Feedback on my flat please!

[orangespotatoes]

Have name changed for this!

Would love some feedback if there is anything glaringly obvious missing from our listing (I have also just noticed story is spelt wrong!) We also need to have added that our building has the EWS1 certificate already, and we still have over 980 years on our lease.

We've been on the market three weeks but have had a verbal offer accepted on an onward purchase under the condition we go under offer within the next three weeks. Appreciate it's not an easy market for flats right now so not overly optimistic! Thanks all.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113522300#/?channel=RES_BUY

@onlychildhamster

If you get an offer similar to the listed price, your flat would have gained 110k in value in 7 years which is decent given that it was 362k in 2014.

I imagine that the house they are buying has gone up by the same or more, so a bit irrelevant, sadly.

Yes, quite. Some of the houses which were the same price as our flat in 2014 are selling for £550k+

Buy some floor up lights. They are small and discreet and if you put two int he corners behind dining table they would really light up that wall and area.

You can get battery down lights to go underneath kitchen units on a sensor or timer.

You need a handheld LED panel lamp. You can pick them up for about £20 - 30 on Amazon etc.

Have you noticed other flats being listed in the building and have any of them been selling? A penthouse was listed 6 months ago. Unless others have been selling, that suggests it could be difficult to sell. Maybe they think they have problems with their agent too! But I think market conditions are a more likely explanation.

When I was viewing I first enquired with agents who had multiple properties I was interested in. They would then show me several flats at once. Additionally they would contact me with others they thought were suitable. So you may benefit from switching agents if you can find one with enough similar properties to do this.

Pages of people suggesting tinkering with this abs that but no one mentioning that post Covid the market for flats is just not there. Your target market (couples, young children, well paid city jobs) don’t need to be near the workplace any more. They are working from home, maybe in the office twice a week. So with their £400-500k they can buy a house with a garden near nice schools and a good train line etc etc etc. Who will buy this flat now?

Can you get a good picture of the staircase from the hall and landing? Could be a good selling point.

@VanCleefArpels my DH (who works in an investment bank) needs to be in the office 5 days a week. He is still going in everyday cos his manager made it clear promotion would not be on the charts if not in the office daily. Half of london workers are in the office at least part of the time even now, and right now houses in home counties are on part with that of outer london now (in addition to the commuter fares which would still be high if 3 times a week; and it can easily be 3 times a week if you take into account ad hoc meetings).

We are still planning to stay in zone 3 for the foreseeable future (and I am looking at 3 bed flats for that reason). Also people with parents in London for childcare reasons.

@VanCleefArpels currently own a 2 bed flat! Also rail fares will grow above inflation and inflation is sky high. www.theguardian.com/money/2021/aug/18/england-and-wales-on-track-for-biggest-train-fare-rise-since-2012

Understood that this isnt your situation but you can’t deny that the changes in working patterns demonstrably have and will continue to impact the London (and other large cities) property market.

@VanCleefArpels i wish the 3 bed flats in my area were like woolwich! These are 3 bed flats in my area and its a very big jump from my 2 bed (400-450k)

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/59672856/
www.primelocation.com/for-sale/details/56646674/
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114685670#/?channel=RES_BUY

@VanCleefArpels

Pages of people suggesting tinkering with this abs that but no one mentioning that post Covid the market for flats is just not there. Your target market (couples, young children, well paid city jobs) don’t need to be near the workplace any more. They are working from home, maybe in the office twice a week. So with their £400-500k they can buy a house with a garden near nice schools and a good train line etc etc etc. Who will buy this flat now?

Of course! Silly me, I should have realised my flat is basically worthless in a post-Covid world. I'll have the agent amend our asking price to...do you think £10 is fair?

@VanCleefArpels

Pages of people suggesting tinkering with this abs that but no one mentioning that post Covid the market for flats is just not there. Your target market (couples, young children, well paid city jobs) don’t need to be near the workplace any more. They are working from home, maybe in the office twice a week. So with their £400-500k they can buy a house with a garden near nice schools and a good train line etc etc etc. Who will buy this flat now?

I agree the market is likely the issue and not the presentation of the flat.

Clearly there has been a move from cities and from flats to houses. But can you buy a house with a garden near nice houses and a good train line for 400-500k?! That sounds quite optimistic.

I think some people will see massive house price increases and small flat price falls and decide they can't afford the house they want and/or the flats available represent better value.

@Georgist

Have you noticed other flats being listed in the building and have any of them been selling? A penthouse was listed 6 months ago. Unless others have been selling, that suggests it could be difficult to sell. Maybe they think they have problems with their agent too! But I think market conditions are a more likely explanation.

When I was viewing I first enquired with agents who had multiple properties I was interested in. They would then show me several flats at once. Additionally they would contact me with others they thought were suitable. So you may benefit from switching agents if you can find one with enough similar properties to do this.

Our neighbours recently sold their two bed (it was park facing though, not courtyard!) in under a week for £417k. Same issues with low ceilings- I think one of their bedrooms had an external window but not sure.

@Georgist you can buy this in Hitchin, www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114801035#/?channel=RES_BUY

The problem is the commuter fares.Most FTB's budget is shot after buying a 500k house so there is very little wriggle room for 2 sets of commuter fares. Yes a lot of people are wfh now and don't need to worry about that, but a house is a long term investment so buying a house when you can't afford commuter fares is dangerous imho. what happens if you lose your job and your new job wants you to be in the office?

Moving further out makes more sense for someone with a 600-800k budget cos you can really get a decent house in the home counties for that and if you have a higher salary, the commuter fares don't matter as much.

Maybe useful to compare train fares and service charges on a flat!!!!

It's just flats... we've had our 3 bed in SE London on twice in the last six months and we can't even get viewings. It's frustrating, we're desperate to move.

@VanCleefArpels

my service charge is £1750 per annum so £145 per month. Monthly travel card is £160 per month from zone 3 to zone 1
Service charges + 2 travel cards= £465

Travel cards= £411*2= £822

The Flexible season ticket is £211 per month from Hitchin to London but you can only travel 8 times in 28 days, which roughly works out to twice a week. Anything above that and its cheaper to stay in London in a flat.

Unless you’d rather have a garden etc. Look, horses for courses, and I get you are defensive about your situation. However the current reality is that the market for flats in London is flat for all the reasons previously discussed. Which brings the OP’s dilemma down to price and/or time. Neither of these may be good options

@orangespotatoes i really like the new photo from your children's bedroom showing the height and the window, definitely add that to the advert

I would also try and put a photo of the stairs. I have rented a flat with a spiral staircase which i wouldn't now but there are nicer wider ones so I would like to know what they look like before going to view the flat as it would be a dealbreaker for me (the flat i rented was horrible external stairs plonked in... not nice ones)

In a personal note, but there is nothing you can do about it, I am not keen on the fact that you need to go downstairs in the middle of the night for a wee unless you disturb the master bedroom if you are in the second bedroom... a second bathroom in the study and thr shower room turned into a study might make more sense but that is something for the buyers to change

@VanCleefArpels i know everyone has personal preferences, i mean for my budget, i could probably have bought a 2 bed flat in camden (which is more central) but i chose not to cos i wanted somewhere more leafy and with better schools.

But the main argument that people have given me for leaving london was cos and my point was that its not necessarily cheaper. If the argument was 'I want to move to Beaconsfield cos I don't need to commute as much anymore and I want to live near countryside and in a neighbourhood which mainly has big houses and hardly any council flats (so I don't need to see the plebs) plus I don't care about the commuter fares as I am rich enough to afford a £1.2 million house', I would go ;'fair enough'. £1.2 million would buy you a bigger house in Beaconsfield than in my area (where you would only get a terrace). Most of the houses in my area (East Finchley) are terraces or flats anyway and you would see some poor people because there is a council estate near the north circular and some of the houses are flatshares for young people, like most areas in London. So fair enough if you move to the Home Counties for that., but its not an accessible option for lower earners.

[quote onlychildhamster]@Georgist you can buy this in Hitchin, www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114801035#/?channel=RES_BUY

The problem is the commuter fares.Most FTB's budget is shot after buying a 500k house so there is very little wriggle room for 2 sets of commuter fares. Yes a lot of people are wfh now and don't need to worry about that, but a house is a long term investment so buying a house when you can't afford commuter fares is dangerous imho. what happens if you lose your job and your new job wants you to be in the office?

Moving further out makes more sense for someone with a 600-800k budget cos you can really get a decent house in the home counties for that and if you have a higher salary, the commuter fares don't matter as much.[/quote]
My understanding is that a lot of houses are selling for more than asking price, so I wouldn't be sure this could be bought for 500k.
Also this house has outside space, but not a garden.

@VanCleefArpels

Maybe useful to compare train fares and service charges on a flat!!!!

And maintenance all the other expenses associated with a house.

@VanCleefArpels

Unless you’d rather have a garden etc. Look, horses for courses, and I get you are defensive about your situation. However the current reality is that the market for flats in London is flat for all the reasons previously discussed. Which brings the OP’s dilemma down to price and/or time. Neither of these may be good options

Again, my OP requested feedback on my listing.

I am aware the appetite for flats is low currently. Thus our flat is priced as such. We had a bank valuation at the end of 2019 when we remortgaged and our bank gave us a valuation of £520k. We had three agents around, lower valuation was £475k, upper was £500k. These are all professionals who are well placed to understand the current local market. Obviously ANY property is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. But I'm really not sure what you were hoping to achieve by coming onto the thread and stating people don't want flats anymore.

[quote onlychildhamster]@VanCleefArpels i know everyone has personal preferences, i mean for my budget, i could probably have bought a 2 bed flat in camden (which is more central) but i chose not to cos i wanted somewhere more leafy and with better schools.

But the main argument that people have given me for leaving london was cos and my point was that its not necessarily cheaper. If the argument was 'I want to move to Beaconsfield cos I don't need to commute as much anymore and I want to live near countryside and in a neighbourhood which mainly has big houses and hardly any council flats (so I don't need to see the plebs) plus I don't care about the commuter fares as I am rich enough to afford a £1.2 million house', I would go ;'fair enough'. £1.2 million would buy you a bigger house in Beaconsfield than in my area (where you would only get a terrace). Most of the houses in my area (East Finchley) are terraces or flats anyway and you would see some poor people because there is a council estate near the north circular and some of the houses are flatshares for young people, like most areas in London. So fair enough if you move to the Home Counties for that., but its not an accessible option for lower earners.[/quote]
People told us to move to Kent instead when we were buying. The commenting costs would have been about £8k a year 🙄