Flat not selling after one year...need to move!

Wantahouse_2

I live in the area and know it well - I'm currently on the lookout for a house in Leytonstone.... and I have to say I agree with everyone else. Its too expensive for a flat. 2 bed flats in Leytonstone within spitting distance of the tube are selling for 200k - and even though Bushwood is a nice area - I wouldn't pay 30k extra for a flat thats a further walk away from main transport links.

I'd put it on with a Leytonstone agent too..... I know the Wansted label seems to add a few thousand to the asking price - but you're on the border of Leytonstone and Wansted - so I'd be trying to reach out to the Leytonstone market.

But ultimately its the price - I'm looking at 3 bed houses in Leytonstone for 250k so I certainly wouldn't pay 230k for a flat.

cattie

I know don't know the area myself, but my sister doesn't live too far from there. Having the central line tube is a big bonus.

I've been looking at flats recently as I'm going to downsize, so know from the size of your 2nd bedroom that it isn't what you'd call a large room. Too small to be a double, so basically a large single. The flats that I have been looking at, which are purpose built on small, select developments, very spacious with huge lounge open to large dining area, 2 double bedrooms with built in wardrobes and parquet flooring throughout. Plus plenty of storage cupboards, which to me is a big bonus. And both have lovely views to the rear.

In the current market they are coming on in the region of £200-£230k depending on condition. They would have come on at quite a bit more prior to the start of the decline in 2007, but are now priced very sensibly. This is a London suburb with fast rail links into Charing X, London Bridge, Victoria etc. but no tube, although within easy reach of docklands light railway.

So perhaps you need to bring your price down nearer the £200k mark to attract offers. As they say, every house will attract a buyer at the right price. I've just accepted £25k under on my own house, as buyer is in rented and no chain and flats I'm looking at are a no chain situation too, so to me it was worth taking the hit in an attempt to have a stress free sale and purchase with no chain whatsoever.

Like a lot of people I bought at the height of the boom and had to spend a fortune to get place up to scratch, round about the £30k mark. This will be the first time I've lost on a property, but that's how it is nowadays, if you want to sell you have to be prepared to take a hit.

Also, who knows where the housing market is going? I'd rather have a lower price now, than still be stuck trying to sell my house in say 6months and prices dropping a bit by next year. Mortgages are harder for people to get now, so you need to take this into consideration.

If you do have a declutter and an open day, I wish you luck in receiving an offer.

namecheck

I agree with the comments of the previous posters (and I would definitely change the estate agent).

blargh

£215k for what it is in that area, imho.

Cissi

msmarples wrote: »

The sale price has been steadily reduced from £275,000 in November 2010 (did not know better) to £230,000 currently. The average for the area on Rightmove is £224,000 and we paid £244,000 in 2007. It was initially overpriced but since I have seen similar flats sell in the area sell quite quickly with similar asking prices to what we have now and we had one offer in that ball park earlier in the year.

That's what's known as "chasing the market down" - always reducing too little, too late. You always get the impression that the price is now finally competitive because you're comparing it to ASKING prices of places that have sold - but in a falling market you need to look at actual SOLD prices. Since these will be a few months out of date, you probably need to price yours slightly lower than what they went for.

GDB2222

My own approach to pricing is to price low, get lots of interest, and then give very little off the asking price. That's how repo's are sold, and it seems to work.

I don't know about that area, but outer London prices generally have been quite stable in the last year or two.

phoebe1989seb

cattie wrote: »

So perhaps you need to bring your price down nearer the £200k mark to attract offers. As they say, every house will attract a buyer at the right price. I've just accepted £25k under on my own house, as buyer is in rented and no chain and flats I'm looking at are a no chain situation too, so to me it was worth taking the hit in an attempt to have a stress free sale and purchase with no chain whatsoever.

Like a lot of people I bought at the height of the boom and had to spend a fortune to get place up to scratch, round about the £30k mark. This will be the first time I've lost on a property, but that's how it is nowadays, if you want to sell you have to be prepared to take a hit.

Also, who knows where the housing market is going? I'd rather have a lower price now, than still be stuck trying to sell my house in say 6months and prices dropping a bit by next year. Mortgages are harder for people to get now, so you need to take this into consideration.

If you do have a declutter and an open day, I wish you luck in receiving an offer.

I agree with Cattie.......we also bought our last house at peak price, then spent a further £40k restoring it. Unfortunately whilst it was a beautiful and unique house with amazing period features that would have been worth twice as much on the South Coast (where we'd moved from), it was in an unpopular and mainly unnattractive part of Essex - so wish we'd researched before buying - and when we came to sell last year properties were just not moving. This was exacerbated by the fact our period 5 bed detached stuck out like a sore thumb in bungalow-ville and wasn't what most buyers in that area were looking for.

We therefore priced low to attract early and serious interest from potential buyers and secured an offer we were prepared to accept within a fortnight. Admittedly we lost £50k+ which was hard to stomach, but we desperately wanted to move, got a good deal on our new house and were just keen to close that unfortunate chapter of our lives. Fortuately for us our buyers were very keen as they had family in the area and we completed on our sale within only a couple of months of actually going on the market

If we had not priced realistically, but had taken into account not only what we had paid in 2007, but also the cost of the high-end fixtures and fittings and remedial work we had carried out, we would still be on the market now.......as are other houses in that area which went on at the same time as ours, but which were priced way too high (and some of them have not dropped either!). Instead today we celebrate one year in our new home

Price is most definitely the key.....get it right and even in a not-so-good area as ours was, property should have no problems selling!

Hope it works out for you.......and congrats Cattie, hope your sale goes through ok

theGrinch

what has the agent feedback been?

DPJames

That the price is too high

msmarples

Thanks for the objective feedback and suggestions which has given me lots to think about and do! I should have posted a long time ago...