Lots of viewings, no offers, price too high?

beaker23

Back in 2006 my parents brought a flat for £265,000 I have been renting this flat from them ever since. January this year they decided to put the flat on the market, and they very kindly said that once it had sold they would give me some of the sale value for a deposit on my own place. The flat was put on the market in Feb at £300,000, 2 different EAs valued it at this price.

In the first week there were about 10 viewings, but no offers, so parents dropped price to £285,000. Since then there have probably been about another 20 viewings, still no offer. Five people have had two viewings. Parent’s are adamant that the flat it worth £285,000 and will not drop the price further.

In my opinion, if we have had so many viewings, but no offers at all, surely the price is too high? The flat needs some work (bathroom functional but a bit old fashioned, same for kitchen) Parents do not want to do this work pre-sale, they say they have priced the flat to account for the fact that work needs doing.

I am, of course very grateful to parents for kindly offering me a share of the flat for my deposit, and I respect that it is ultimately their decision. However, I am kind of in limbo until the flat is sold. I am worried that if they have unrealistic expectations of what the flat will sell for, this could go on for years! I am thinking I may need to have a chat with them, but just wanted others opinions really, as perhaps I’m wrong. I have never sold before, so I don’t know how many viewings is normal.

Just for background, a similar flat on my road sold for £265,000 last month. It is smaller, only one bed. In comparison ours has a double bedroom, a single bedroom and a loft conversion room. However, judging from their rightmove profile their flat was much more modern inside and needed no work doing, as far as I could tell.

Gwhiz

beaker23 wrote: »

Parent’s are adamant that the flat it worth £285,000 and will not drop the price further.

a similar flat on my road sold for £265,000 last month. much more modern inside and needed no work doing, as far as I could tell.

I think you know the answer to this. What your parents THINK its worth is totally irrelevant.

Cannon_Fodder

No offers, even from the second viewers..?

Weird. Would expect at least 1 to try £260k, or something. To be fair to your parents, for a moment, its difficult for them to negotiate down if no buyers are giving them hints of where to drop to. Have the EAs no feedback from the viewers, to help ?

Can you post the rightmove link? Experts here may spot something obviously of concern.

i.e. is there a short lease, perhaps? is the loft conversion a decent one, or botched?

Not wanting to do work pre-sale is ok, if accurately priced. Or prepared to negotiate. If no-one wants to even start to negotiate, its difficult...

If the 1-bed was in £20k better condition, then a total £40k gap for a single bed, and a doubtful loft (not saying it is, just an example of a buyer's concern) is quite a bit.

I'm guessing most flat buyers are FTBs. If they are struggling to raise deposits, every £20k on price is £2k, perhaps 3 months, of hard saving. Might be the area has run out of FTBs and Bank of Mum and Dad.

beaker23

No even the people that viewed twice haven’t offered, which I thought seemed odd. (Both were looking to buy to let)

In answer to questions, lease is recently extended and is 100 years plus. The loft conversion isn’t perfect but isn’t exactly a botch job either, there is no heating in the attic room and you can only stand up straight in the middle. It doesn’t have the right planning to permission to be called a bedroom, it’s useful as a guest room but not for much else to be honest! The flat would not be suitable for anyone with kids as there are lots of stairs (it’s on second floor) so this may be a problem for some people.

All the feedback has been about things which can’t really be changed, i.e. no garden, too many stairs as it is second floor flat etc.

I think it’s best I don’t post rightmove link as I don’t want to out myself!

I think the flat would more likely to sell to a buy to let landlord than an ftb. Am I right in thinking that the new gvt changed the laws and made it less desirable for people to buy to let? Perhaps this is the problem?

Timalay

Have your parents thought of going joint agentcy. When we did that, it's amazing how quickly these estate agents pulled their finger out.

iB1

You don't have to out yourself too much - but whereabouts are you?

Riq

Link to the flat? Or a clue as to where you live?

beaker23

The flat is in a nice part of south west London, commuter belt type place!

paul1964_2

beaker23 wrote: »

The loft conversion isn’t perfect but isn’t exactly a botch job either, there is no heating in the attic room and you can only stand up straight in the middle. It doesn’t have the right planning to permission to be called a bedroom, it’s useful as a guest room but not for much else to be honest!

Do your parents think that this loft conversion has added value to the property?

It sounds a bit ropey and if there is a planning permission problem, it may have actually reduced the value.

Buyers have a lot of choice at the moment. If they really want to sell it, they need to drop the price.

Emmzi

you could pay a surveyor to value it to show them? probably a more realistic price than EAs will offer.