Struggling to sell

pinklady21

It's a nice flat. But you must declutter! Box up just about everything that you are not using on a daily basis and get it into storage. Have one thing only in each of your living room shelves and accessorise your kitchen worktops better.
Less is more!
A nice healthy plant in a plain pot in your bathroom would make it look a little less bare.
Can you move the chests of drawers from bed 1 to bed 2?
Best of luck!

Sarah-J26

I would say add some more pictuers of Bedrooms and think about reducing price a bit to attract more buyers. Best of Luck.

Badger50

Perhaps dropping the price to £275 would help? Unlike Right Move, Zoopla doesn't let you set a maximum search parameter of £280 - the options go from maximum £275 to maximum £300 so at £280 you are excluding some Zoopla searchers.

quantumlobster

Now I know which flat I'm looking at I can offer my actual feedback, which is simply this.

3rd floor? No lift? No sale.

Sorry. Everything else is moot in light of this one fact.

Crashy_Time

quantumlobster wrote: »

Now I know which flat I'm looking at I can offer my actual feedback, which is simply this.

3rd floor? No lift? No sale.

Sorry. Everything else is moot in light of this one fact.

Plenty of people live on 3rd and 4th floors even without lifts, that isn`t the issue IMO.

Candyapple

It’s a bit of a moot point to compare the new builds which are selling for a lot more than yours to your flat because of the Help to Buy scheme.

Let’s do some quick maths to compare the two, this is done assuming the buyer offers you full asking price on your flat.

Your flat: £280k
Deposit: 10% minimum = £28k
Mortgage required: £252k
LTV: 90%
5 year fixed tracker 2.44% HSBC
Mortgage payments: £1,122 per month

New build flat: £395k
Deposit: 5% minimum = £19.75k
Help to Buy 40% loan: £158k
Mortgage required: £217,250
LTV: 55%
5 year fixed tracker 1.90% Barclays London Help2Buy
Mortgage payments: £910 per month

So buyers for your flat will need to have £10k extra initially for their upfront deposit and their monthly repayments will be £212 more expensive. Not to mention they will have to factor in the cost of re-decoration, new bathroom/kitchen at a later date if need be. Plus the cost of increasing the low lease length and the service charge increasing to accommodate the “major works” which are in the pipeline.

Compare that with a lot of buyers these days only having the bare minimum for a deposit so £10k saving there already by only having to pay the 5% deposit. The new flat has the benefit of having a lift, room sizes and layout bigger and better, moving into a brand new apartment with all the latest mod cons, long lease so no worries there about that cost, essentially just move in and carry on with your life with the lower mortgage payments.

Becks12 wrote: »

The lease length was factored in when valuing the property. There is another similar property on the market nearby for £305,000 which has the lease extended so I know increasing it would increase the value. I just am ready to move now!

wrote:

If you're a flat-hunter, alarm bells should screech if a lease is nearing or below 80 years – don't just accept estate agents' promises of easy extensions.
You have to have owned the flat for two years before you can extend. A seller can get the ball rolling and pass the rights to the purchaser. But if a buyer waits until they've completed the purchase, it'll be another two years before they've a right to extend.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/extend-your-lease

This is going to be a big issue if you decide not to extend the lease before you sell. Let’s say the professional fees are £3k, add that to the £8k you have stated, means it will cost you circa £11k to get the lease extended. Can you afford to do this? I know you said you had factored this cost into the price already but I would imagine any potential buyers would think otherwise.

Has this other property for £305k sold, or is it still sitting on the market?

Becks12 wrote: »

I spoke to my estate agents regarding the major works and they told me not to panic and reduce the price at this point as we don't know how much and the service charge isn't definitely going up yet.

Well the EA is going to tell you not to worry because they don’t want to lose your business. Any potential buyer will be able to find all this out once the searches come back from their solicitor and will then either a) drop out of the sale or b) ask for a heavy discount on the asking price to compensate.

Don’t get me wrong, prettying up your flat is always a good thing and sorting out the pics, but it seems to me that is not the problem here. The core problem you’ll face is low lease and also the cost of these major works in the pipeline. That and your secondary issue is that prices in London are dropping and you have a lot of competition.

As an example, this flat is bigger than yours sq ft wise and also has an en-suite and is on for £5k less than yours.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71953229.html

This other flat is on for the same amount as yours, however note that they purchased it in 2005 for £275k and 13 years later it’s only listed as being on for £280k
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52054782.html

Note that the above flat for sale is only 2 roads away from where yours is and if you look at most recent sales it makes for grim reading:

Flat 402, Maritime House, Greens End, London, Greater London SE18 6HB
£270,000 Flat, Leasehold, Residential 22 Jan 2018 2 bedrooms
£283,069 Flat, Leasehold, Residential (New Build) 19 Jul 2005
Loss of £13k

Flat 504, Maritime House, Greens End, London, Greater London SE18 6HB
£282,500 Flat, Leasehold, Residential 06 Mar 2017 2 bedrooms
£307,854 Flat, Leasehold, Residential (New Build) 13 Jul 2005
Loss of £25k

Flat 408, Maritime House, Greens End, London, Greater London SE18 6HB
£260,000 Flat, Leasehold, Residential 02 Sep 2016 2 bedrooms
£300,000 Flat, Leasehold, Residential (New Build) 23 Apr 2007
Loss of £40k

Niv

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Plenty of people live on 3rd and 4th floors even without lifts, that isn`t the issue IMO.

What do you think the issue could be then?

TBagpuss

I agree with others that you could improve the 'staging' of the flat - I think it would be worth your while to start the process of extending the lease, as the current length may ring alarm bells for a lot of people, particularly once they start talking to mortgage advisers.

Bathroom: - have you looked into the cost of tiling the wall round the bath? Since your existing tiles are white it should be possible to match them, and that would give you a 'cleaner' look at let you replace the curtain with a screen.

I'd agree with the the suggestions to make the room a little bit less 'clinical' if you can.

I'd also suggest trying to declutter the bedroom a bit, and to include photos of the second bedroom. I wonder whether people are seeing the 2nd bedroom and are disappointed with its size, having sen the '2 double bedrooms' in the listing? I think a lot of people find it hard to visualise the size of a room even when the dimensions are given on a plan.

The listing mentions loft access - could you store stuff in the loft while you are selling? The boxes on top of your wardrobe, for instnace.

For me, being on the top floor would be a plus as it means no-one overhead, but from the outside pictures it looks as though there are garages and then 4 floors of accommodation, so it is a long way up with no lift, which may be off-putting to anyone with young children.

I also think you would benefit from better pictures, putting them in a logical order and including ones of the communal gardens. Is the 'secure parking ' a car park, or do you have one of the garages?

Do you have a view over the barracks field? Having green spaces in view is a positive. Your listing doesn't show anything outside which would make me wonder what ugly sight there is that you're not showing!

Have you specifically asked the agents for feedback /. advice about how the flat is presented? When I sold my house, i was well aware of some things about my house which were less than ideal, but not one of the agents said a word until I expressly raised the issues myself and asked their opinion. (in my case, one thing was that when I was first talking to agents, I wasn't sure if I could afford to move and I hadn't yet started the big declutter - none of them suggested it, every time it was me saying 'I know I will need to declutter x, y & z before it goes on the market, at which point they would agree and make specific suggestions. Similarly, none of them commented on the horrible bathroom until I did . once they knew that I recognised it was old and ugly, and that I was open to talking about the pros and cons of me spending the money on replacing it, or adjusting the price to account for the fact that anyone moving in would want to do so, they were happy to discuss the options. and offer advice - and I found that they were fairly knowledgeable about the likely costs of different things I could do, and how they might affect the price.

in my case, i ended up going down the route of a lower asking price and being clear in the listing and photos that the house needed work, and this was partly due to the type of property I was selling (an older starter home). It may be the same for you, or it may be that it would pay you to spend some money on the property.

Crashy_Time

Niv wrote: »

What do you think the issue could be then?

Price.......

Becks12

Hello all! I've been off pimping the flat a bit! I havent been on for a couple of days so thanks to everyone for the further points. So heres an update so far
I have pimped the bathroom. It now has new white fluffy towels and a white fluffy bath mat. It does actually have a few more bits than in the pictures, molton brown bath products and candles.
I've hired a storage locker and gutted the spare room. There was a lot more stuff in there than I thought! IMO it looks bigger and a lot brighter as its almost empty now. I had actually asked every EA that came round if they thought it looked ok as it was or should I empty it and they all said it looked fine, people could see how big it was from the floor plan. This may have been an issue to the viewers, or it may not. How I look at it, is that its now packed and out of the flat so its one room less to pack when I do move!
The loft is only partially boarded so there is limited space up there. I had boarded it myself and boards are big and heavy and I am not that big and not that strong! Currently, anything which won't be required in the near future (Christmas stuff etc) has been de-camped to storage so theres a bit more space up there now for when I do need to put things up.
Moving on to the Kitchen. This will be cleared of everything prior to each viewing and plants spread around to different rooms. I'm debating painting it still. Might finish with moving stuff about first though! The view from the kitchen/living room is not one to advertise really. Its the main road and the Barracks on the other side. The back of the barracks. With a fence and barbed wire! The bedroom views are nicer though, with views over a neighbouring pond (which we cant access but never mind) so I can add that in. The secure parking isn;t garages, just an open car park between the flats and the pond. The whole complex is gated so no one can get in on foot or in a vehicle without a fob or the code. Going to get a photo of the gates. The gardens would be nice to photograph but some of the other residents have installed washing lines so I'll have to time it right when they have taken it in! Was out yesterday in the torrential rain!
Bedroom- I use one of the chests of drawers as a dressing table and there is a mirror over it. I;d just put everything away for the pictures. Moving on from that, I;ve emptied one of the chests of drawers and am intending on moving it to the storage locker then move the furniture around a bit. I need a couple of days off heavy lifting as every part of me hurts from dragging boxes/furniture about! Am surprised how much you can get in the back of a little car btw. Going to have a think about best way to arrange the furniture.
Regarding the EA, I;m using House Network so they get a flat fee so the selling price doesn;t affect what they earn. I also realise there is less incentive to get me to sell!
The other properties mentioned in Calderwell street and Maritime House are in old converted office blocks. They;re right in the middle of Woolwich town centre, which is convenient for the shops but noisy (right by a couple of pubs), the buildings are ugly and I personally wouldn;t want to live there. The photos might look ok but its quite grotty by the entrances. Theres big groups of school kids "play fighting" outside on school days, plus the people coming in and out of the pubs. I'm only five mins away but its considerably quieter. And I have parking!
Am liking the tip on new lampshades! Its so hard when you live somewhere to get a different perspective so I am really grateful to everything everyone has said!


Once I;ve finished making my little improvements Ill see how I go and then look at dropping to 275. Currently the next viewing is the weekend (a BLT person) so I have some time!