London flat not selling. Why? Why? Can you plz help me to understand.

[Mypizzicato]

My 3 bedroom flat is not selling. It has been on the market since a week before the 1st National lockdown in March.
Had a few viewings but not offer. Price was reduced twice since March.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/68930043#/

I think it's a nice flat in a great location. We also extended the lease till 2197
I know that London at the moment can be a difficult market but this would be still a nice flat when things would be back to normal.
Thanks for any suggestions

It looks nice so I'm gonna say either price, or just the fact its been on so long makes potential buyers assume there must be something wrong with it

Honestly my friends London flats aren’t selling- first time buyers need a bigger deposit, no one wants to pay the London premium whilst working from home, people want outside space etc.
You prob need to take a huge price drop to shift it

The kitchen - paint the cupboards

The bedroom - really dull - needs some pictures and colors

Love the balcony

Any pics of shared areas?

Most likely because it doesn't have a garden and the rooms are small

I think it looks nice

Any issues with lease length?

Who is the freeholder? Relevant I think as advice is always to avoid council as freeholder.

Also, 3 bed one bath might be an issue which should be reflected in price.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

Honestly my friends London flats aren’t selling- first time buyers need a bigger deposit, no one wants to pay the London premium whilst working from home, people want outside space etc. You prob need to take a huge price drop to shift it

This. Plus, truthfully, the pics look like the decor is dated and the place is a little bare. There are a lot of flats around with a higher spec finish and well dressed to sell, and you're going to be working against the general property market trends at present where few people want to be buying a flat in Covid times.

If you really want to sell, you'll need to find a price point that attracts a savvy investor who is prepared to take a longer term view IMO.

It's nice but the kitchen is very dated

Are pics 3 and 6 the same balcony but one is photoshopped?

It's going to be price, I guess. Bit If get rid of the nets in the kitchen and open your curtains in the living room, it looks like you are hiding something awful but a quick look on street map suggests there's troublesome there. If you have more time, paint the kitchen cupboards and I'd give that second bed a headboard.

I'm fighting with my phone,sorry... there's NOTHING troublesome there and ignore the rest of the nonsense words.

No bath?
No photo of 3rd bedroom.
The second photo of the balcony when the window boxes have died ... why??
Can't get a sense of the size of the kitchen from the photo. Ie is your dining table very small or is there plenty of room for a family to eat in there?
The second bedroom photo is extremely dismal.

We don't live there anymore that's why it might look a bit dull.
Abt pictures of the balcony
, nothing have been photoshopped, they were just taken in 2 different time.

Ex council flats are always a tougher sell (I live in one in a central location like yours) even in a lovely area like Maida Vale in normal times. Not everyone likes the sorts of buildings.

So even in normal times to sell for what you want it would need to be pristine inside, which I’m afraid it isn’t. To make the compromise on building people either want it cheaper, or a new bathroom kitchen etc.

Practical things - the photos aren’t great. Curtains should be open, everything looks a little scruffy with not much focus in a room or colour. I’d get them redone.

If you’ve had to drop the price twice how much was it on for originally? It must have been heck of a high

It does need work, the kitchen looks very dated, and the bedrooms look quite unloved, the balcony shots are weird, and I can’t work out why the big difference in the two

The bottom line is though if it’s still not shifting it’s still over priced.

The first photo - the one showing when you first open the item - is not good. Ask to have it changed to the living room photo.

The kitchen cupboard are awful.

The photo of the second bedroom is not good. Make the bed properly, put some pillows on the bed, get rid of the clutter (slippers).

It looks dated and someone will look at this thinking 'I've got to redecorate it all'.

@Mypizzicato

We don't live there anymore that's why it might look a bit dull. Abt pictures of the balcony , nothing have been photoshopped, they were just taken in 2 different time.

You need to remove whichever picture of the balcony no longer represents it. Two pictures, one of which is no longer valid, makes it look a bit like you are trying to pull the wool.

The kitchen looks so brown and dull and dated. I'd paint the walls and the cabinet doors to brighten it up and also get rid of the awful curtain in that room. No picture of the third bedroom and the bathroom looks very small, where is the loo, can only see what looks like a bidet and the shower looks small with dated and grubby tiles.

No one wants to pay a premium for space in the capital at the moment as the main draw of business and social life are no longer there.

As someone also trying to sell a London flat and the market just isn't great - while people are working from home they want more space and also the people who might be buying this kind of flat may also be 'starter' buyers getting a foot on the property ladder, whose jobs just aren't secure at the moment.

Agree with PP above who said they'd want a pic of the third bedroom, to me its absence implies that it's so small it's a box room.

Overall, it looks dark and dated, I would get the photos redone (and more of them), open all the curtains, paint the kitchen cabinets, odd to still have a bidet? It's just quite bland and lacking in warmth, which may make it hard for people to envision themselves there.

Ex council flats are always a tougher sell (I live in one in a central location like yours) even in a lovely area like Maida Vale in normal times. Not everyone likes the sorts of buildings.

Also, talking about it still being a lovely flat for when things get "back to normal"... When will that be, do you reckon? Because for a lot of people it's "never". A hell of a lot of knowledge workers will never be tied to a physical worksite every day like they used to be, so the market for this kind of thing has shrunk, probably permanently. Things may well look up if we get a vaccine etc, but you'll have to decide if you want to sell or if you want to sit tight for potentially quite a long time to squeeze a slightly higher price.

Yeah, this. Sorry, but if I were in the market for a flat I'd look at the exterior of the building and go "erk".

You need to remove whichever picture of the balcony no longer represents it. Two pictures, one of which is no longer valid, makes it look a bit like you are trying to pull the wool

This is what I thought too. Leave up the nice pic and delete the other. If you're not living there, definitely "stage" it a bit better - like what others have said about painting the kitchen cupboards and updating the bedclothes etc - this can be done cheaply, but can completely change the look of the room.

Gosh. I know the area very well indeed and you're in a phenomenal location with really close access to superb state schools, though not the most picturesque part! On price, you're clearly far better value per square foot than other one beds on at the same price nearby but they are all far prettier. The main thing is I guess that you're either (a) a fifth / sixth floor walk up or (b) there's a lift and therefore huge maintenance charges?
I'd possibly be inclined to list as 2 beds / study or 2 beds / nursery though - all the good storage is on bed 2 and that leaves bed 3 as tiny and without any storage at all. Even at 2 beds, it leaves you priced iwth the market so I'm guessing the market is just difficult for flats.
Lovely place to live, OP, I was very happy there :)

Just realised
The bathroom doesn’t have a bath?

Also needs to be reflected in price.

It looks like a nice flat. Immediately struck me that the kitchen looks dated but for the right buyer that wouldn’t put people off. It’s good it has such a long lease. I agree with others that the photos aren’t showing it to its best advantage.

But fundamentally I imagine in the market right now there’s a big difference between what buyers think they should be getting for their property and what buyers are willing to pay. If you need to sell then it will be the price - everything sells for the right price (just look at Homes Under The Hammer).

Good luck OP. I mean it when I say it looks like a nice flat.

I think the flat looks fine. The balcony looks like a lovely extra area.

Personally though I think as it has 3 bedrooms it will be aimed at a family with children. Right now, with more working at home options, those family buyers are looking for homes further away from London with their own gardens. If people need to be in central London less often they are prepared to have a longer journey when they do travel in and want to benefit from a bigger home with a garden rather than a short commute.

Have you considered renting it out if it's already vacant? I think you might have more success renting to 3 singles who are flat sharing than a family who are buying.

In the future, when commuting becomes normal again and people want the hustle and bustle of London life (without the fear of catching Coronavirus) I'm sure it will sell for a good price.