Please give your opinions on why we have not had any viewings on our flat? Listing included

[househelp2025]

Hi there,

We are trying to sell our flat and have not had a single viewing. I know that this is typically either due to the price a property is listed at or something to do with the way it has been marketed.

I would be enormously grateful for any feedback on the listing and what (if anything) might deter you from booking a viewing?

It is a long lease - just shy of 999 years, and has a designated parking space in a private secure car park under the flat.

Is it the photos? Is the price too high? Something else?

Thanks in advance!

Flat listing

Well review in 3months then not 6, it's only been on since May 21st so yes try to be patient. Looks very nice imo. Good luck!

For sure, some people do not like this, although it is how the majority of flats in this area are set-up.

If you do a right move search for flats up to that price there are pages and pages of similar 2 bed flats, the vast majority on for £300 000, I wouldn't even begin looking at the £325 000 ones until ai'd looked at the cheaper ones first ( I have up counting after 3 pages but there are 30 plus of them).

Ooh it's lovely, neutral colours through out, love the kitchen colour. Feels warm and inviting. Bedrooms are good sizes and I love both bathrooms. Balcony is a win win. The small table could easily be replaced with a slightly bigger space saving type for more seats.
Maybe it's the price? Whats the average for a flat in those blocks ? Maybe you just haven't found the right buyer yet. I dont see any glaring issues with it OP

All very good suggestions and food for thought, thank you!

Loads of flats if not most will be open plan dining/seating areas.

Thank you!

It looks as if many of the other flats have gone down in value since being built.

100% agree with all of this

There’s one in the same postcode and I’m assuming same building that’s at 10k less than yours and looks much brighter and roomier, from the floor plan I don’t think it is, but it looks it.

its also already been reduced.

So I’m guessing the prices are the issue tbh

The ground rent is pretty high, especially for a 900 year plus lease. Once you get to 250 a year, mortgage companies don’t tend to like it. What’s the term going forward?

I think the flat looks nice, I assume it’s an expensive area but I do agree the photos look a bit dull.

I've come to the conclusion it's likely to be a combination of price together with how it has been marketed and the photos. Plus changes we need to make, like the balcony.

Really? I have just done a quick google search and this appears to be the average ground rent charge in the UK. Yes, the dull photos will have to go.

I thought it was a good price and a really long lease.

Are you classed as being in Greater London? Then it’s a higher limit.

No not Greater London.

The lease length is great.

This is not a desirable area to live. High crime, anti social behaviour etc. it’s on a very busy road, next to a problematic roadabout that is infamous in this city, the road is often gridlocked with traffic, there is very little parking nearby.

The flat being sold by @househelp2025 is right in the city centre, much more desirable area, has secure underground parking, walking distance from the train station.

They are both priced correctly. And are not comparable properties.

I think it looks like a nice flat, but from the estate agent blurb these are the things that would put me off it:

1. The price. You are asking for offers in excess of £325k. That means the minimum you will accept is £325k, but j more. That would put me right off as you can't even really haggle at all.

Drop the use of the "offers in excess of" system. People might then feel they would be more free to make an offer.

Drop the price too. £315k might attract more potential buyers.

2. That service charge, I'm afraid. £2,725 is huge! It is nice to have the gym and the concierge (security etc.) but those are what make it so expensive. People will be seeing £££ before they even notice the actual price of it.

Obviously you can't do much about the service charge and it is what it is. The price of the property you are selling though might have to reflect it somehow. Presently it is very high, so buyers will be hit hard on two fronts - the high price of the flat with the demand for more than £325k and the service charge itself.

I know where you are although I don't live in Chelmsford. Two of my three DDs went to the girls' grammar school. Not a selling point though as few such families will live in flats.

It's Chelmsford. It's the county town of Essex. It's nice and well connected with lots of amenities and shopping and has had a lot of investment in recent years since it was created a city. Mayfair in London though it is not and it looks like your flat is trying to mimic that.

It's a nice flat for a young professional first time buyer but it needs to be priced carefully. I think if you revisit all of that then it will sell eventually.

Some lenders have a limit of £250 quid, which yours is but it depends on the term going forwards. They often double over a set number of years.

I know the area and it is a fab location for commuters into London. It looks like a pretty standard flat for the city center. I think it just needs better photos taken and some tweaking - maybe screening on the balcony and some plants, have a play around with the layout of rooms etc. Make the living/dining/kitchen more zoned.

The photos could be improved. Can you buy a ton of geraniums for the balcony and put a nice cushion on the chair? Can you move the sofa blocking the balcony?

I don’t know the area so my immediate worry is it’s close proximity to the railway line
Only one two bed on Cunard Sq is priced higher that yours @£355. All the others are lower so if you want a quickie sale I’d move to price down in keeping with the others. Don’t be near the top

Its a bit grey
For me I wouldn’t buy purely based on the lack of privacy on the balcony. Too many other balconies staring straight at yours. To make it feel more present I’d put some tall plants on either side.

The first picture isn’t great, perhaps swap with the second

Bingo, “it’s cheaper up north”! Sweeping generalisation. 2 bed flat down my road very far up north has just sold for £290k so prices like this don’t shock me. You only have to click on the map on right move and look at similar nearby properties to see that there’s a lot of competition in this type of property and price range and this one is pushing the ceiling price without offering anything more than the others.

They are both priced correctly.

@Hollietree Except if they aren’t selling, they aren’t priced “correctly”.

The kind of pricing expectations that have been the norm until recently aren’t working at the moment. As a pp noted, there are lots and lots of properties on the market that are very similar - pages and pages of them. Yet not many people are looking to move right now with the current levels of economic instability and job retrenchment. The target market isn’t families who will be keen on the grammar school, but single commuters or a couple, probably without children. FTBs who can pay £300k for a flat are vanishingly rare (even more so now that lenders are keeping credit tight while it’s not clear what the economic outlook is going to be). There are not lots of new buyers flooding into the market at the moment; in fact landlords are offloading flats rather than buying.

So what should the OP do in a market where there is oversupply of similar properties, yet not many target buyers around?