If anyone is looking for a 2 bed flat in Worthing...

[TeddyBeans]

Here's ours 🤣

Feel free to critique the listing, we had a fluke viewing the day after it went live and radio silence since... Would love to sell, the kids need their own rooms and we desperately want a garden

The market isn"t going to "pick up" in the way you want, interest rates are going back to historical norms and beyond due to geopolitical tension, I think a BTL mortgage for the reason you state is very unlikely nowadays, happy to be corrected though.

I agree, the market for flats is not going to pick up.
Cut your losses now and get out as I think it will be a decade until things improve.

I have no idea, I floated it with DP, he said no and it didn't go any further. The mortgage broker said we can get a 300k mortgage with the 91k we would get as equity if we sold at 240. We can drop to 220 and would have to use 9k out of our savings to keep looking at the same price houses we're hoping to buy.

If we're really likely to need to sell at a loss, I have no idea what the banks would lend us. Houses marked at 325 around here have useless third bedrooms which means we'd just have to move again in a few years as the 3yo grows up.

If it's really that dire then cutting our losses is going to be our only option. Lord knows how I'm going to manage the kids in the same room when the eldest is 10 and the youngest is 5. Thank god I've got two years before I even have to consider that

Unfortunately you paid high at the peak of the market when you moved in.
Your only chance is to market it lower and then offer lower on your next move.

The only way things will improve is if basic property gets a LOT cheaper, can you imagine the position we would be in as a country now if people had been able to buy affordable property without a 30 year debt obligation for the last few years? Instead we are facing a massive crisis where those with the most debt will feel the pain the hardest.

I'm inclined to agree with this. What's the market like for the houses you like? Are three bedroom houses selling a lot more quickly than flats?

Just to add, the chances of a falling property market, which I thought was already v likely, have got higher with the current geopolitical situation.

In our area we are finding that 3 bed houses sell very fast and flats do not.
In previous decades people retired into flats and this is no longer the case so much.
In our town many properties come to market with no upper chain and you can see where a downstairs room in that house has been converted into a bedroom and a bathroom created for an elderly person to continue living there until the end.
There is a whole market of people no longer seeking flats in their later years .

I've just noticed this thread @TeddyBeans and you have a nice, tidy flat to sell with lovely big windows and a long lease. The addition of the floor plan was very necessary - the lack of one initially would suggest to me that your EA is poor. They should have been the ones advising you that people expect a floor plan these days and the lack of one suggests something to hide (not correct in your case as the room sizes are good).

The change to OIRO is also important as it shows you are willing to negotiate on price (hope your husband will be if you get an offer below asking!)

Having sold a few properties myself over the years, I do understand that it can feel very frustrating when one doesn't sell as quickly as you want or expect. BUT it hasn't actually been on the market for very long and the lack of floor plan set it off to a bad start. I have no doubt your flat will sell as it is basically a nice flat but the market is sluggish.

Your husband may have been correct in thinking it's too early to reduce the price. I would try and agree a timescale with him - such as you will reduce the price if it gets to Easter with no offers, or May 1st.

You could also consider giving notice to your EA - they will continue to market the flat while in the notice period and it may actually encourage them to work a bit harder at marketing your flat the best they can as their current attitude seems rather lazy.

Agreed, the markets are probably going to get volatile tonight as it seems things are not going to be over in a week (not sure why the markets bought that in the first place?)

Offering lower is the way forward, buying during a bubble created by ultra-low rates is always risky I think, but the only way people actually made money from the bubble was to downsize, upsizing will be tricky, especially now.

The longer you delay the more risk that the price has to be reduced even further, best to drop the price a bit now and maybe snag a buyer with spare cash that could make up any difference on a down-valuation.

Think you've been predicting a house price crash for years now.

It's a shame to twist every thread to your own agenda - OP needs advice from people familiar with buying and selling not just someone who repeats the same doom and gloom message on every thread on this board.

Not relevant but you live less than a mile from me OP. In fact, a friend had a flat in that block a while ago. Hope you get a buyer soon!

Oh hi neighbour! What a fun coincidence! Know anyone that wants a flat right now? 🤣

I emailed a different agent tonight, an independent one that has sold some tricky houses near my parents a few towns over. Will see what he says but I think I need to take a bit more ownership of the sale side of things so DP can focus on getting the flat remortgaged as our current term is up in September. Gonna be fun with all the mortgage issues and interest rate rises at the moment but obviously needs doing

Other estate agent is booked in for 27th so will see what he says. Gives our current agent at least a week to get another viewing in otherwise I don't really have any qualms about palming then off and going elsewhere. DP thinks we should give them more time but I don't see why we should when they haven't been able to produce more than one (probably fluke) viewing

One of your neighbours also has a two bedder up for sale at £240k and that's been on sale since last October. Have you talked to them about why they haven't sold at that price in five months, or your DP's theories about why? I just don't get why your DP is so fixated on a high price in this tricky market.

Price draws the viewings, not the EA, they are just there to show people round and blab about the good points of the area, everyone is using price tracking apps like PropertyLog now, if you are even slightly overpriced they are immediately looking at other options.

DP started having a conversation with the downstairs neighbour but they were interrupted and we haven't seen her since. I think he's just stuck on the fact that our next door neighbour sold at 241 in 2024...

I know the agent doesn't change much as everyone uses Rightmove but I guess in my head it seems better to drop the price by moving to a different agent than to reduce it with the current one. Logic may be flawed but that's what seems sensible to me

If you really do want attention and viewers I would drop the price to 190k with your agent right now (yes I know you paid 213k) .
Then see your new agent on the 27th and get better photos done and keep same low price again because that new listing with them may take time to get set up, booking photographer and floor planner etc and you are losing time selling every day.
There is too much competition priced at 240k .

Yes, and UK Gilt Yields just went on a moonshot after the comments from the BOE, I am going to be controversial, and I wish the OP well but I think 190k is still too high.

As I have said before, we can't afford to move at 195 so there's no point in reducing it to that. Please stop suggesting it as a valid option - it is not.

Best stay put then. You'll be fine.

Take no notice.

You will see the same names on multiple threads spouting very much the same thing. It's actually nothing to do with your flat and more their obsession with a house price crash.

Wow, you are so tidy! You have ruthlessly decluttered too.

It's a great flat, good sized rooms. I'm selling a house and the estate agent told me that leasehold flats are very difficult to sell at the moment, so I think you have done all you can to make someone who wants to buy a flat buy yours.