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

Price seems high for so far out of London. It is very bland and lacks personality. The beds and sofa need moving as they are blocking the windows.

Sorry @BurningMrs i didn’t mean to quote you (but I agree with you anyway!)

The flat looks lovely, the photos are ok however it’s very focused on the small balcony as if that’s the best part or the flat (which I highly doubt is the case) also the floor plan looks much bigger that the pictures which make it look like a flat where you walk into an open kitchen/living room with 2 bedrooms coming off the living room/kitchen, it doesn’t look from the pictures like there’s space for washing machine etc. but the floor plan says that space/room is there xx

I don't know the market for flats and that is something you need to keep your ear to the ground on - maybe drop it to 320 and drop the offers over - but the flat has a lot going for it and you need to highlight the positives: modern, good condition and decor, amenities and gym etc; would appeal to young couple or sharers and two bathrooms means potential to rent one room out which would cover service charge and council tax, say; location, desirable county town with good shopping, John Lewis, restaurants, bars, near tube and direct to London, access to the wide Essex countryside attractions; own parking space.

A few things could be reviewed: the arrangement of furniture in the living room isn't the best; two sofas are awkward, making the dining area cramped and squeezed, yet I think there is enough room for a comfortable dining section.

Put away some of the gadgets on the kitchen surface and put on a couple of colourful accessories such as a decorative vase or a teapot and some nice mugs; even a bright towel or tea towel would liven it.

The bedrooms are not small; I can tell from the floorplan measurements that both bedrooms are wide enough to have the beds placed across the room and long enough for furniture. (I have a bedroom that's narrower than yours and it looks much better with the bed across than the other way.) With yours, though, it's hard to get a proper view of the two bedrooms from these photos: I don't know which is which. Both seem to have an expanse of white on the bed, which is crying out for a colourful rug or some patterned textile. One of them, I can't make out; is there a pillar in the room? There's some sort of reflection going on and next to it a mirrored surface.

Balcony, as has been said needs to be dressed. Lots of things you could do, for instance as someone mentioned, bamboo or raffia screening would work wonders and there are loads of other types of screening online to soften and provide privacy; other possibilities are an awning; a canvas sail; a table with parasol, colourful chair cushions and most essential, a couple of tall screening foliage plants in tubs.

Some of the photos show half a clock, half a picture etc. Simple things like removing the products from the bathroom would help.

Oh come on it’s so overpriced. I know that block. My friend just sold round the corner nothing like that and she just bought a 3 bed house in Chelmsford with drive, massive garden etc 12 min walk into town for £350k

Haven’t read the whole thread but assuming the price is reflective of the market and not the issue, then for me there are 5 easy changes would make it so that you’d very likely get more viewings -

a) take away the photo of the balcony that shows the parked cars - because nobody can really imagine relaxing on a balcony overlooking a car park (and then once buyers are through the door you can tell them that the cars aren’t supposed to be there/hope that there’s less cars on that day)

b) move the beds so they aren’t against the windows with the headboards blocking light and making it look like the beds can’t fit in any other way -it’s very off putting visually even if it makes the best use of space

c) retake the photos on a sunny day as it looks quite gloomy (it’s obvious you took them on a dull day but buyers can overlook the obvious and might think the flat’s always that dark)

d) if you have extra chairs for the dining table then show them. Ideally for a 2 double bedroom flat you’d have a 4 seater table - you need to show in the pics that there’s space for that (even if one chair is pressed right against the wall for the photo so that the table doesn’t stick out too much)

e) whilst I can see you have do have plants in the lounge and bedroom, you could also dress the kitchen, the bathrooms and especially the balcony (which look more plain) with plants. I’d suggest some brightly coloured baskets for the balcony rails and a pot of colourful flowers for the table there, perhaps a trailing plant on the top of the kitchen cabinet by the dining table and a small pot of white flowers (maybe an orchid or similar) on one of the bathroom shelves. Silly and a bit of extra money but plants and flowers have been shown to make the “vibes” of a place look more positive and cheerful, but without being as personal as something like artwork.

Hope that helps!

Personally, it's a bit small and I'm not keen on the view of the car park from the balcony.

The first thing that jumped out at me is that you have blocked all of your windows with furniture. Your living room is lovely but for the purposes of selling I'd suggest moving the sofa and unblocking the window which would be a major selling point for me. I love big windows and lots of light. Even if you have to keep it, put the table at the window and the sofa facing the window so it's almost dividing the room a bit.
I've no idea about price. Where I am 325k would buy a 3-4 bedroom detached house 🥴

The pictures are very dark, and it looks more like a shared working office space than a home.

the details of the lease aren’t immediately visible which makes it seem like there might be a catch.

the service charge and ground rent is huge, and the flat is very expensive.

You will get a 1 bed flat where i live in London zone 3 for 325k. I had a budget of £325k at first when I was buying in 2019 and everyone was saying to buy a house in the home counties.. all the estate agents laughed at me cos my budget was so small and I couldn't really get a house anywhere near the station in the towns I was looking at anyway.. plus commuting would have been £400 each. The houses are now more expensive so I can see why some people may not be able to buy a house in those towns with that budget esp if proximity to station is priority and perhaps they don't want to live in London.

So we upped our budget and bought a 2 bed flat in London zone 3 for 400k where the freehold is owned by residents. Service charge a bit less than 2k but dh can cycle to work for free and we don't have a car. So overall it's cheaper because we used the money saved on commuting to overpay the mortgage and now have nearly 40% equity.

We viewed a flat here about 10 years ago! I think it’s a lovely flat! It’s so appealing for the right person but that person might not come around easily. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly family friendly. I would worry about the noise from the gym and potentially having some students in the block. It’s close to the uni if I remember. Would say it really suits a city slick, or a younger professional couple. With the cost of the flat (I don’t think crazy out) you’re just waiting for the right person to come along. As an idea you could always move the sofa by the balcony window so you can see more of the balcony.

Well, our bathrooms are also totally interior, so that wouldn't put me off. There can't be windows everywhere.
For me, it's the price, the view and the yearly service charge. I would feel very cramped in it.

The flat is in Chelmsford (county town/city of Essex), not London.

What do you mean by factor fees? If that's service charge then that's the £2,300+ annual figure that people have been discussing on here.

It is ALWAYS the price. Even the ugliest shithole will sell...at the right price.

Narrow bedrooms with beds under the windows.
Bathroom with no window.
Outlook onto other flats.
No decent size dining area.

I don't know anything about the area so can't comment on price/location etc, but as a photographer - the photos are crap! Get some decent ones done and it'll go a long way.

Personally I hate beds in front of windows so I'd be looking at moving some things around - although I'm not sure if it's possible to lay it out differently. Also the outside space that the balcony overlooks seems very sterile, but I'm not sure what you can really do about that. A lot more trees / planters / flowers around the place would soften it up.

Otherwise it seems nicely decorated and well looked after.

Google maps show its clearly used as a car park and has been at least since 2020. If its not meant to be a car park/road then why does it have markings and bollard where it does?

Useage is what it factually is, if its not 'meant' to have cars on then this has never been enforced and it is being used as a car park and has been in ongoing use making it a carpark.

Would you buy a house if the neighbors all parked on and blocking your drive and had for years and had no intent of stopping. You could say 'legally they aren't suppose to' but enforcing it is a long hard civil issue. This isn't even one neighbor dispute etc... its basically a whole public car park.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.7378777,0.4699157,3a,75y,111.43h,83.77t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sevSY7VVL0Q0F_aFkoSWnqw!2e0!5s20201101T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D6.228182933160369%26panoid%3DevSY7VVL0Q0F_aFkoSWnqw%26yaw%3D111.42621852260545!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDUyOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Flats are struggling to sell at the moment. My cousin is looking at buy in similar area and refused to look at flats ..he rather have a small terrace house with own front door. It's the service charge. I don't think there's anything wrong with your flat. It's just the same as the others and no view. What do flats sell for in that housing estate

To be brutally honest, it would look just as awful without any cars parked there.
It’s a bleak, ugly space.

That price is ridiculous, it's a 2 bed flat not a 4 bed detached house 😂

Please show us the 4 bed detached in Chelmsford selling for £325k…

I am in London and 325k would be an absolute bargain for a 2 bed flat. I tell people my 2 bed flat cost me 400k and most londoners can barely believe it, they say it's really cheap.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85969146#/?channel=RES_BUY

4 bed detached house in my area would be 1.6 million. Stamp duty alone of 100k could probably buy a flat or small house up north but there are presumably people who buy them..

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/156279446#/?channel=RESBUY

I mean this is a suburb of Manchester and it's also 325k and it's smaller than my flat..so my london premium was 60k which I appreciate is a lot of money but it is the capital... plus for this chelmsford flat you can actually commute to London which is important for a lot of people.

I think the price for starters!! Way overpriced for what it is. Plus the balcony, although very lovely and very spacious, isn't very private.
Having said this, there is somebody somewhere who would find this to be their dream home!! They just haven't found you yet!
Good luck x x