Selling flat in the time of covid

[Alwaysawake45]

We tried last summer to sell our flat, unfortunately in what was probably the worst time! We had a number of viewings but no offers and took it off the market at the end of the year as viewings had completely dropped off. We are desperate to sell, two young children and no garden has certainly been trying during this time. It’s huge, three double bedrooms, large balcony and communal gardens but the market has seemingly disappeared, particularly for flats. Has anyone successfully sold their flat in a covid world or are in a similar situation and has any ideas/tips they could share?

Sorry, just to give a bit more insight- we live in a busy city in the UK.

Hi OP. I put my flat with no garden on the market last July and had accepted an offer a few days later. Did you get any feedback why no offers were made? It might be worth looking at how the flat is presented too - I spent DAYS cleaning before the photos and viewings (removed all signs of baby toys outside the bedroom for photos). I touched up the paint work and made sure the pallets were neutral and clean. Nothing too personal was left out so put away a lot of family photos that weren't hung up. I also staged the di in area with plates, cutlery, wine glasses etc. All this helps people to imagine themselves living there. Sorry for the long post!

Thanks @MaMaD1990 and good to hear you sold so successful. We didn’t get a great amount of feedback, all the people who viewed seemed enthusiastic according to the agent after the viewings but no offers were made. They just put it down to a ‘delicate’ market in terms of flat purchases but maybe this isn’t entirely the case. It’s in very good condition but maybe we could put some more things away next time round so it doesn’t look at all cluttered.

@Alwaysawake45 I would definitely insist on them getting feedback from everyone who views for sure. My estate agent gave people 24hrs before calling for feedback (we bought through the same EA so we gave feedback on properties we viewed). It might be worth looking into seeing if the price was right. Did you get valuations from a few EA's? It's a tricky time to sell and I think we were just lucky to be honest. Wish you the best of luck!

Hi @Alwaysawake45 - I sold my flat in July last year (via PurpleBricks) - it had been on the market for about 2 months, however we had to drop the price by £20K, and ended up getting less than we paid for it.

We gave the place a fresh lick of paint, and replaced the lino in the bathroom to bring it up to date - but the market (I was in South London) just wasn't there at the price we wanted unfortunately.

Just to add, as well as the lino / paint, I made a 'factsheet' of the area to give to every viewer - containing details of all the points of interest, how old the boiler was, transport links, when the kitchen was replaced etc -all the stuff that you want the estate agent to tell them, but aren't sure that they will. It also lets them remember the place better if they're looking round several similar places.

As it was, the people who bought my place ended up being people that I'd shown round, rather than the EA.

That’s a great idea re a fact sheet, will definitely try that!

I'd rather buy a 1 bed house than a 2 bed flat

@CoronaIsWatching, exactly and that’s the problem. In hindsight so would I!

I am in London and quite a few apartments in my development have been sold in the last year. I noticed that the 2 to 3 bed. apartments are selling faster than the 1 bed.
I don't think the problem in your case is the flat ,especially if the rooms are big and you have a balcony.How is the surrounding area? do you have parks,restaurants,shops,coffee shops close by?

That’s interesting @windmill26 it’s well located, close to shops, coffee shops, parks etc. We perhaps put it on the market at a pre covid price and we probably need to reduce it when we re-market it. I feel like we are up against houses of a similar price but with the bonus of a garden. The flat is much bigger then a 3 bed house would be for this price but of course lacks the garden.

Everything will sell if it's the right price for the market. Trouble is, that might not be the price you need/want ;)

Assume you've decluttered, redecorated any REALLY bad bits, made the flat presentable, and done what you can to address any negative feedback from the estate agent follow ups etc.

I think a lot of people are waiting to find out if the stamp duty holiday is going to extend or not.

There was no price reduction here as they didn't stay on the market for long. Unsure if is our area or London in general!

We've managed to get a few offers on our flat (and accepted one this week) after a huge number of viewings- but we had to drop the price by around £50k from where we started, and now we are basically breaking even on what we paid for it 5 years ago. EAs, even at valuation stage, told us that the market for flats in our area (North East) without private gardens has fallen off a cliff due to Covid unfortunately.

As @Caroline147 says - 'having a garden' has suddenly become really important to people after lockdown (I know that I struggled not having one) - but if there are large open spaces / parks / shared facilities nearby perhaps make sure that the EA mentions them to viewers.

The ongoing EWS1 issue is making flats very hard to sell. You may need to sit tight until it’s resolved which sadly could be years or sell at a low price to a cash buyer

@lastqueenofscotland

The ongoing EWS1 issue is making flats very hard to sell. You may need to sit tight until it’s resolved which sadly could be years or sell at a low price to a cash buyer

Not necessarily. Our development has some cladding but we have all the appropriate forms so it hasn't been an issue.

@lastqueenofscotland luckily we do have the EWS1 form in place on our building so we don’t have that problem here. I do really feel for people caught up in the cladding fiasco though, it’s a terrible mess.