advice needed - flat on market for 5 months and 3 viewings

ET1976

stellaforstar wrote: »

if we accepted an offer of £150k, upon completion we would then be able to pay the £5k needed to renew the lease.

I don't see how this would work - you would only have the money after completion, at which point the buyer owns the flat without the extended lease. Surely that isn't going to be attractive to a buyer.

Is there any way you can borrow up to £10k more on your mortgage and get the lease extended before you sell?

If you think it's worth £150k with a longer lease (based on the example you gave of the one which sold), you either need to

• actually have a longer lease and aim to get £150k for the flat or
• aim to get £150k less the cost to the buyer of extending the lease (i.e. approx £10k, factoring legal costs and compensation for the hassle, so aim for £140k)

lindens

I agree it looks like the asking price is stopping anyone looking. Also I give you 10/10 for decluttering but wonder if you've gone too far. The rooms could do with a bit of "softness" - maybe a couple of soft/fluffy cushions, some flowers. all the rooms look a bit dead and not-lived in.
Be imaginitive when taking the photo's and get as much light in as possible when taking the, stand on step ladders to get better angles. Take the photo through the window (from outside looking in) if that gives a better angle ( assuming you are not on the first/second floor lol)
It does look a lovely flat, maybe not very good value for money though based on current asking price. The kitchen looks lovely, although from the photo it's a little hard to tell.

surreybased

Hi,

Think you have been given good advice - price is usually the issue if there are no viewings. The lease would also be an issue - I remember being a ftb and seeing a fab flat with a short lease. We didn't understand the process and just pulled out of the sale. Too much risk for us and of course costs and I think a lot of ftb would be like this. Now it wouldn't phase me but that's after a few years experience of buying and selling which I now have.
Have a look around at the sold prices in your area, what are flats going for?

On the issue of baby development, I think this is the worst time of the year as you can't go out as much as it's so cold. In the summer months it does feel easier and you'll feel much happier. We're fortunate to have a large garden but over the last few months we've rarely gone out as it's so cold.
Good Luck - I feel for young couples the options on buying are so limited yet crazily house prices keep going up.

Fire_Fox

stellaforstar wrote: »

thanks again for all the feedback.

with regards to the lease, we had written quote from landlords that it would cost approx £8k to renew. we spoke to them and they said we could negotiate down to about £5k. however, sale fell through and so discussions ended. we are more than happy to sell it with a renewed lease and do the work ourselves , but we need to accept and offer first in order to have the money to buy the new lease. so, for example, if we accepted an offer of £150k, upon completion we would then be able to pay the £5k needed to renew the lease. we dont have the spare money to renew it up front.

perhaps we should take off the advertising that the lease is 77 years? get people in to see the flat first, like it, want to put in an offer and then tell them about the lease and that we would be happy to renew? not trying to be devious, but if we cant extend the lease up front and 77 years is putting everyone off, how do we have a chance of selling unless we drastically reduce the price? (and no , we cant reduce it that much - we need to walk away with some profit)

Sorry to be harsh but it is totally irrelevant that you need a profit, the market is telling you your flat is not worth the asking price. Either you reduce the price substantially or take the flat off the market. Have you considered pricing to sell and then moving into rented to save up a new deposit?

Have you or have you not served notice on your freeholder to extend the lease? Why do you not have it in writing that the final figure is £5K? 77 years will put people off because there is no indication that the lease can be extended. Complete the negotiations and state this clearly in your particulars.

You are coming across as wanting to take shortcuts, and frankly you are not in a position to do this. There have been several cases on the boards of freeholders suddenly reneging on earlier unofficial agreements to extend the lease when they realise you need to extend rather than want to extend.
http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/

Cannon_Fodder

Is the Rightmove Price Comparison tool correct in stating you bought for £136k in 2004?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-value/find.html?searchLocation=cr0+6ja&sellersPriceGuide.x=70&sellersPriceGuide.y=9&radius=0.0&propertyTypeAlias=&bedrooms=

Whilst up a touch on mid-2004, Croydon prices fell off a cliff in 2008 and have yet to get serious traction...not recovering as fast as Greater London.

Mid £140k looks ambitious.

[IMG]http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/houseprices/housepriceindex/report/default.asp?g=1&gt=1&a=Croydon&ac=Greater London&s=01 June 2004&e=01 December 2009&t=4[/IMG]

Squish_21

I feel that the length of lease would personally put me off, unless the flat was priced significantly less for it to be worth my while extending the lease.

Pics and flat look fine though.

TheCountOfNowhere_2

Have you come across Zoopla ( or any website with land registry data for that matter ).

If you look you can see the last sale in your street ( Dartnell Road ) was a 2 bed flat and it sold for £147K

I would suggest that your flat is way way way over valued and it's propbably only worth half of what you want for it.

Has no one noticed the economic collapse and how screwed the banks/interest rates/savings rates/jobs/budgets etc etc etc are ?

have a look on Zoopla at the Sold prices if you dont believe me:

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/

"5th Aug 2009 34a Dartnell Road, Croydon CR0 6JA

See all house prices in CR0 6JA
Flat, Leasehold, 2 Beds, 1 Baths, 0 Receps - Edit
£147,000 Full details | See on map | Bird's eye view | Add to favourites
Get current value "

Jees...when are sellers going to wake up and realise we've all been taken in by the banks and our houses are worth a lot less than we've been told !!!


Why does anyone think a 1 bed flat would be worth £150K...I mean £150K is a lot of money and a 1 bed flat...well, who'd want to live in one of those !!!

PasturesNew

In the absence of photos, a floorplan is marvellous.

It doesn't mention parking at all, which is a major thing.

If it were me, I'd be looking for a 1-bed with garden/communal garden and parking, since those would be available in the price range.

The lease being 77 years is something a lot will flag up. Some lenders don't won't lend on one under 80, some at 75, some at 70, so it'll be flagged up.

Trollfever

Errata wrote: »

Honest feedback: find out which mortgage lenders are lending on flats with only 77 years left on the lease. I suspect the list will be an extremely short one.

A very valid point. Are any mortgage lenders interested in lending against the security of a 77 year lease?



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Ewarwoowar2

TheCountOfNowhere wrote: »

Have you come across Zoopla ( or any website with land registry data for that matter ).

According to Zoopla, if the OP did buy in 2004 for £136k (as stated by the poster above), the flat is now worth £149,265.

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/10a-dartnell-road/croydon/cr0-6ja/5229340