Help please! Anyone else having trouble selling flats?

[FlatSellingWoes]

DPs ground floor flat has been on the market almost a year. Had a buyer after 2 weeks but unfortunately they pulled out just before completion. Annoying.

Anyway, since March it has been reduced by £5k and he's had 1 viewing, and another that was cancelled the morning of.

Estate agents are being a bit useless, just shrugging and saying no one is buying flats due to Covid, everyone wants outside space, plus noone can get a mortgage right now. Fine, except 2 other flats in the same building have both sold in the last 3 months at the price DPs flat is on the market for. So I take that to mean it's not the price that's an issue.

Both other flats that have sold have been top floor flats, complete with slanting roof so actually less 'usable' floor space than DPs flat and generally a more crampt feel. DPs flat is very open and airy, new wood floor throughout, a bit 'masculine' but modern, clean and tidy, no tat or mess anywhere.

Why isn't he getting viewings? Is it because it's a ground floor flat? Any ideas would be welcome!

We’ve been advised not to list our flat right now; because although our area is currently one of the fastest moving in the U.K., nobody is buying flats and they just sit on the market forever. Ours is a one bed, so it’d usually be first time buyers or investors that buy, and the banks aren’t doing many FTB mortgages without requiring big deposits, and investors aren’t investing in property right now... so we’ve been advised to leave it and see what happens in spring next year, as it being on the market for more than three months will be detrimental. We considered just listing for now, and removing if it didn’t sell by Feb, but it’d show as unsold and risk people thinking there was something wrong with it.

I think the points about people wanting outside space and spare rooms are probably true, too. It’s why we want to move!

Are you using the same EA as the flats that sold? You could try talking to them... but I’d be cautious of somewhere that had been listed for a year and I know DH wouldn’t view anywhere on the market for that long incase there was something wrong with it, so that might not be helping.

Do you have the option to shelve selling for a bit, or would you rather drop the price and get it sold? We were told that it’d probably sell if we knocked £40k off the valuation price, but I think we’d rather wait.

Thanks for your reply. I agree it's probably not a great time to sell a flat, and it's probably just bad luck that the other 2 flats sold and DPs didn't.

I have been telling him to get it off the market for a while now and try again in spring next year, possibly with a different EA. I worry about it being on the market so long, people will think there is something wrong with it.

He's open to dropping by possibly another few k but for now is keen to hold out and get the same as the other flats.

Prices have started to correct and in my area of London small houses with gardens are not too dissimilar in price to flats. I can't see that waiting will improve the situation. By all market incidcators, you either drop and sell now or stay put for a good number of years to come.

What are the plans for his forward move? Can he make up for any loss there?

It is almost certain flats will continue to drop in price for the foreseeable. What's the thinking behind waiting till spring?

Thinking behind waiting til spring is mainly Covid related, and also that's supposedly when the market gets busier again. However, there is the issue of Brexit which is

We're not looking at buying together yet, he wants to sell his place and move in with me (properly, he's been mainly living at mine with the odd night at his for the last year). Then we'd look to upsize in 18 months or so.

Sounds like if he wants it gone he's going to have to drop again which means he'll get pretty much what he paid for it 5 years ago :(

Sorry, trying to multitask, that should say "the issue of Brexit which is concerning"!

Top floor flats are more desirable, they also tend to sell for more money than ground floor.

If it isn’t even getting viewings then generally the reason Is either the price or something wrong with the listing and photos. Have you asked friends and family to review both objectively?

When you say other flats have sold do you mean they’ve gone under offer or you’ve looked on the Land Registry? If the former then you don’t know how much they actually accepted and it may be quite a bit less than what your DP is asking for his.

Does it have a garden? That’s the only reason I’d pick a ground floor over another floor and I’d probably avoid otherwise.

If it's been on a long time how easy is it to see on Rightmove and other sites?

I would never buy a ground floor flat as you can't ever leave window open, so in summer when its hot you can't cool the property down.

When i bought a flat i always went top floor, its quieter as well as no one walking past your door on their way to their flat. Can't hear front door slamming at all hours etc

We were thinking the same, @FlatSellingWoes.... The Estate Agents basically told us to hold out until banks are offering 90% mortgages again, or investors start buying.

Our saving grace vs London may be that you can't get a house around here for anywhere near the cost of a flat. Houses start around £325k, our flat was valued at £210k in the Summer and things seemed to be selling okay then... we generally live in a bit of a house price bubble.

I'm concerned now though. We had to leave our chain last week as our buyer pulled out, and our vendor wanted to relist rather than wait and see if we could sell... I'm still gutted, and wondering if we should have listed to see what happens, but I was heavily warned against having the place listed for more than 3/4 months as people would think there was something wrong with it, and they wouldn't want to pay for a survey to find out what it was!

@OhShutIt I'm pretty new to property - do you have any suggestions of places I can read forecasts and things? Would your recommendation be just to list now? We wouldn't have anywhere to move to, now... we'd have to start the whole thing again.

I’m trying to sell a flat at the moment. There was very little interest for several weeks. Estate agent said the market was flooded with flats and we might be better to pull it off the market and try again in the spring. We decided to try reducing the price, and have had two offers within a week. It was clearly just overpriced.

I agree about ground floor flats being less desirable. You get noise from above and there’s more of a security risk. When I was young and single I only looked at top floor flats.

I think it depends how modern a ground floor flat is. We needed to rent one and it's been fine apart from the front door to the lobby banging but because it's new it's got sound proofing and insulation.

Does it have any outdoor space? That appears to be what people want now. In the deeds can french doors be put in?
I think the price will have to be lower to sell.

@Lazypuppy

I would never buy a ground floor flat as you can't ever leave window open, so in summer when its hot you can't cool the property down.

When i bought a flat i always went top floor, its quieter as well as no one walking past your door on their way to their flat. Can't hear front door slamming at all hours etc

It's surely no different to having ground floor windows open in houses?

popshops but at night you can't leave any windows open to your flat if you live on the ground floor, whereas in a house you can leave upstairs windows open, or in an upstairs flat

Agree with PP. Top floor more desirable than ground floor if ground floor doesn't benefit from outdoor space. Even with reduced head height, less people walking past, no footsteps overhead, more secure.

There's also nothing wrong with only getting back what he paid for it 5 years ago. We're all told to see property as an investment but he's had secure housing for 5 years & not in negative equity. That's good.

Also lots of mortgage lenders are dragging their heels offering loans for flats without the cladding certificates.