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...

Looks like has few windows.

Need some photos that show window aspect.

Has Bed 2 got no window? What's that window on the void?

Very basic looking (sorry, just giving objective impression).

Bathroom v basic.

The big yellow stripe in dining area would put me off.

Looks like an ok flat that is a blank canvas, in a nice building, good spot. No outside space. High price given there are no tangible extras.

I'd dress it better, cover yellow stripe, show windows, redo photos, double check pricing.

I'm not convinced there's anything wrong with your flat. Look at what else comes up when you click "view similar properties" - lots of options and several have been reduced in price over the last couple of months.

Ask your agent (or any new agent) how many 2 bed flats they've closed deals on in the last month? My gut would be that the market has slowed considerably due to rising interest rates.

Would also be better to take it off the market, then pop it back on with new photos. Doesn't show as "reduced" and you get the "new listing" benefit for a few days too.

Yes they are, which is why some people are so keen on purchasing a new build after seeing a nicely presented show home.

I would:

Change the sofa to a smaller one
Get rid of the storage at the bottom of the end
Buy new boxes for the IKEA storage unit in your room
Put plain white covers on your bed with a coloured runner and the bottom and co-ordinating cushions. You can get a pink runner for the ne of the bed for £6 from Ikea

The current set up makes the flat looked cramped so remove as much furniture as you can.

The first photo is awful! It looks like the flat has been unloved, therefore what else is wrong on the flat?

I would get rid of that photo completely or at least move it to the end. Also, I would dress it a bit more, sell the lifestyle.

OP you’ve had lots of comments but haven’t revealed the lease length or the service charge, so presumably they’re what’s putting people off.

The big bastard wall. Winter is coming.

It’s ridiculous though isn’t it, that flat in my area wouldn’t cost much more than £100k

I’m so glad I’m not in the south. I would never have got on the housing ladder.

A few things on the advert that would put me off (and did when I was buying my flat).

No information about the service charge
No lease information
No picture of the gym usually means its about three bits of equipment
Living room looks like you have to physically move the table to sit on the sofa
Kitchen, can you open the fridge doors fully
Microwave on top of a cluttered cupboard/unit says not enough space
Bedroom 2, most likely isn’t a bedroom so property mortgagable as a 1 bed
Neither bedroom appears to have a wardrobe, so where would I put my clothes?
Bathroom floor and bath panel look awful.

There are fixes, ask for lease etc to be on the advert.

Bathroom, you can get really nice stick on tiles etc, you can also replace the bath panel very cheaply, some hospitals genuinely have your bathroom floor and bath panel. I do like the pink, I would keep that, put something in there though, its completely empty apart from a bar of soap.

Living room, you’re blocking the ligh with your plant, the table shows it needs to be physically moved to sit down or get to the TV. Small balloon photo looks very lost on that wall.

Until I watched the video I didn’t even know it had two bathrooms.

Would it be better for bedroom 2 to become a living room, living room becomes bedroom 1, then rearrange the diner and you would easily get a compact sofa in there.

Most important is the lease, not including that makes me assume you are below 99 years, so that means the property cannot achieve full value. If an estate agent doesn't include it along with the calculated cost to extend the lease, then I wouldn't bother looking personally as wouldn't want the hassle of extending. If you're below 75 years already, then the price impact is huge because people can't get a mortgage with high LTV. How many years is it, and have you considered extending it yourself to increase the flat value?

The video is awful; dark and a dirty camera used, it really shows how cramped the flat is. Service charge and something about what's included are important. Painting the bathroom white and getting a clean before photos will help, but they aren't what's stopping purchases.

I love these people who say you need to style a house before selling it. No no no! For every person on MN who refuses to even view a property unless it looks like care has been taken about the exact placement of the lamp, there are a thousand normal people who realise that the furniture doesn't stay behind and so the dressing is irrelevant.

I agree you need to add lease details. Contact agent is beyond lazy and would annoy the hell out of me.

I think it's fine OP, and just the market. People banging on it's too white (obviously, you're selling it) and has kallax units (obviously, it's a flat).

Are others in the building priced similar?

Are others in the building priced similar?
Different styles by the look of the photos. Range for 2 beds in past 2 years has been £390k-£410k for 2 beds, all in better condition from the photos. www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/se18/cadogan-road.html
That means it is overpriced, but by so little that a buyer would feel comfy making an offer. Unless the lease is bad, which we don't know.

There has been an oversupply of 2 bed flats in London for years.

Like most others have said the video is awful. Sell
the lifestyle with the gym/amenities and out side space
Set the table for a meal
plump the sofa, get cushions and throws. Remove soft toy
your pictures are all too high on the walls, they need lowered and grouped.
rugs
crisp white bedding and dress the beds.
man’s the F/F is far too big, put it in storage for the time being.
I’d take out some of the kallax boxes and leave empty shelves or put boxes or plants.
mount tv on wall
remove tv and unit from bedroom.
bathroom looks cheap, needs dressed.

The lack of exterior window in bed 2 will mean buyers will offer and their mortgage provider will question valuation because they will reassess it as a 1 bed, rental yield on a 1 bed would be much lower so that really caps the value.

It's dark.

Pink paint in bathroom is not a popular choice.

The two photos of the living room are from different angles, and the difference highlights that one of them must have been taken with the camera flat to the wall & a wide angle lense to give the illusion of a bigger room.

I think Covid lockdowns really put people off flats. People would now rather live in the sticks with a garden than face being stranded in a flat in zones 3-6.

If the market is weak at the moment, you have to drop your price. any property priced right will sell reasonably fast, it's always the price being too high.

Radiator covers on the more dominant rads - ie the dining room. I got a large one for £20 on FB markplace.

Iron bedding.

Have you got somewhere to store the coffee table? It completely dominates the living room and the room would look much more spacious without it.

Plants in the bathrooms and bedrooms. Even if they're fake ones.

Some nice accessories in the bathrooms too. Hand towel, soap dispenser etc.

If I were going to buy a flat that needed work and had nearly half a million, I'd buy somewhere nicer, like Balham.

Ha. Nearly 900 sq ft in balham, for 425k. Are you going to go back in time and buy in 2010?

Cripes people she’s not setting up a luxury hotel 😂

if you can all imagine how the flat could look nicer so will potential buyers.

selling a single flat is not selling a lifestyle! Sure really bad photos can be a problem and not having device charge and lease info etc is a problem - but some new cushions aren’t going to make a jot of difference

I haven't read the whole thread but a lot of mortgage lenders don't like a ground rent above £250/year, so that would put me off. Plus the service charge and ground rent together are £2,000/year, which on a mortgage at, say, 4%, is like adding £50,000 to the purchase price in terms of monthly cost, compared to a house (no service charge) costing £475,000. So in terms of cost you are comparing a flat worth £425k with a hypothetical house worth £475,000. They both
cost a buyer the same, albeit you would also need to budget for repairs to the house... It's a lovely flat though... you might want to ask your solicitor whether the ground rent will be a problem..

Where are you getting that information from?

Morning all. The yellow stripe is actually my DHs prized collection of National Geographics - he will not put them in storage or get rid of them. I've tried, believe me. I don't think the photo makes it clear they're magazines though, and not a painted stripe. I've actually got rid of a lot of the kallax since I moved in, but there's only so much he's prepared to part with.

I think we've got 97 years or something left on the lease. The estate agent said it wasn't worth extending it before we put it on the market. The service charge is approx £200 a month, and for that you get the concierge, who deal with any nuisances, take in parcels and hold keys. There's the option to join a heavily discounted gym which isn't large, but is bigger than most 'included' gyms. Plus there's a (lovely) guy who deals with all the communal area cleaning and maintenance. The gardeners also look after the communal greenery etc. It's a lot per month, but when you work out what you get, I don't think it's terrible value. I'll make sure we include (good) photos of the gym next time!

I'll go to Primark today and get some white or plain sheets as well as some things for the bathroom and more decorative stuff to dress the place. I shouldn't need to spend a fortune, which should keep DH quiet...

I'll go to Primark today and get some white or plain sheets as well as some things for the bathroom and more decorative stuff to dress the place. I shouldn't need to spend a fortune, which should keep DH quiet...

OP does your DH want to sell? Plain sheets will look nice, but they aren't going to sell the property. The best use of money right now would be renting a storage unit and storing larger pieces of furniture, fridge, magazines etc to help make the flat feel more spacious. Then you need to take other posters advice on how to improve your listing, adding service charges and lease details.

If I were going to buy a flat that needed work and had nearly half a million, I'd buy somewhere nicer, like Balham.

🤣🤣🤣🤣 you're a decade too late. You might be lucky to get a studio flat in Balham for £0.5m. Even that would need work doing and be on the boarders of Balham.

£200 is really expensive, we have a concierge, gym etc in Shoreditch and we don’t pay anywhere near that. Sorry if I’m being dim, is the gym included in the £200 or not?

The lease could be an issue with only 97 years left, how much would it cost to extend?