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!

Well, I would buy the flat based on the decor - I love it! (Price would have to have some decimal point movement to the left...)

I think if the flat were “minimalised” it would just look like any other 60s block flat.

I LOVE your place, but, I’m not the majority of people looking to buy your flat, and if I was, I would wonder if all your stuff was covering up a few defects (eg. the rugs and pictures all over the place, though I love loads of wall art).
It hurts to say this but I think you should pack up some of your lovely stuff, the small bits and bobs in the kitchen, make it look less busy, too many patterns in the living room so I would probably remove the rugs and table cloth, too many books, looks like you haven’t enough room and storage for stuff.
As I said, I totally adore your eclectic style, I wish I had it, however, a lot of people really will look at it as a lot of ‘clutter’, even though it’s very stylishly organised.
So, go get some packing boxes etc, (store it away somewhere off the property) and try a more minimalist look, but, leave all your wall art, and some funky things, like the Moose’s head as your individual style is great......to me.
Good luck.

[quote Puffykins]@Bluntness100 I spent lockdown introducing the children to housekeeping. They dust, do laundry (and change their sheets) clean silver and can cook pasta/ boil eggs. (Also, I dust different bits when I'm on the phone, so it never really needs doing.)[/quote]
Ehrm, that sounds good but aren’t they toddlers?

So much stuff. Where do you keep the supermarket trolley?

Your flat is amazing and I love it - not a bit of boring grey in sight. So many interesting things to look at! I do agree though, that your average buyer would want something a bit more blank canvas. It makes me want to weep though at the price difference in central London to other parts of the U.K. Oh the property you could have where I live

I do think it's a bit strange that people seem to think that the only property that will sell is one that is neutral. It seems very brutal to have to decant your life to storage and not practical really, when you consider that this is someone's life and they probably use the books and the things in the kitchen and the towels. Everyone redecorates a new place anyway, sooner or later, and the buyers know the pictures won't stay on the walls. And why wouldn't there be toothpaste in the bathroom? Yes, I would probably hide/store the pictures stacked on the floor, but why would you put towels away? We have towels in all our bathrooms; they are very useful for drying after washing.

No, the children aren’t toddlers. They’re at primary school. Age ten and eight, I think.

@Bluntness100 no they're 10 and 8 - they just haven't grown out of the toddler beds so I hadn't replaced them (until now. Standard singles are being delivered in 10 days.)

So many people loving OP’s DH sense of style. Yet the OP is selling an empty flat.

Has the OP staged the flat to the potential market? No. She’s on here genuinely baffled why she’s not getting any viewings or offers and all those posts gushing about her books and her art aren’t going to magic up any offers next week.
And OP? Your husband is a professional. Can he honestly not see how having toddler beds for children in primary school is incredibly off putting and screams not enough space for two singles?

No.

it’s not being sold with furniture, so it’s got fuck

Remove all bookcases( and books) that are not built in. The flat will increase enormously in size. The lack of storage space is so evident at the moment and it is something you don’t want to emphasise.
Pictures not hanging on walls need to be stored away. They emphasise the lack of wall space.
Kitchen seems to be missing some plaster on the wall. Is that deliberate? It looks unfinished or structurally unsound. Be prepared to explain. Bookcase in kitchen makes it look unusable.
Bathroom decoration is too niche. Get some nice neutral but warm colour and paint over it. Store toiletries in hamper - they look so messy at the moment.
Good luck.

Don’t know what’s happened there at the end ... comment window went blank on me so I ended up retyping it all again. God, this stupid archaic site, I just can’t.

@Nekoness my husband is a professional, yes, but for theatre. Which is very different. And generally involves a lot of props - which he compulsively collects and brings home. We actually do have a lot of storage but we've got chests full of keys/ gloves/ old telephones/ interesting-looking stones. I'm encouraging him to put them in storage but he's worried he'll need them 😬😭.

And, @Nekoness, the toddler beds are being replaced.....

There's just soo much clutter. Even in the bathroom around the sink and the sides of the bath. We all know it can get like that but you need to really make your flat look it's best to be able to sell it.
I agree with a pp who said it looks like you didn't know the photographer was going to be turning up that day.

It is gorgeous albeit cluttered with STUFF, but that is your lives and from reading earlier posts you use books for research. Really? Surely most things are online now, but what do I know.

I love the decor and the homely feel. Would move the million books apart from a few strategically erudite ones to storage. Same with the paintings/prints apart from a few. Bathroom, yup needs painting over the ever so personal murals.

Other than that, good to go.

Allow the viewers to see the first picture as a great place to live. You know what you have to do. No need to be clinical, but the clutter and books need to be culled! But you know that anyway!

Best of luck

It's interesting and the interior unique, potential buyers don't want to see how you live rather how they might. It's boring but make it more neutral and much less in the way of books art and things on surfaces. Space and neutrality seems to work, if you're able put things in storage so you have more space. Make it easy for others to move in and live there whilst putting their own stamp on it.

@ArrabellaAM I actually didn't know the photographer was coming. They forgot to tell me.

Declutter, it looks like a beautiful flat under the clutter. You need to stage it, to make it appeal to prospective new owners. We recently sold ours, before putting it on market, we got rid of all the stuff we didnt need, or you could put in storage, to you it probably looks ok, to other people far to much stuff. Good luck in selling.

Love it and especially the stag mount🦌🙂

Poor op is still being told to put 90% of her belongings in storage, yet someone linked to another version of her flat which had been ruthlessly de cluttered and it looked Godawful 🤷🏻‍♀️
I love the flat, fwiw. And I'd be perfectly capable of grasping the concept that op's belongings aren't part of the fixtures and fittings.

Arrrghh everyone close your eyes !!! The CLUTTER

I LOVE it! Some real character right there! Very eccentric and very homely! Maybe just make it look a little less "you" and a bit more minimalist so potential buyers can imagine their own stuff in there. Then you can put all your lovely belongings back how you like them in your new home.

I love it! it's so busy and quirky it looks awesome thank god someone has got character I bloody cant stand homes where they are all dull and grey or white washed and magnolia!

I love it!!!! We would buy it but for the location, I’d fear noise at night and also now home working I need a desk space

Location, location, location.

On a main road overlooking a railway line in earshot of the Westway. Might sell easily in a roaring hot market but people are fleeing London for obvious reasons.