Why is our flat not getting viewings?

[TulipsinSpring444]

We have a one bed flat in London, it was on at 350K to begin with as advised by agents - I thought this was a bit overpriced, probably 330K was more realistic. We dropped to 325K after two weeks as didn't get one phone call, we then got about five viewings in one weekend but no offers then no interest for a further few weeks, finally after two months we got an offer at 310K and we accepted as we had found a house we liked.

Our buyers (who were investors and cash buyers) pulled out a day before exchange because they found 'something more suited' (complete wankers). Anyway we put it back on and dropped price to 305K OIEO, as we thought we were bound to get immediate attention. That was on Saturday and we haven't had any viewings. WTAF? I don't understand, we are 5K below what we accepted from a cash buyer investor (which was surely a bit low as they do their numbers).

Surely we should have had some interest by now or am I being impatient? We had on it 'REDUCED PRICE FOR A QUICK SALE' and 'VIEWINGS ADVISED' but I told them to remove it because it might put people off because it looks desperate?

I'm clutching at straws, I have no idea why people wouldn't want to even see the bloody thing, I feel like auctioning it and just giving it to the first bidder, I'm so fed up.

I called our agent today and said has he called anyone on their database and he said 'I'll be honest, I've been inundated with calls today' (well not for our property!!!!) and 'things have been manic' and I'll have a look at it tomorrow. If we enlist another agent, do we have to pay double commission? I'm not quite sure how it works? Do you think it's the agents being crap that has resulted in no viewings or not enough time?

We are desperate to keep the house we've found, they don't know our sale has fallen through yet, which is why I'm so impatient to find a buyer asap.

We are in a fine mess! Any advice appreciated.

Toriali I'm sorry you are having awful luck too, noone tells you what a shitstorm selling a property in a poor market is going to be, this is our first home and I never imagined it could be like this to sell in London, I naively thought London was always a good choice of investment :(

If I were you I'd reduce below 300, to shift it, take the equity, rent on top of a great primary school and then buy new home in a couple of years?

Also I think your EA hasn't been truthful...none of them is inundated with calls these days...

Good luck

Unless I'm being daft, there's no 1 bed in Wembley for £305k. Is the listing showing up ok when you search?

Wembley area, don't want to give exact location - sorry but I don't want exact details on a public forum as It makes me nervous

Toriali Good luck to you too, that's good advice, I think we will just try to shift it by whatever means, if no viewings by Saturday then we will reduce to 300K..

But won't you kick yourself OP if you reduce your price but the house you want to buy doesn't?

I might get flamed here but could you rent yours out and buy the house anyway?

I spent hours recently on RM sending dh links of houses and he emailed me back and asked what I was thinking, Brexit and the latest election results mean uncertainty.

He's not one for melodrama but categorically said no to moving in the next 12 months.

We are zone 3 south London and 2 bed house prices are dropping but not 3 beds yet.

Also amouse good luck, 180K reduction is massive, that must really hurt, sorry you are finding it so hard to sell too

Oh good, I was just worrying it wasn't listed correctly.

MyCalm, we have thought about it but we really need the equity to move, otherwise we wouldn't be able to afford the mortgage of the new house. And also DH is very risk averse and does not want to potentially be in negative equity. I think there might be more risk to keep it and it go down by 30% but who knows? I wish I did, then I'd be a millionaire

Thanks Rogan, definitely listed, I've check it like a crazy person about twenty times a day, house buying/selling is driving me mad!

Well it does look as if the London property market is slowing down but this has been predicted for quite a while. How could prices keep rising when wages aren't going up for many people. And the buy to let bonanza might be coming to an end to. It's not fair on people caught up in all this. But £300K plus for a one bedroomed flat is extortionate IMHO.

Sorry but for a one bed in zone 3 I think another price drop is in order

Also will people have more worries around council builds at the mo?

You most likely need first time buyers happy to do work, wonder what kind of marketing you could do alone so to speak. Have you tried Purple Bricks and those sorts?

My first thoughts would be:

• estate agent isn't right
• photos might not be good enough
• the price being lowered again and again might put people off as it can look like something is wrong with the property (while actually you're just impatient for some movement!)
• might get more attention starting with a lower price, even if you hope for offers above (both because of the filters on Rightmove, and because it looks like a better deal).

Suggest you do a search for similar properties for sale in your area +1/4 mile (with either the same number bedrooms as yours, 1 less bedroom, or 1 more -- do this so you can also compare square footage even if the bedroom numbers differ) and then see how yours compares to those in the £250-300K bracket, and then to the £300-375K bracket. That will give you an idea of what potential buyers will see (and will be comparing your place to!).

I do think that people are still buying in London and your place sounds like a really good deal compared to most of zone 2 so I am sure you will have interest if you get it right!

Maybe consider pulling from the market, then putting back on the market with a lower initial asking price and a savvier estate agent?

It's difficult to really say why it's not selling without a link. There could be something glaringly off-putting that you're not seeing.

I get you don't want to post a link, but photos of your house and full address are already on the internet for people to look at.

A 30% drop will mean 30% for everyone so you'll be better off waiting surely?

Thanks for your help everyone
Notmypenguin great advice, I will do do a search tonight

GreenTulips RICS latest residential survey has talked about a two tier market - falls for first time buyer properties and stagnant for second-stepper market...I'm assuming it's because first time buyers have no equity so are waiting it out, but second steppers can usually afford to move somewhat because have a bit of equity...not sure entirely...

I hate to say it but that's definitely overpriced for a 1 bed ex-council in Wembley that requires significant work in 5-10 years. You can get a 2 bed in naice parts of zone 2 for £450k. What are similar recently sold properties going for?

All the ex council 1 beds are going for 300K, I checked land registry and they seem to be holding up...it's the work that worries me

Sorry but I also think it's overpriced I sold my spacious 1 bed ex-council flat in West Hampstead (naice zone 2) for £320,000 in 2014 and Zoopla has only increased the value by £20k since then. It didn't need any work, had double glazing, new floors, new heating system and the outside stairways etc of the block had just been redone. Service charge was a grand a year and you could apply for a parking space on the estate if you wanted.

Mmmm, I might compare it to rest of London to get some scope...I'm meeting the agent tomorrow and will raise it then

"we tried to sell it two years ago and got 3 offers around 280K - 275K, 277K and 280K within a week so what the hell has happened? So wish we had sold it then,"

Surely what has happened, apart from
Brexit etc, is that you've put the price up? When the market, due to Brexit etc, is going in the opposite direction. Maybe if you put it on for under £300k, you'd get similar offers again. I get that you need more to make your purchase but it doesn't work like that. You'd have to try for a reduction on your purchase as well if poss. But in the first instance definitely round the figure off.

What's with the management pack?
No-one needs to see that now. Buyers would just get their own survey done

I wonder whether you are being a bit ambitious aiming for a £700k property. I don't think many young families would expect to move from their starter home to one that is more than double the price unless they'd had a massive inheritance or salary jump.

I know London is different and house prices are ridiculous but £700k is out of reach for most of us. Maybe it's out of reach for you too. If you looked for something around £500 to £600k, you could drop your sale price significantly.

We're in a similar situation. 1 bed, ground floor flat in a modern low rise estate, allocated parking, 1/4 mile from tube station and fairly close to Wembley. Beginning of last month agents recommended marketing at 330K with a view to achieving 315k, we marketed at 325K and only got a handful of viewings, two identical and two similar flats in the same estate then came to market at 325K also so we dropped to 310k, one followed suit.

We've had one offer at 280K from an investor who said the seller of one of the identical flats would accept 285K. Agent said the offer was too low and we'd be better off letting their 285K offer on identical flat go through and reduce the competition. The identical flat isn't showing as Sold STC so I guess they were bluffing.

We've been on the market for coming up to two months now and only had a handful of viewings (agents have said the number of viewings isn't unusually low at the moment). Feedback has been good with buyers who have looked at the other flats on the estate preferring ours (lower price and slightly better location) but it's just not translating into offers. The agent isn't keen on dropping the price any further just yet but I think we're going to have to to get it sold.

LtheWife sounds like a very similar situation, very similar numbers as well...I think flats are going eventually, if it wasn't for having found our dream home we would wait it out but we need to move quickly. I saw a flat on for 4 months with our agent at 325K, taken off two weeks ago and put on with a different agent for 300K OIEO and sold in two weeks...I fake called the agent to find out how much it went for and apparently it 'went for significantly over 300K' so I think it's a waiting game, problem is we don't have time to wait...

Veuve The buyer has to see the management pack, the solicitors will ensure as it's part of the sale..