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 really like it. But what's with the dirty towels hanging down in the bathroom picture?!

I love your style I would feel really comfortable in your flat if I was coming to visit however you need to sell it. I agree with some decluttering and I love the fact that you look like you have more books than our house. I have been sorting books today. We have four bookcases and some shelves I got the joiner to put up in the sitting room recently. There is nothing wrong with a washing machine in the bathroom. DD was living in Clifton, Bristol when she first went to uni and the studio flat had the WM in the bathroom. I had never seen that before but I thought it was a great idea especially there where the kitchen was smaller than the bathroom.
I. Would declutter the bathroom and just leave out a shower gel, shampoo and condition then tidy the rest away. I rather like the mural. I would have a couple of new towels just for when someone is viewing and loose the ones on the back of the door for that time.
I love your kitchen cupboards and I think they add character. I would try and keep the work tops clear if possible. I find putting everything on the table and then giving it a good clean and put back a couple of attractive pieces out but very little. I have Portmerion canisters and a few other pieces but sometimes I feel mine is too cluttered. It is difficulty when you are living.
Maybe lose the pile of Vogue magazines. I have Country Living.😄
Just organise some books to go into storage if you can and then reorganise the ones left. It is a good size flat.
I left my saddles in the shed and it hasn’t been good for them. I also would like another pony so hang onto mine and a box of bridles, show halters and caverson. The leather has peeled from leaving them in the shed. It is strange because previously they were in the tack room which must be a similar temperature. So I agree with you there.

Good luck and if you fancy moving north you could have quite a decent size house with a garden. The one across the road was £375. I cringe at prices down south.

Rent some storage space for the books and pictures.

Not everyone likes dead animal heads on the wall (yes I know they are not all real).

Declutter every where and neutral colours everywhere, including the bathroom.

Your dh is a set designer so get him to design a minimalist look in your home.
And then get new photographs taken.

The clutter, its everywhere and the bathroom is bold, it will put people off buying as they will see it as them having to do lots of work (even though this might not be the case)

We sold out flat a year or so ago in NW London and the estate agent had us moving all our clutter from one room to the next as he was taking the pictures, we still got to keep all our stuff in the flat (pretty essential with a newborn!) But it meant it wasn't in all the photos.

I think your flat is breathtakingly beautiful ( apart from bathroom) I just love it

De-clutter, de-personalise, deep clean, repair walls and repaint where all the paintings and mirrors have been hung, make the balcony beautiful or omit that photo. Your flat looks cramped, busy, scruffy, and unappealing. Sorry. When we went to market we spent a lot of time doing all of the above and we scrupulously cleaned and prepared for every single viewing. I kept a set of pristine linens just for viewings.

Looks good to me. I really like your bathroom btw.

Usually I open these and thing egads no one would want to buy that, but I LOVE your flat and your style. I would want to view it based on how light and cozy and homey it looks. And lots of people are not opposed to a spot of Brutalist architect.

The things that made me go "ooooh no" were the "balcony" shot and the jungle mural. The rest only needs decluttering a little for the pictures. You have great natural style and I think you could stage it well for the market.

Well I love it! It might be too cluttered for the discerning people of Rightmove but I don’t think it looks like a hoarder’s house (I’m guessing that person has never set foot in an actual hoarder’s home).

🙄At the posters telling you how cheap it is up north or in California.

Wayyyy too much clutter. I had a small house up for sale last year. We got rid of absolutely anything we didn't need. You need to anyway to move.
We then got storage beds and seat boxes cheap on eBay and used them to throw everything else in. Tidy was better than a cheap fabric storage box.

We then had one last box that we filled with miscellaneous junk we were refusing to get rid of and would put in the car for viewings.

And the bathroom. Well worth considering even painting over it for the sale. It's not to everyone's taste in a market where flats without private gardens in London aren't necessarily in everyones wish list right now.

I'd also get the agents to re do the photos. I always tell the photographer what pictures I like or don't. Agency's can be a bit lazy sometimes. I had one zoom up of a toilet once. Never did understand why, but I banished that photo before it could reach Rightmove.

Good luck.

TBH I'm struggling to believe that you genuinely can't see how cluttered your place is. What you have is lovely. I like the colours and your style, but you just need less of it.

This. You seem to be rather disingenuous OP.

You can't have missed the multitude of house selling programmes over the years that all say de-clutter, depersonalise.

It's a really lovely place, the outside would not put me off - but I would not want to spend that money and have to make repairs and re do the bathroom.

You'd have to box it all up anyway so why not do it now and get new photos taken?

I think it's lovely - including the bathroom! But then I hate bland looking places.

Looking at all those cluttered rooms makes me feel wheezy. Dust traps everywhere you look and just so much stuff everywhere, too much on the walls, and no sense of spaciousness even though it's a big flat. You should make the balcony beautiful and include new photos if it as well as photos of the communal garden. Outside space is a selling feature in these Covid times.

Washing machine in the bathroom has advantages where there is no utility. In the kitchen the noise from the machine is more likely to cause disturbance if it is semi open plan. We have fullŷ open plan lounge and kitchen and the noise in the evening from the dishwasher, washing machine, extractor fan etc is very disturbing in the lounge area.

The children’s room is not the least bit too babyish for a ten-year-old. I’m baffled that anyone would think that. On the contrary, I think it’s a rather grown-up-style room.

@Puffykins

I haven't got a cat - what makes you think there's a cat??!!

@Puffykins this previous post. Sorry, I know it’s not etiquette to advanced search but someone else mentioned your children being a bit old for toddler beds at 9 and 7 so I had a look myself and noticed this post where you say you live in the countryside with a cat. Bit weird.

Clutter! Could you not see with the bedroom pic, the eye is drawn to a big pile of books on right. Did you not get warning that photographer would be coming? It’s advised to clear most personal items away for the showcasing photos

Maybe I'm being dim, but a practical question: if I was making/serving up a roast dinner, I'd need worktop space to put down a roasting tin, tray of potatoes, tray of Yorkshires, vegetable steamer, four plates, etc. I can't see I'd be able to do that in your kitchen. What do you do? Have to shift everything out the way every time?

Another fan here. It's like a London flat from a Jilly Cooper novel (which is a very good thing!).

@StatementKnickers

I think it's lovely and there are a lot of fucking rude people on here! No doubt unsophisticated provincial Mrs Hinch followers with dull neutral homes and no books. And I love the Rousseau mural in the bathroom - take that panel with you! BUT the flat is so colourful and personal that it must be hard for potential buyers to imagine themselves living there. So I guess you might need to depersonalise it if you want to sell.

Oh the irony, talking about others being rude...

I thought this was a wind-up too. I suspect your heart isn't into the move because there's no way someone who really wanted to sell would have the photographer round with the apartment bursting at the seams like this, and with bundles of towels hanging on the door. Have a chat with your DH. If you don't want to move, don't. In a market when people don't need to live in London for their job anymore, and everyone wants outdoor space, the only way this flat is going to sell is if you put 100% effort into it.
That means huge sacrifices of reducing all your belongings, keeping it clean and tidy and allowing viewers during Covid, and your little boy hasn't been well. So I can understand why you don't want strangers traipsing through the house.
Honestly, if you removed 50% of your belongings and decorative items, it still might not be enough. I had no idea there was built in storage in the rooms. That's how crowded and covered up everything is.
I can see you've made it a cosy and well-locked home for your family, but selling means letting go now.

*well-loved, not well-locked

@GammyLeg

Well I love it! It might be too cluttered for the discerning people of Rightmove but I don’t think it looks like a hoarder’s house (I’m guessing that person has never set foot in an actual hoarder’s home).

🙄At the posters telling you how cheap it is up north or in California.

Agree. And that house is Bo'ness is fucking hideous. I wouldn't take it off the owner's hands for £1.17 and a deep-fried Mars bar.

@NaughtipussMaximus I'd assume the OP moved the car from her flat to her house/parents house in the country.