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

its expensive. The living/dining/kitchen is small.

the service charge will only increase as it’s supporting communal chilling area and a gym. Does the groundrent increase?

not a nice view and these sort of properties look great when new but then cost loads as the development needs more and more work.

leasehold is in the news a lot and so people are more wary.

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

It's been on for 12 days isn't that a bit premature?

It’s too expensive for the size.

Did you read my post with specific reasons why that exact location might be problematic?

in short, price, competition from Beaulieu (esp with new station), the view from the balcony (there are tons with Central Park views for sale), service charge, train noise (there is train noise, especially from freight trains - you are closer to the railway than me and we hear train noise). But mainly price.

What's the ground rent review period? People are right to flag service charge as a risk of cost increase (although ultimately service charges cover a lost of eg maintenance costs that you always have to pay as a homeowner, you just don't see them as a lump sum!). For me tho the bigger issue is the ground rent. Some new builds have a really high rate of ground rent increase baked into the lease and this can't be contested like a SC can, nor does it pay for services. It's literally money for nothing. What's more when you pay to extend a lease, your ground rent is legally reduced to peppercorn eg nothing. This is where such a long lease is actually an issue as there's no way out of whatever the ground rent terms are in your existing lease. So basically you need to be pricing much cheaper than properties without ground rent (and service charge) to get a look-in, as you need to compensate for this.

Also OP, if you are looking to make some changes for the photos, though it’s perfectly nice, the interior decor pendulum is swinging very decisively against grey (far too 2015), especially with the yellow that was very fashionable a while ago. (The drawback of having a very fashionable decor scheme is of course that it will date more quickly when fashions change!)

When I’m looking at listings right now it’s always in my mind how much I’d have to spend to de-grey a flat or house. The look right now is beige neutrals/blush tones, gilt, white, green, lots of plants. Incorporating suggestions from other posters, I’d suggest;

-move beds to wall
-dress beds with plain white bedding
-remove as many personal items as possible
-remove cushions
-remove accent items in grey or yellow
-neutral paper lamps
-lots of plants
-books
-four chairs at the table
-plants and decoration on balcony; hang up fairy lights, change photo angle
-kitchen being neutral is perfectly fine; put out cookbooks and coffee cups/espresso machine
-if you can borrow some items from friends etc. to dress the flat as above, that would make a big difference.

Personally I’d add some big pots of evergreen greenery on the balcony as the views aren’t scenic. Create a relaxed outside area. I think as much as some will say a buyer will put their own stamp on a place, for a maximum return you need to sell an affluent young executive lifestyle in terms of decor and photos.

This seems to be in the same place as you, or at least the gym and the bathrooms look identical.

It's £10k cheaper, view looks far more appealing and none of the images make the rooms look so long, narrow and dark.

If I was looking in the area, I'd be looking at this one first over yours at an extra £10k for what?

You are overpriced.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/158824094

The bedrooms are very small, and I hate windowless bathrooms. I love the rug in the lounge though...where's it from?? 😍

Price, location, view, style of the flats.
Also if I wanted a new build flat I’d prefer to buy new and get the ten year warranty.

Agree
Its the warmer colours here.
Perhaps OP cover over more of that grey floor with a rug in a warmer colour
Ikea do sisal rugs you could put down to then overlay with your existing rug for example,
Similar for bedrooms.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/158969876?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

This one is the same size, in the same building and considerably cheaper?

Dress it for lifestyle. Focus on your prospective purchasers and imagine what they’d want. Glam up the patio and dining area. Imo it’s too bare. I’d love those large windows in the bedrooms but they’re obscured by beds.

It's hidden under the "leasehold" section at the bottom of the listing. Nearly £2400 service charge and £250 ground rent per year so an additional £200 per month plus band D council tax, which is likely to be similar to the service charge. That's quite a bit extra to pay in addition to a mortgage.

Is that opposite geek retreat? We were there last week and my son said he wanted an egg chair like the one on your balcony 😄 we'll be renting forever so I can't buy it, but hope you sell it soon. A 3 bed end of terrace on our road has recently reduced their asking price to 350k - so maybe things are generally slow at the moment.

I don’t know the area all that well, but I’m currently trying to sell our 2019 built flat in Hertfordshire in a similar type development with a similar commute time to London. I am having viewings, but a lot of the feedback I’m getting is that people are currently stretching themselves and upgrading to two bed houses rather than two bed flats. Frustrating but as we’re desperate to move (relocating to Yorkshire), I think we’re going to have to reduce to get serious interest from the people who are looking at one bed flats and might consider stretching to a two bed. Sorry I don’t have anything positive to add, but wanted to share what we’ve been seeing.

My uncle was a real estate agent and he always said if there is no interest in a property it is simply overpriced.

Are you saying this based on prices in Chelmsford or prices in some other part of the country

Oh and the yellow velvet sofa doesn’t need changing as that’s still a very in colour, just not with the grey/yellow cushions (I’d remove the rug too and replace with a cheap neutral sisal or beige rug). Ditto the yellow bedding in the spare room, replace with white, remove the accent cushions etc.

In the kitchen - take up that floor mat and remove everything off the counters apart from a coffee pot, coffee cups, some cookbooks and a plant. When I see a floor mat in a kitchen, I automatically think there is a problem with leaks or drips under the sink/oven/issue with the floor sealant.

The look for staging properties at the moment is as empty as possible, so shove all your toiletries etc. under the bed and have empty countertops, nothing out in bathroom apart from a plant, and so on.

For me it's:
Price (main reason)
Windowless bathrooms
Dark kitchen
Lack of storage
The sterile area outside

The large bedside tables make the bedrooms look much narrower than they are. In one photo the table is pushed up against the radiator. I'd remove them and also add plants everywhere.

Just a suggestion but can you remove 1 of the couches? I wouldn’t block up the doorway as it possibly makes it look cramped and blocks the light. The same goes for the bedrooms.

Granted I'm from a cheap part of the UK but prices like this for a flat seem mad, it seems tiny and overlooked for that price.

Honestly I would assume it was a shared student halls type place for a university (backed up by the photo of the 'power house' hang out area). Doesn't seem like somewhere for an adult couple/family to buy to live.

I personally think the photos are better for this one too. They make the rooms look more spacious.

I like it and it's a bonus having 2 bathrooms.

▪︎Advertise that you have a guest room for visitors or for children with their own bathroom.

▪︎I would open the table out, put the 4 chairs around and put a vase on table, wine glasses, cutlery, etc.

▪︎ Hide the view from balcony. Make it cosy with cushions, lights and a couple of big plants. Just one photo of balcony to the left not right.

▪︎Remove picture of sitting area in gym, looks a bit grim and unfriendly.

▪︎Promote that you have your own parking space and that it is on view from the apartment (if it is)

▪︎change one of the beds to sideways on so it looks like 2 different sizes, even though they're similar.

▪︎keep the price the same for now, see how it goes.

Forgot to say, best of luck OP