Seeking advice - Looking to sell a 1 bed flat in a retirement home (Gerrards Cross)

[TaupeZebra]

Hello everyone,
To keep it brief: we’ve recently acquired ownership of a one-bedroom flat in a retirement living community for individuals aged 70 and above. The property is located in Rutherford House, a relatively new McCarthy & Stone development in Gerrards Cross.
The annual service charges amount to approximately £13,000, and comparable resale properties within the development are listed at around £275,000. We’re open to offers significantly below that price.
Our goal is to sell the flat, and we’re reaching out to see if anyone here might be interested or has experience with selling properties of this kind. Any advice, insights, or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!

Sell ASAP. When we sold my mums we had to pay 1% of sale fee and the full service charge until the day of sale. Yes it's heartbreaking to lose so much money but it enabled your loved one to remain independent longer and will be cheaper than care homes. Good luck.

Those Macarthy and Stone places are well known to be very hard to sell because of the high service charges.

If I inherited one I would honestly put it on the market for well below other flats in the complex to try to be the one that sells first. If others are listed at around 275k I would list this one at 250k, which is the next lowest Rightmove banding after 275k. And even then, be open to offers.

Asking prices are rather meaningless if nothing sells.

The mistake people make is to see others grossly overvalued and assume theirs must be in the same ballpark even though the market for these things are heavily illiquid.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=POSTCODE%5E4245010&sortType=1&propertyTypes=&includeSSTC=true&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

In the case of that £275k one, it's been up for sale for over 2 years and is actually listed for auction with a guide price of £45k.

I would say keep an eye on the auction, as that price would be far more relevant to the true value.

True. Where did you find information that the 275k property has been up for sale forover 2 years?

If you use Property Log chrome extension, it'll tell you the listing dates and the dates of the price changes for that advert.

I actually suspect the £275k listing is on multi-agent, one of them has been on since July 2022, so almost 2.5 years by the end of the month.

You can also see the previous listings, so it looks like the auction failed at £175k and £90k, so now the guide price is £45k - surely, it's gotta go this time? The original asking price was £430k.

Even with a service charge of £13k, £45k seems pretty reasonable so I have to assume there are some other poison pills in the lease that is putting everyone off.