Help Sell Our Flat

SellMyFlat_2

Lovely ladies and Gents,
I need your advice to help sell our lovely flat. I have registered as new user so cannot post the link but its in SS9 2JB and on for £169,000 if you fancy a look.

Back story:
Bought in 2007 pre crash for £155k with a 65year lease. We purchased the freehold with the downstairs flat at the beginning of the year for £20,000 each.
We put it on the market in April for £174,999 but dropped it to £169000 when we saw other flats in the area that were similar to ours.
We have had a steady flow of viewers but all feed back is the same "Bathroom to small". Its actually only a shower room and is only 76cm x 143cm! It was put in the old airing cupboard of the orginal house. Also some viewers have said the Kitchen is too small which it is but there is a picture of the Kitchen on the advert!
We have no way of putting in a bath without doing major structural work (knock down supporting walls/loft conversion) and after spending all our money on the freehold we don't really want to spend anymore money on this flat!

The positives however are we have Two double bedrooms and big private gargen and balcony area with side access. We just installed a brand new boiler and we are semi detached.

Our mortgage balance is at £140K at mo so have a bit more room to drop the price but would prefer not to.

Any advice you can offer would be much apprecitated! Please be kind though

hazyjo

Will prob be back, but here's the link for now:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-26543010.html?premiumA=true

Jx

Okydoky25

Re varnish the decking and steps. Tidy up the garden.

Only thing I can think if you don't want to do the work yourself get some drawings made up to show viewers the potential of a loft extension?

SellMyFlat_2

The Garden is tidy?? and the decking had been jet washed so its very clean.

hazyjo

I know Leigh-on-Sea well enough to know that south of London Road is most desirable. Seeing as the decent houses that side are WAY over £250k, the price doesn't horrendous for a 2 bed flat. Other plus-points: SOF (not the correct term, but one we're all familiar with) is usually fairly desirable in a small block/conversion, own garden a massive plus too, GCH also desirable, it's nearest to Leigh-on-Sea station, not one of the others nearby.

Love the lounge colour (do you know what it is? The off-white and pale turquoise-ish/blue?), fireplace lovely,

Minus points - no bath! I would discount it because of that. The kitchen is very narrow, and doesn't seem to be many cupboards, and bed 2 is more of a single (you say double, anything under 8' wide I'd say single). Seeing as it's longer, rather than squashing the bed up against the wall, you might be better bringing it forward a bit and putting small bedside tables either side. I'd lose those 2 pictures in there too.

Okay, just checked out what that space is behind you as thought it might be a cemetery - yes, it is. That will put a lot of people off. Not me, I love it! But I viewed a house with a cemetery behind and lots of people discounted the house because of it.

That could well be your answer.

Looks like your flat also faces the junction. That would possibly put me off as I don't like people driving towards where I live (worry they'll crash into it lol! Plus the headlights coming towards the property would put me off). Saying that, yours is first floor, so not such a problem.

It's also next door to a swim-school (and possibly another school of sorts? Or is it just for swimming?).

Another BIG minus is the lack of parking, and double yellows outside.

I think it's a lovely flat, personally.

Jx

SellMyFlat_2

Lounge colour is Duck egg and think the cream is something Lace? from BBQ I believe

The 2nd bed is a double, it has a double bed and wardrobe (not seen in the pic) so we couldn't move it to be more central in the room. We have lots of comments on the great size of the 2nd bedroom as most 2nd beds in leigh are tiny box rooms!
Double yellows right outside but we can get packed on the road opposite the school with no problem, our parking is alot better then some places in leigh and very FEW flats come with parking in leigh.

Alot of the above is all stuff we are aware off but not much we can actually do anything about and it all comes down to personal taste.


Yep ots a cementary, makes for very quiet neighbours and are not overlooked. And we are next door to a Junior and infant school, its the school assembly hall that is right next door to us.

We actually love the junction as again we are not overlooked, and the front room gets light all day.

Errata

There isn't a floor plan, and if there was you may have had even fewer viewings if there was.
Where's your access door from outside? Does the shower room comply with building regs?
TBH what you have is the first floor of a standard three bed semi, with the kitchen in what was the bathroom, washing facilities in what was the airing cupboard, a second double bedroom in what was the single front bedroom.
I'd really like to offer some suggestions on making it more appealing but despite racking my brains the only thing I can suggest is sacrificing the small bedroom and turning it and the reception room into a living / kitchen area, reinstating the old bathroom and accessing the outside from the bedroom.
I hope someone else can come up with some better ideas, apart from dropping the price even more than you have already.

SellMyFlat_2

yep we purposely left off a floor plan as we knew it would stop people even looking. We didn't relise how small the shower room was until we viewed but we were so taken by the rest of the flat size and the garden that we compromised. But this was back in 2007 when properties in Leigh were selling before even hitting the market!

That is exactly it, the garden is accessed through the kitchen which leads to the balcony and steps into the garden. We couldn't more the backdoor as the flat roof is slight different from where our balcony is to where it isn't if you see what I mean?!
Plus the cost of losing a bedroom and making the changes would be dead money as we would lose out on it becoming a 1bed.

Its very frustrating as it is a lovely flat, we have lovely neighbours and have enjoyed being there but it is just time for us to move on to a family home, which we can't do unless we sell!

I don't know if this mortgage guarantee thing will help in January as it could bring more FTBs to the market but then we will prob have more competition!

Okydoky25

SellMyFlat wrote: »

The Garden is tidy?? and the decking had been jet washed so its very clean.

I can't see very well but it looks like something leaning up against the fence at the back? I would personally have some sort of trellis up to make the garden more private from down stairs side.

The decking may be clean but it looks worn and a quick sand and varnish will give a much better 1st impression for minimum cost.

SellMyFlat_2

Thats a bamboo screen its slipped down a bit but has since been pushed back up. The fench is higher at the back (full 6ft) by the decking so its completely private, we put the fence in last year and our downstairs neighbour wasn't too keen as it would cast shade on his grass so this was a compromise, before we just had a chain going between the gardens.

Errata

Does the bathroom comply with building regs? (the 'shower room' is smaller than my three seater sofa, and yours). If the wooden steps into the garden are the only exit from the property do they comply with building regs? (they can catch fire, rot away etc leaving no exit)
The decor won't put people off, tarting it up won't make it more appealing. It is what it is: dodgy access, no adequate washing facilities, no parking, next to a school, next to a cemetery, and if it's facing the wrong way a gloomy outside area.
Someone will buy it, providing it passes a survey and is priced right.