9 months - 3 viewings - no offers!

goonernumber1

Hello all,

Just wondered what you guys thought of my flat that I have had up for sale for a while now with very little success.

I know that a viewing every 3 months isn't great, and that everyone will say that the price must be too high but I am sure that with comparisons with other flats locally it is reasonably proceed. Especially the size as it is an ex council property it is far bigger than many other similar priced 2 bed flats.

Also, location is determined as 8 minutes from Stratford, London and 12 minutes from London Liverpool Street.

Currently, we are only with an online estate agent but are now considering a high street one.

What are your thoughts?

Many thanks.

Gooner

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31104919.html

go_cat

Pictures look lovely if any thing the bedroom looks slightly small but that can't be helped

Are the management fees high that are putting people off?

If not may be parking or price

May also be worth trying a high street EA who know the local area and may have potential buyers on their books

BitterAndTwisted

I don't know Romford at all but I can think of a couple of things:

Online estate-agency-only isn't getting you enough exposure because the price seems quite modest. You should have had a lot of viewings with such an attractive and well-presented property.

The block isn't particularly attractive from the outside but it looks like it's a small development, so that's good. Mention this in the listing. If you can, have the agents photograph the exterior with no cars parked outside, it looks like this could be an issue if there's no allocated spaces. If there are, mention should be made of it.

If this a leasehold property I'd want to know the length remaining, or is it a share of freehold? This should most definitely be in the listing.

What sort of heating-system is there? There's mention of radiators but not what kind of boiler, if there is one.

What kind of fire is that in the living-room?

The arrangement of the furniture in the living-room is unsatisfactory. I'm not fond of seating placed all round the perimeter.

There's a bathroom but no photo. There definitely needs to be one.

The kitchen/diner is very nice. Spacious and airy.

The bed-room with the double-bed in it looks tiny. I'd swap the furniture round with the other bedroom for the photos if I could.

Kynthia

I would normally say it's price related but knowing the area it's more likely due to the sheer number of flats that have recently been built in the area. If you go on rightmove and see how many 2 bed properties are within half a mile of the station it's astounding!

Yours is cheaper than many of them so you're more likely to get buyers who can only just afford your flat and no more. Therefore they may not have money to redecorate. It might be an idea to redo the larger room as the master bedroom and maybe refresh the lounge. Are there any shared gardens that you could include a photo of and what is the parking situation, as some of the nearby flats don't have either of these.

goonernumber1

Thank you so much for your replies.

"The block isn't particularly attractive from the outside but it looks like it's a small development, so that's good. Mention this in the listing. If you can, have the agents photograph the exterior with no cars parked outside, it looks like this could be an issue if there's no allocated spaces. If there are, mention should be made of it."

Good idea! There are no allocated spaces but it does require a parking permit which costs £20 per year.

"If this a leasehold property I'd want to know the length remaining, or is it a share of freehold? This should most definitely be in the listing."

This is indeed leasehold with 85 years remaining.

"What sort of heating-system is there? There's mention of radiators but not what kind of boiler, if there is one."

There is a 3 year old combi boiler installed"

"There's a bathroom but no photo. There definitely needs to be one".

There is no photo of the bathroom as it is particularly dull.

"The bed-room with the double-bed in it looks tiny. I'd swap the furniture round with the other bedroom for the photos if I could."

The bedroom is still classed as a double but yes I agree that the furniture could be rearranged to created a larger looking space. Obviously the bedroom currently being used as a nursery is the larger one.

Thanks again for your time.

As a teacher I now have 2 weeks' holiday so can put some of these things into place.

Many thanks.

Kynthia

I just noticed your choice of estate agent, strange. When someone is propery hunting in Romford they only have to go the corner of Victoria Street and choose from five or more estate agents offices and none of them are yours. With the choice of flats in the area they aren't going to go out of their way to see yours, make it easy for them and pick an agent with lots of Romford flats.

cattie

Sorry to be blunt, but the block is pretty ugly & will put a lot of people off, no matter how nice it is inside. The other thing with council blocks is the service charges & the huge bills leaseholders can be presented with whenever works need doing to the exterior or common parts of the block.

However, your price seems pretty good for a reasonably spacious 2 bed flat with decent transport links, so would at least expect a few more viewers to have come along, especially people interested in buy to let. So I think you need to get a proper EA on board, trying to sell yourself isn't easy in the best of times, but when you've a property that needs a push to get people interested, then a decent high st EA can be worth every single penny.

goonernumber1

go_cat wrote: »

Pictures look lovely if any thing the bedroom looks slightly small but that can't be helped

Are the management fees high that are putting people off?

If not may be parking or price

May also be worth trying a high street EA who know the local area and may have potential buyers on their books

Council tax and service charge are certainly no higher than you would anticipate. Perhaps 150 p/m currently.

goonernumber1

Kynthia wrote: »

I just noticed your choice of estate agent, strange. When someone is propery hunting in Romford they only have to go the corner of Victoria Street and choose from five or more estate agents offices and none of them are yours. With the choice of flats in the area they aren't going to go out of their way to see yours, make it easy for them and pick an agent with lots of Romford flats.

A friend of our used this estate agent and sold his house within a month so we figured we'd give it a go.

At the time we needed a few months to save a little anyway so were happy to wait a bit.

P.s very good point about the EA's on Victoria Road although we figured that most people would just look on rightmove as this seems the most used tool when searching for a property nowadays instead of the old fashioned walking into an EA.

Regards and thank you for your input.

goonernumber1

cattie wrote: »

Sorry to be blunt, but the block is pretty ugly & will put a lot of people off, no matter how nice it is inside. The other thing with council blocks is the service charges & the huge bills leaseholders can be presented with whenever works need doing to the exterior or common parts of the block.

However, your price seems pretty good for a reasonably spacious 2 bed flat with decent transport links, so would at least expect a few more viewers to have come along, especially people interested in buy to let. So I think you need to get a proper EA on board, trying to sell yourself isn't easy in the best of times, but when you've a property that needs a push to get people interested, then a decent high st EA can be worth every single penny.

I don't think the outside is that ugly! Some nice trees and a lovely little church next door.

Thanks for your input.

Looks like I shall be calling a few EA's over the next few days.

Gooner

girl_withno_name

goonernumber1 wrote: »

P.s very good point about the EA's on Victoria Road although we figured that most people would just look on rightmove as this seems the most used tool when searching for a property nowadays instead of the old fashioned walking into an EA.

Maybe one of the EAs on Victoria Road is also on Rightmove? Win-win!