Flats in front of my house - a problem when selling?

hammy1988

I used to live in a similar place with similar parking. Everything was fine, until a new neighbour decided to bring his taxi business to the area, and park all his fleet of taxis on the roads. There was nothing at all we could do as it was not allocated parking. Just providing evidence of something that could happen on parking situations such as these!

Semple

As a FTB, those flats look pleasant enough that they wouldn't put me off.

But the parking situation would. You may be able to park in front of your house, but you do essentially only have a space for a single car (in your allocated bay). Also going on the first photo, it doesn't look like there's much space you could put a driveway either.

Does the council own/maintain the street? What if at some point in the next few years they decide to paint double yellows around the street. Those would be the kind of things on my mind.

Davesnave

The flats aren't the issue. The fact that there appears to be nothing distinguishing what's yours and what's public immediately in front of the property would put me off.

If others feel the same way, that must reflect in the price.

The neighbours may be all lovely and well-behaved now, but that can change.....rapidly.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Davesnave wrote: »

The neighbours may be all lovely and well-behaved now, but that can change.....rapidly.

Absolutely. Saying "there's never any trouble" is worthless to a purchaser. The potential for trouble carries the same price implications whether the trouble is currently manifest or not.

squirrel99

deannatrois wrote: »

What is there about your place that will 'grab' a potential buyer? It looks like the other lego houses to the side of you. Is there anything you can do to increase kerb appeal (like not parking in front of your house, making it look less like it is perched on the actual road) etc.

Many similar houses on market are around 55-60 sq meters, while ours is 76 and that really makes a difference. We have a proper hallway with staircase to go upstairs; many similar houses have the staircase in their tiny living room - diner where they end up keeping their sofa almost under stairs.

We have kitchen-diner which I am told is more desirable, plus two equally large bedrooms which is rarely the case (these two things were really important to us when we were looking to buy ourselves).

squirrel99

Semple wrote: »

Does the council own/maintain the street? What if at some point in the next few years they decide to paint double yellows around the street. Those would be the kind of things on my mind.

I believe housing association owns these private roads. not sure if that's better than council thought.

The EA tells me though that all new estates in our town are the same - usually one allocated parking space and on street parking. obviously not all houses have blocks of flats on just in front, so I understand the buyers may be worried street parking will be full once all flat residents buy a car.

PhilE

Flats and houses in the same area are normal in many areas.

If the flats are owned/rented by respectable people, then it's not an issue.

If it's a council estate with drug dealers and drunks, then that would be a problem. But there are areas of London that have very expensive houses right next to such estates, and that hasn't affected the price in the slightest.

Cakeguts

What makes you think that the house has gone up by £25k in 2 years?