Please can someone tell me why my flat isn't selling?!

[Puffykins]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-84873916.html

Price-wise, it's appropriate - even cheap - for the area. I know that it hasn't got it's own garden, but there is a huge communal garden which, in central-ish London, I'd argue is better than a tiny garden.

Admittedly I don't like the estate agents pictures much. It's really light in real life, but they always seem obsessed with turning on all the lights.

Anyway, any tips would be hugely appreciated. Thank you!

I’d take off the table cloth too.

Your house looks a lot like my French aunties. It’s stuffed to the gills!

Its lovely but agree with the above.

I would get rid of the book shelf in the kitchen and go for a half table with 3 chairs

@lalafafa sort of - a local park that you can invite your friends to for a picnic, knowing that there is a really close by loo. A local park that wasn't policed during lockdown because it's a garden not a park so we could use as much as we liked - the children and I did schoolwork in the garden and sketching, and we'd take rugs down and read etc., also I could work out in it. And it's enclosed and safe so my children can go out and play in it by themselves, and do - I wouldn't let them set off to Kensington Gardens alone for an unspecified amount of time..... so better than a park I think, on the whole.

OP - I've read your comments but not all the replies so I apologise if I'm repeating what's already been said.

Since its online viewing only, you don't need to put anything in storage - you just need to declutter into boxes which can get moved around as the photographer goes so that they are never in shot, and each room is neat and clear. That is what I did when pics were taken for my flat.

Pretty sure it's been said but you definitely need to capitalise on any views you have - my current house has views and it is what drew me to view and ultimately buy it. I could have got similar inside space and much more outside space minus the views, but they swung it, and made me fall in love with it.

You must have pictures of the communal garden - that is a massive selling point, which will be totally missed likely, since its online viewings only. Similarly the views.

Not much possibly that you can do about it, but a 93 year lease may likely reduce your pool of buyers. I would question why you haven't extended it, and foresee problems with that and therefore avoid like the plague because once you get to 80 years left it becomes difficult.

Am really shocked that people say you should get rid of books and paintings - especially in these dark times, they are food for the soul.

No-one saying get rid of them all or forever! This is purely to sell. Hopefully, it'll only be for a few weeks.

And it's not 'sad' that people are looking for a blank canvas. Few people want to inherit other people's decorative tastes. They may well have tastes just as exciting and creative as the OP's, but they don't want to have to undo someone else's before they can install their own and make the property 'theirs'.
Also some people really have to over-reach to afford a place these days. And they simply don't have the cash to be getting rid of stuff that's not to their taste and redecorating straight away.

I read the thread posts up to this point without looking at the actual photos. I felt a bit sad for you as people have been reacting in a 'shocked' way to the 'excessive' clutter and eccentric decor. I had a picture in my head of a down at heel hoarders house.

Then I looked at the actual pictures. It's a lovely interior! It's got real style and character and it looks like you did tidy up make beds etc. It could have come from the pages of an interiors magazine. An upmarket one, not Next Catalogue 2015 which I think many people posting here go for. I think the balcony photo is awful but apart from that I don't understand the reactions at all.

How is a communal garden the same as going to the local park?

In the sense that you can't stroll out your kitchen door in your pyjamas and drink a morning coffee in quiet privacy without leaving your own home. You have to get dressed, lock the door, trot through communal areas, to sit in a shared space overlooked by other people's windows.

I would probably feel less overlooked in a park (this applies to my own shared garden too unfortunately).

I actually love the clutter and colour in your flat, it looks like a really happy home. However I hate to say that the location would kill it for me. You may have an amazing view but it's right out over train tracks and looking at the map you are very close to a major road as well.

I'd also lose the photos of the balcony and the exterior of the building.

OP I have nothing to add except I love your flat. It's exactly the type of space and decoration I'd love to live in. It's not 'clutter' it's possessions and the stuff of life which is wonderful to be surrounded by. I can see that you might need to put some stuff in storage to sell it, but I hope you can find somewhere amazing for your next home to get it all out again!

The interior is very stylish, but what people viewing want to see is what they are actually buying, which is the flat itself - not the OPs stuff - however nice it is. It's not an insult to advise decluttering, it's what almost everybody who is selling a property does surely?

Too. Much. Stuff.

[quote Puffykins]@narcdad45 thank you for the warning. They've said that they want it but don't answer emails. It's so irritating because i genuinely feel that returning it to social housing stock would be the morally correct thing to do, but.... the only reason I have it is because the council failed to get their papers in order in time 10 years ago, when it had been repossessed by the bank who wanted a super quick sale.

But I'm not relying on the council. Hence also having it on the market. [/quote]
That's good you are keeping options open, I wish I had, I also think it does take a little longer to sell ex LA housing too.

Wishing you and your son all the best

@theyearofsmallthings actually I can totally put a chair outside my front door and have a coffee in the sunshine, and in my pyjamas, if I want to. I never have - but I could. It's pavements in the sky, so although it's on the 5th floor, you step straight outside. Also I could have a coffee on the balcony if I wanted to.

Hi OP, I think your flat looks like a real home, has personality, and art and books are very important. I also love brutalist architecture.

Unfortunately not everyone thinks the same. So if you want to appeal to a mass audience, you need to strip your place of personality. And therefore, yes remove books, furniture, clutter, art, knick knacks and make your place look bigger, and like storage is not an issue at all.

Potential buyers are also instinctively put off by quirky decor (eg the bathroom). Because this is something that deviates from the norm, I think it causes buyers to think that the sellers might somehow be ‘weird’, and they worry about how it’s going to be dealing with these people who are clearly different from themselves. Plus, your buyers will be factoring in the cost and hassle of redoing the bathroom, and will offer less as a result.

To be clear, I’m not saying you are weird! But properties that look different are generally harder to sell.

Why not put both the children in one room. Then pack up most of the books and buy boxes that are all a uniform size (this makes stacking easier, and it looks tidyer,) to put them in, and other stuff, then store them in the empty bedroom.
Paint the bathroom.
Put dressing gowns away.
Fold towels, as someone else suggests.
Clear all the pictures from the kitchen.
Do not allow the estate agent to post the outside pictures.

@ozymandiusking thank you. The children are in the same room. DH and I are in the other.

We've already put a lot of stuff in a warehouse that we have - so I'll put more in.

Your 10 & 8 year old children sleep in toddler beds in a room that is set up for 2/3 year olds??

Also, why are you hoarding a saddle from your childhood pony? Nobody, literally nobody, need an old saddle.

Christ on a bike.

For that price it needs to be amazing so ditch the books (you love them, nobody else will) and make it the spacious flat it should be.

I'm not in London but nearly half a million for that? 🤤🤤🤤

I think i just have to get over the idea of going through lockdown 2.0, and Christmas. without immediate access to all our belongings. We've spent the last 4 years (inc. Christmases) in and out of hospital so I'd become overly attached to home feeling like home. Additionally we moved every year as a child so it was my stuff that made each house feel like home.

Else we need to take it off the market and try again in the spring, having hugely decluttered and fixed the kitchen etc.

Anyway, truly, you've all been super helpful and I can now see more clearly that potential buyers may need to be able to see more clearly.... so thank you.

@nicerbeing I love the saddle! For I loved the pony. And one day I'll get another pony and it'll need the saddle. They're not cheap. It's why they're worth hanging on to.

Adore the decor in the living room and bedroom. The kitchen needs clarifying, of course. And the bathroom, while charming, is probably going to alarm some people. Definitely get some lovely outside photos. It's delightful, OPthough I suppose some might be worried that they wouldn't be able to copy its delightfulnessthat without the decor it's a bit boxy/stiff.

[quote Puffykins]@nicerbeing I love the saddle! For I loved the pony. And one day I'll get another pony and it'll need the saddle. They're not cheap. It's why they're worth hanging on to. [/quote]

I understand hanging on to memories but you don't need physical items, especially a saddle! You may be searching a long time to find a pony to fit your saddle rather then the other way round! Decluttering is brutal but definitely necessary.

You need to get better beds for your children, whether you keep the house on the market or not.

@nicerbeing @Ninkanink they still fit in the beds. Truly I'm not making my DC sleep in cages! It's just that when we move into a new house they'll have their own rooms with an occasional double each, and I can't fit two occasional doubles into that room.

I like the Brutalist style and would love to see photos of the view from the windows as well as of the communal garden. My overall impression of your home is that it's cosy but has lots of space and light which are both selling points.

To make it more appealing to the less imaginative buyer, I'd suggest clearing some visual space e.g. plain bedding on the beds, remove scatter cushions from chairs and sofas, plain tablecloth on the dining table and remove the floral rug in that room so only the block colour one remains. I'd remove any patterned rugs so the floors appear to be larger. Hide the lotions and potions in the bathroom and remove all towels when the photo is retaken. The jungle is fun - I wouldn't necessarily cover it up but think the overall effect will be better if a feature is made of it rather than it being a backdrop to bottles. I love all the art and books everywhere so wouldn't be at all put off by them but think having some expanses of 'plain' in each room e.g. flooring, bed covers, sofas will help viewers to appreciate the space on offer. I also like the bare plaster in the kitchen and would be tempted to remove the rest of the tiles so the plaster looks like a positive design decision. Removing the blue and yellow tiles will also help to create some 'plain' in the kitchen which will open it up.

Including information about the service charge, new lift etc. would be sensible.