it looks a bit student.

I noticed the lack of window and that would stop me buying
small lounge
any other decor problems can be changed and I think the flat in general looks nice
I think there will be people that will buy regardless for the right price so this needs lowering

Agree with others massive red flag purple bricks. I avoided viewing with them in the past unless the house 100% ideal so you may exclude some buyers who just cba with a online agent.

That said when we sold our house our neighbour two doors up also sold at the same time (completed a day apart) and we who went with a high street agent sold ours for c.£40k more! And theirs was arguably nicer as they had a new kitchen!

The photos look super imposed and it doesn't look real. You need a more lived in look to at least give something to make them think they could live there.

Where does the window in the second bedroom go? Can you open in? And maybe put some plants in the sill? Just something to make it look a bit more alive? Also what about painting the kitchen cupboards so that they're not the same colour as the floor?

What is above the kitchen in picture 3? The video is annoying, I don't want to see some bloke wittering for a bit. Everything looks creased - sheets and sofa. In the video I want a walk through not a morphing.

Ive not read the whole thread but are you getting viewings? If so then I wouldn’t worry about photos, maybe be open to negotiation if that’s an option.

I hadn't really looked at the video but have watched it a few times now and agree it's awful. The flat is a bit dark, but it looks way worse in the video than it does in real life. Also, I don't know why they've used a soft focus lense?!

I'll get some more greenery etc. Make it look a bit more loved/lived in.

I actually think a good estate agent can be worth it- we have a good one (not in London) and used them for two moves and they’ve really helped us with negotiation and finding buyers quickly

We get viewings when we pester the agent. If we don't, then no. We asked to be released from our contract, and they magicked up three viewings, although only one of those has actually materialised...

Also we are buying a house from people who used an online agency, we negotiated a lower price and the estate agent definitely didn’t help them keep a higher price - really wouldn’t rate them.

Your pink bathroom is hideous
As are those random coloured beams.
Do you run a day nursery?

Drop the price, the flat needs work doing to it and whilst I agree that's not for you to do if you won't see the return, you need to accept that someone isn't going to want to spend nearly half a million pounds, to redecorate something so pokey.

The pictures could be a lot better the kitchen and lounge look really cramped.

Do you need the big American fridge in the kitchen? Not sure if it’s the photo but it dominates the room.

I would be tempted to reduce the amount of furniture you have in the lounge as there looks like there is no space to walk around sofa/coffee table etc.

I would also paint the bathroom white- think pink could be off putting.

Its a really lovely place and the right person will come along!

I sold last year near you in South East London. Similar development and price of flat.

Like people are saying, general market for flats isn't good, particularly without outside space. It took me a couple of months to sell.

I think key to me selling was 1. dressing it for sale. Imagining likely buyer (young couple/person looking for lovely first home? Sell them the lifestyle!) 2. making it look as spacious as humanely possible - carefully chosen furniture and absolutely all clutter in a storage unit nearby. 3. Being realistic about price.

With (like you) several other similar flats for sale in the same development, I made sure mine looked the best. And I sold while many others were left languishing on the market.

Your photos and video are terrible. I would be unsure about the agent based on that alone.

Also - add photos of your residents gym and concierge desk for a touch of luxury.

I guess it partly depends: are you getting no viewings (which would indicate there's an issue with the pictures) or are you getting viewings but no offers (which would indicate a different issue).

If it's the photos, then I agree with the pp who said the ceilings in some rooms look exceptionally low. I think they look lower than they are because the pictures on the wall (living room, bed room) are hung so high? It feels like there's at least 50cm of wall space missing above the pictures. Also not helped by the fact the lamp is so big. Try to hang the living room & bedroom pictures lower and see if that helps.

Also: paint the bathroom white or duck egg or something like that. And add a couple of plants.

More generally, as others have pointed out: your flat is £400k+ but all the ikea furniture does not make it feel like a £400k flat. It needs to feel a bit more inspirational. Nicer bedding, fewer kallax shelves (if possible) and a few nice touches such as blankets, posh candles, or cushions would make it look more inviting.