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

@Jroseforever

There should be a separate property section for London because those with experience of London know about the areas etc and price

@Jroseforever: I totally agree :)

Wow not being rude here

Yes you are.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the chicken wire on the balcony. I guess it's to stop pigeons but it should be taken down for selling
I think.

Manky council block on an estate isn’t many people’s idea of desirable

Well that's not an accurate description of the ops flat at all. Nothing about Maida Vale is manky I can assure you There are plenty of grim ex council flats in horrible areas of London and this really isn't.

@Strawberryplum

formerbabe I’ll take your word from it but the ops asking and I’m just giving my opinion. It’s hideous and I’d rather live elsewhere for that price thank you.

Goodness, what would you say if you were being rude?

@Sara2000

There also eff all to do in a part of Scotland where you could buy a 6 bed house.

I know this block and it's actually really well located and well run. I suspect the reason is price. If you want it to sell for 550k then you would probably need to bring it up to date (which would cost money).
Either drop the price or invest in making it 'ready to move in' state. The price is too high for non investors and someone wanting to move in would have to fork out more to make it modern.

*I know the area very well, lived very close!!
Amazing location
Very good price I think

There should be a separate property section for London because those with experience of London know about the areas etc and price.*

Knew the price. Pre covid, pre Brexit, pre recession. Winter is coming.

@Strawberryplum

formerbabe I’ll take your word from it but the ops asking and I’m just giving my opinion. It’s hideous and I’d rather live elsewhere for that price thank you.

The OP was asking for constructive criticism, not random opinions.

Being unhelpfully rude about the building's appearance and telling her she could buy a six bedroom property in Scotland is not constructive.

There also eff all to do in a part of Scotland where you could buy a 6 bed house.

Depends what you like doing. Rural Scotland suits some people very well.

Doesn’t seem to attract money launderers, admittedly, but some would see that as a good thing.

Sara2000
Really? Plenty to do were I come from. Maybe educate yourself before making such a stupid comment!!

@Strawberryplum

Sara2000 Really? Plenty to do were I come from. Maybe educate yourself before making such a stupid comment!!

Yes but there must be a reason why you can buy a huge six bed detached house in Scotland for the same price as a three bed flat in London?

@TazMac Perhaps so, but then I feel that people who love the countryside are presumably people who have been exposed to it. DH and I both grew up in cities so why would we move to a rural part of Scotland when I have never been to the countryside (even for a holiday)? I have a high school friend from my country who is buying a flat in Bermondsey now even with the cladding scandal. She isn't a money launderer, just a young professional living in London who is working from home. She has the same kind of budget. It doesn't occur to her to leave London

Are the photographs recent? Or are they your old rental pictures?

My sister bought an ex LA ex-BTL and the flat we viewed bore no resemblance to the pictures online. They had been taken years previously.

And the tenants that were in it had it in a terrible state (possibly to put people off buying it from under them).

My sister got a bit of a bargain as everyone else seemed to be put off by the work required.

If the photos are recent then I can only echo what the others have said - get the nets down. Try to modernise it a bit without spending a fortune. I don't think there is much point in changing the kitchen but you do need to realise it will knock the value a bit.

There isn't much movement in the area at the moment.

nethouseprices.com/house-prices/maida%20vale,%20london

Its so pointless when people come these threads to say bloody hell you could buy a mansion for that where I live!!
London is expensive. People still want to live there!

Well clearly not at the moment. The on good thing about Covid is it has burst the London Property bubble. I agree, I would NEVER spend £550k on a flat like that, it's insanity.

Give me a 6 bedroom mansion in Scotland any day

@Volcanicorange

*Its so pointless when people come these threads to say bloody hell you could buy a mansion for that where I live!! London is expensive. People still want to live there!*

Well clearly not at the moment. The on good thing about Covid is it has burst the London Property bubble. I agree, I would NEVER spend £550k on a flat like that, it's insanity.

Give me a 6 bedroom mansion in Scotland any day

Fine, but why comment on the thread. Are you going to suggest the OP moves the flat to Scotland and sells it for 40k?

@Strawberryplum yes but in scotland, you have the threat of independence always hanging over your head. Don't want to turn this into something about politics, maybe scotland would become independent and make a good show of it. But maybe it would become independent, oil prices drop even further and then it may have trouble funding nhs and education, and of course the countryside would be the worst affected as companies pull out and jobs are lost (edinburgh would probably still be all right). When you buy in scotland you are buying in a region that could conceivably no longer be part of the UK, or in a devolved region where the central government can pull funding from. When you buy in manchester, you are buying in the north where growth has been sluggish for years since thatcher and you know that the current government is going to prioritize the growth of London over the growth of the north. So yes you get a lovely big house, but what about employment prospects in the next 20 years?

London is the capital, I am not saying that there isn't high poverty here, but the central government is always going to think of London first. The UK is a country in decline but you can be sure that whatever funds that the government has, its going to be spent in London and the south first. Businesses only want to set up in areas where there is good infrastructure.

Therefore, if i am going to spend money on a property, I want to spend it in an area where there would be jobs in the foreseeable future and an area that is part of the UK, not a region that may or may not be part of the UK. I am not for or against scottish independence but asking me to bet my money on that (when I am not even scottish) isn't something I would be comfortable with doing.

The price

I have a flat in London too but I wouldn't buy an ex LA flat, thats the problem.

I think that only investors would buy it. For the people saying, market it at young people- Maida Vale isn't exactly hip.

Good grief, that is an ugly building! I know that not going to change and doesn't help you sell it but to a northerner like me the prospect of half a million to live there is mind blowing! 🤯🤯🤯

Fine, but why comment on the thread. Are you going to suggest the OP moves the flat to Scotland and sells it for 40k?

Well, I suppose to say that the flat is massively overpriced if you are wanting to exchange £550k for a lovely place to live with loads of living space, a garden and up to date furnishings.

If you think about a couple in their early thirties looking for somewhere to live, what is appealing about London right now? There's nothing going on, many jobs are WFH or ceasing to exist. The arts scene has been decimated.

If you wanted to buy an ex-council flat you could get this one for less than half price in Sheffield, an area with plenty to do in none Covid times that is currently being overrun by buyers fleeing from London:
www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-94604537.html

Probably loads of similar properties in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds etc where you can WFH and have a good life.

Bad luck for the OP, but a dated flat in a nice area of London is not worth what is was a year ago, and IMO is unlikely to be for a long time.

It seems all the posters from London are convinced o it's worth, probably because they don't want to face reality that they are sitting in overpriced property due a correction

Op, you may have to reduce the price.
A poster has already posted a three bed flat in central London which was high spec and was cheaper than yours. Your flat is slightly dated and so you may have to knock some money off the price
People will buy for the right price.

@Volcanicorange DH's family are in London. We aren't allowed to see each other from thursday but for a lot of lockdown, we would walk to each other's homes, have picnics at hampstead heath. There are native londoners and in a way covid might mean that londoners don't need to move so far away from their parents.

However, OP's bad luck is that someone who has local parents in Maida Vale probably doesn't need to buy an Ex LA flat.

It seems all the posters from London are convinced o it's worth, probably because they don't want to face reality that they are sitting in overpriced property due a correction

Exactly this.

An ex LA flat, in the same sort of state as OP’s, would cost about 150k in Sheffield or Manchester. You could get a really nice, non LA one for £250k.