Why is my flat my selling?

[Tryingoutanamechange]

I bought my flat 7 years ago and loved living in it. When my DH and I bought a house together, we kept the flat to rent out until the end of the mortgage term. So now I need to sell it but the trouble is that it has been on the market for 5 months and still not gone.

I've had three offers (all roughly at asking price or just below) but all have fallen through due to legitimate reasons but wondering if there is something else I can do to help showcase it better. All the feedback has been that the flat was too small which I can't do anything about but I could try and put in a different description if that would help.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-73784456.html

Brill, thanks for all of this. I am making an action plan as we speak.

Buteo I didn't know that about the second bedroom being only suitable for under 10s. I will mention that to the estate agents as they will not market it as a one bedroom flat due to what it says on the land registry entry (or something like that).

The wallpaper in the bedroom is actually purple and lovely in real life but agree that the photos do not show it up at all well.

Am off to check out a local carpet shop to see if they could do something cheaply for me plus the charity furniture shop for a few bits.

Pics aren't great. When I sold my 2 bedroom flat they made it look like a palace.

I'd give it a facelift, dress it and go to a different estate agent. The pictures are poor and they've made a basic error in the listing, I'd give someone else a chance.

I know people have said if you've had offers it's unlikely dressing it would make a difference, but people who could potentially offer might be scrolling past.

Also, price of 115k is sort of price a lot of first time buyers would go for, who may be using all they have on deposit so would be put off by needing to recarpet etc. I know when I bought my first flat my budget was limited for changing it, I put a shower in over the bath as it didn't have one, retiled and painted the living room and that was it.

I think people are nervy because of Brexit too... everyone is holding on to see what happens which can’t be helping

@Buteo How interesting! I didn’t know there were rules about that sort of thing. Are there any others?

I wouldn't view this as it looks from the photos like it needs a good clean and 5K spent on it before I'd spend a night there. Which I'm sure isn't the case! It's a beautiful building. The photos are crap and dark. The carpets are dreadful and you'd be best replacing the lot with a cheap lighter colour. It wouldn't cost too much if you went with the same throughout. Skip the cleaning, that's not enough to fix that.
Kitchen desperately needs painting white, it looks cigarette stained in that colour. With no window, you need a suitable reflective white gloss.
I'd repaint all rooms with a basic white base paint.

Adding chain free and ground floor text removing are key. Put the chain free in bold up high so it shows in the minimised text.

Not sure if i agree with dressing for the price unless you rent the furniture, concentrate on the carpet (and removing the wallpaper).

Always consider changing agent too after that long, they'll have a different database and a new found enthusiasm to sell. Good luck!

Maybe you are taking their legitimate reasons too much at face value? If I was going to pull out of a purchase, I would think of some unavoidable reason in order to avoid embarrassment. Do you know for a fact those were the real reasons they pulled out?

I don’t know that I would dress the rooms either; with the exception of the two bedrooms to show their size better.

In truth, it looks like the sort of place that looks just about big enough in photos but when you arrive is teeny tiny. But if you’ve had three offers already then these people obviously weren’t put off by its size?

It could make a really lovely one bedroom if you knocked the kitchen and bathroom together to make a nice sized bathroom (and used some of the space to make the bedroom bigger). Then opened up the second bedroom to the living room and made that a kitchen area.

The bedroom size info is here:

www.directline.com/media/archive-2016/bedroom-size-matters

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/68/section/326

I would:

• Paint everything in white
• Re-carpet cheaply in something lighter and more neutral than the stained brown
• Dress the rooms with furniture - empty rooms always looks sad

But, wow, 373 sq ft is tiny tiny tiny for a 1 bed let alone a 2 bed!

Photos look drab and the kitchen looks dark and depressing. Definitely get better photos and maybe magnolia the wallpapered bits.

I think it's a bit of a stretch that all three potential buyers used the same/similar false reason for not proceeding!

You've been unlucky and the chances are you'll get another buyer. If you decorate, replace the carpet, etc I'd take it off the market for a week whilst getting the work done then relaunch it.

I personally wouldn’t recarpet but get someone in to give them a good clean. I’ve always taken any carpets up when I buy and either replace or strip floor boards and it seems such a waste if a buyer did this.

Well I think it has a cosy homely feel to it -potentially. I would change the carpets (to a lighter colour. Its a small space so wont be overly expensive) and do a bit of decorating to brighten it up, and I would also put some furniture in. It does look very much ex rental at the moment, and it looks rather unloved.
It is certainly the sort of place I would have wanted when I was a ftb many moons ago.
The photos are not brilliant, and a shot of the garden would be good.
Unfortunately a lot of buyers lack imagination, see an empty property and then move on to one that looks more livable simply because it is furnished.

The photos aren’t great, I’d speak to your EA and see if they can do anything with that.

The carpets stains are the first thing I noticed. Replace them if you can or get them cleaned if you can’t.

Repaint in a nice bright fresh colour, add flowers or something colourful in the kitchen - it looks dark and dreary.

I'd def get a carpet cleaner in and redo the photos. I don't think it makes the most of the location which is great - and really what your flat has going for it in comparison to other larger flats locally