My flat won’t sell, please help!

[SpookyW001989]

Hi guys, well my wife (33 F) and I (35 F)
have put our lovely 2 bed coach house on RightMove in Chelmsford, Essex and there has been ZERO interest! No viewings, no offers. It’s been on with RightMove and HOME estate agents for nearly a month, and zilch. We are beyond gutted. It was valued at £280,000. We have it on for £260,000 (we recently reduced it to this price) still nothing!!
To say we are bloody devastated would be an understatement. The flat has 2 parking spaces, a car port with loads of room, boarded out loft with electricity. It’s got 108 years left on the lease. Honestly, we thought it would be perfect for FTB. If anyone has any feedback back or helpful advice, please chuck some our way. Thank you. Here’s the link www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/164205242

For that price, sorry, it’s really small. It’s not really a “coach house”, either. That description suggests she and character. It’s a flat that people can drive underneath. Sorry 🥴

Age, not she!

The fields nearby do still flood .

It looks flimsy. It's not a coach house to me. It's a flat on stilts. I wouldn't look at it, sorry

I wouldn't go near a property with an access area under my home, next to my front door and carport. I imagine that is what is the drawback here. We re looking to buy and the market is slow and we are considering very carefully what we purchase as it's difficult to move on and sell if we don't like it. It just doesn't seem a liveable situation to me, I've never seen a home like it but perhaps it's a common type where you are.

This. ^ Sorry @SpookyW001989 but that is not like any 'coach house' property I have ever seen.

I don't know what flats go for in your area, but this seems a lot for what it is, and the 'kerb appeal' is not good. It looks like it was previously a housing association flat. We have some in the town not far from where I live that are Bromford Corinthia, and they look just like yours! Including the walkways/access roads under people windows, and garages under windows. Also, as has been said, it will be the price that is making you struggle to sell it. It nearly always is.

Isn't there a shower?

That doesn’t surprise me at all. They used to be really bad but I’ve not been back to Chelmsford for years. That would instantly make it a “no” for me personally. Flooding and subsidence are only becoming more problematic with climate change- especially so in East Anglia.

They’re on the advert as plain as day.

OP it’s hard to know but I think your flat is probably priced correctly, it’s just a very slow market and, without meaning to be too direct, the condition of your flat isn’t fantastic. It’s not god awful, but it’s quite dated and drab, so it’s not going to fly off the market.

If you can afford to wait, just by your time and see what happens. Someone will want it. But if you want to get moving soon, I’d take it off the market, spruce it up, and put it back on for the same price.

• Paint bathroom white and add plants and art. Current blue is too dark and not stylised at all.
• Lounge - needs a full redecor. Sofas are drab, extension lead is showing, leading to people thinking the electrics won’t be well placed. Again, just lacks a modern feel.
• Kitchen is dated but I’m not sure what you can do about that. I think it’ll be fine if the lounge looks more modern to lift it.
• Bedrooms need two nice bedside tables with lamps, nice white linen and a plain throw at the end, no random small cushions chucked on.

I think your flat is probably priced right, it just needs a bit of work to show off its features. At the minute it looks uninspiring and like it needs work which most people won’t want to do.

Every room is fairly small. I think people are thinking about buying more for the long term these days as it is harder to get onto the market.

Despite being 2 bedroom it isn't really family friendly and more suitable for a single person or couple. People are holding on to afford freeholds.

Agree with others I wouldn’t want cars driving underneath.

Also this bit annoys me as a buyer: “Should you successfully have an offer accepted on a property of ours and proceed to purchase it there is an administration charge of £30 inc. VAT per person (non-refundable) to complete our Anti Money Laundering Identity checks.”

Ive never had to pay an estate agent when buying a property! And we’ve moved recently. And if there were other flats I liked I’d go for one where I didn’t have to pay to have an offer accepted!

I kinda know the area, and price seems reasonable.

However. I dont think the decor shows off the flat to its best.

The kitchen looks very dated, and get rid of the optics! They scream bachelor pad.

If you can, move the small sofa away from the radiator because it will make people worry the room would be cold

Maybe lighten the dark blue wall In the bathroom.

Do something about the spare room...there is nothing inviting about it. It looks unloved. The grey bedding needs changing, because at the risk of sounding offensive it is awful.

You need to make it attractive to people.

It is a lovely flat OP.

However, I would imagine the very fact it is a coach house could be something to do with it - cars driving underneath your property to access / exit the car park at the rear would put off a lot of people.

Also, as others have said, the large field over the road - could this potentially be built on in the future?

A property is only worth what someone else is prepared to pay. It is normally the price for what you get. If there are other properties in the area that are cheaper and similar, then you have to drop the price to match. No good agent will overvalue/undervalue.

It's nice but has two major issues :

1. It's well overpriced - you paid 75k for it not that many years ago in 2018.
2. It has about 10 other housholds driving underneath it to park any time of night or day

The flat itself at the right price is perfectly sellable.

I clicked on the link to see if this was one of the unsold Chelmsford flats that have been on here before. There’s evidently a glut.

Dated, small kitchen which creates a living space that would cater to a couple max.

Access under the building will be off putting to a lot of people (is it well insulated?).

What did you pay for it and what life stage where you at? If it’s not affordable to people in a similar situation then you’re pretty stuffed I’m afraid.

I wouldn’t want cars driving in front, under AND behind. That alone would put me off.
I wouldn’t even look at pictures of somewhere with service charges. Even if they were £1/year. They can change overnight to ridiculous amounts with any decent service provided. There’s been a lot of bad press this year on the news about this.
Sorry as this isn’t what you want to hear. However, people need places to live and the flat is lovely. It just takes that one person to like it and for it to meet their needs. I don’t think it’s unsellable. It just doesn’t tick my boxes.
Speak with your estate agent and see what they say and/or ask another estate agents opinion. Good luck with it all!

The problem, if you have had no viewings at all is that the price is too high. You've listed it 25k higher than the last identical flat that sold when flats haven't risen in price in your area.

You also have lots of competition in the area and a lot of those on offer seem to have been reduced too.
The market is poor and headed downwards in many areas due to general unaffordability and the poor state of the economy. Leasehold flats have the added problem of all the bad press about leasehold. Some buyers will decide to save and buy a small house so that they have the security of a freehold property.

If you really want to sell, you will need to lower the price more to a level where it stands out to potential buyers as being great value.

It’s hard to comment without knowing the area, but both of those bedrooms are very small and there is no separate kitchen, which would put me off. It really is quite tiny, even for a flat, plus no balcony, patio or similar outdoor space. Where I live the market is saturated so if Chelmsford is similar it could simply be that there are better options for the money and you have to bide your time until supply comes down, or drop the price so that you stand out as the best value.

you need to call it a flat rather than a coach house

I was expecting a period property so immediately my expectations fell short

I saw that too and thought that the sale prices seem really odd.
The other identical flats such as this one: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/0d3485db-2901-4547-b60a-a1466f7d58b0 sold at much higher prices throughout the price history. This one is also listed as freehold.
I wonder if there is some sort of error here.
Perhaps @SpookyW001989 can explain.

Going against the grain a tiny bit about the car port and shared drive access. I have lived in a flat with this arrangement. I've also had friends who've lived in the same and also lived two doors down from a flat like this. All sold and rented well but were priced lower that other 2 bed flats. Personally never bothered me. Wasn't noticeable and ran under the living areas so not like it would wake you up if you were sleeping.

So if there are other 2 bed properties at this price or lower that don't have this type of access, you'll need to drop the price to sell.

Having sold an older new build....they are hard to shift because brand new houses of the same layout etc are popping up everywhere.

A FTB is more likely to be young. Your flat wouldn’t suit many because it’s far away from desired amenities i.e. a high street and a station for commuting. It’s on an estate surrounded by busy roads. I don’t know who that would appeal to.
Cosmetically, it could also do with some work. But, irrespective, you can’t escape the location issue.

My perspective as someone who was looking for a flat for months but recently switched to stretching to a small house is that now I've looked into the potential problems with buying a leasehold flat, I'm only interested in freehold properties. Please consider extending your lease because 107 years is really short. The service charge is low but that could go up to any amount which would make me nervous. It's tough out there on the market especially for people wanting to sell flats.

Also:

Like others have said, I wouldn't want vehicles driving under me, mainly because of the noise. Just from looking at the first picture, as a potential buyer, would mean I wouldn't be interested in reading any details about the flat or seeing any other pics - I'd scroll on by. I think this is your biggest stumbling block and why you've had no interest. I'd be on edge the whole time if I lived in that flat.

It's a 26 minute walk to the station which I find off-putting but then I'm lazy.

I dislike open plan kitchen/living rooms but I know some people don't mind.

Good luck - I think you're going to have to lower your asking price again. I see there's a lot of other 2 bed flats in the same ball park price in your city which are more appealing.

£75k in 2018?! Am I reading that right???