Few viewings but no real interest yet

babyblade41

Flats are just so harder than houses IMO.. too much and it's cluttered , too little and it's sparse so go with how it is but might I suggest some personalisation.

Splashes of colour...just a few statement pieces .

Viewers will love the visualisation but just need something to stand out ..so I'd say go bold with some colour

epinjy

babyblade41 wrote: »

Flats are just so harder than houses IMO..

It being a flat probably contributes quite a lot. I lived nearby to Reading (Bracknell) for a couple of years and know you can get decent 2 bedroom freehold houses around the same price. I wouldn't even consider an apartment when I could get a house for that.

kinger101

Normally, I say it's price on these sorts of thread, but it's still early days (and I can't be bothered to search comparisons).

But I have to agree with the comments about the layout. The rooms are narrow, but you've not helped by placing all the furniture against one wall. It makes it look like corridors leading to nothing. Zone the living area into a lounge area and dining area.

And make some sort of effort to make it look like a home.

I'd also ask the agent to remove the "viewing recommended" from the advert. It's short-hand for "I tried very hard, but couldn't find anything positive to say about this property"

Cakeguts

hariprabu2010 wrote: »

Hi all, thanks for great replies. As you all said I will look to make it a bit lively. I really can't do much about the length of the rooms though.

We never thought this to be our house from day as this was Shared Ownership ( but selling 100% on open market with back to back staircasing and sale).That's the reason we didn't put anything extra and saved every penny for our new house. I know few things like some flowers, cushions and lampshades are basic. I would look at adding them.

The estate agents took photographs on the day of valuation (which was not mentioned to me). The other estate agent took them on the mobile just said the photographs are for their report and would come back for real photographs but they just used the ones taken from mobile.

We are not doing part exchange it is just an assisted move, where they would hold the plot for 6 weeks and they would pay the EA fees. If we don't find a buyer in 6 weeks, we will loose the plot that we liked.

And again we will try to make it a bit lively and ask EAs to come for pictures again. Even if this doesn't sell within 6 weeks, I'm planning to continue to market it so all your suggestions will help.

Before I saw this and just after the links I was going to ask you if your flat was part of the affordable housing provision. There is something about it that shouts affordable housing. I think it could be the fittings and the shape of the rooms.



There is something wrong with the floor plan measurments for the kitchen, living room, dining room area. The floor plan says that it is 16 feet wide but the pictures don't back that up so I suspect what they have done is to measure from the hall end of the kitchen and imply that the whole room is that width. I would guess that the living room, dining end of that room is no more than 10 feet wide or even 9 feet. So the floor plan needs to be corrected.


Your double bed is placed so that it looks as if you would need to climb over it to get in from one side only because the other side is up against a cupboard. This kind of thing makes the flat look small. In normal circumstances with a double bed in a double room you would expect to be able to get into it from both sides.


Why are you wanting to sell 100% of the flat why not sell it as shared ownership? It looks like affordable housing so why not sell it as this?

Cakeguts

Compared to the one that has obviously never been part of the affordable housing provision yours has cheaper kitchen and bathroom fittings is a bad design with long narrow rooms and the balcony is off the master bedroom. So if you want to sit out there with your morning cup of tea you have to go through the bedroom to get there.



Could you just sell the share you own rather than staircasing? You might get more interest if you did that?

kerri_gt

There's a lot that has been said already and you are going to be limited being so close to the railway line, esp with all the flats that's are going up in Reading still close to the town but not right on the main line.

Firstly, you definitely need to stage the rooms better, they do look like you've just moved out, or never moved in, even little things like no towel in the bathroom in the towel holder, the bed guard on the bed which cuts off the view of the room, lack of light shades over bare bulbs in the rooms, and that chair in front of the window is blocking a valuable source of light.

If you don't have items to make it feel more homely, borrow from friends, or there's plenty of cheap homeware shops in Reading to pick up a few bits, even hoof it down to J12 for a couple of bits at Ikea (please stay away from those live, love, laugh / bath / kitchen type wall decals - nothing against anyone who likes them but they're the noighties version of 90's rag rolling and stencils imo)

Don't overdo it, just soften the edges and show how toys can be stored away etc. Have a look in Pinterest or Houzz for some ideas.

Also get those awful photos retaken, they do nothing for the flat, the lounge especially looks dark because the camera is facing right towards the light source of the window.

davidmcn

Yellow_mango wrote: »

The only other flat in that block I can see currently on Rightmove is this one: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-78054035.html

It is on for more, but it has the corner balcony from the living area, which is a better layout. It also looks bigger?

It also has a hallway, while the OP's appears to have a door leading straight into the living room from...well, what? A corridor which everybody else in the building passes through?

Cakeguts

It has been built the way it is small and badly designed presumably to make it affordable on a shared ownership scheme but the asking price for 100% is not now an affordable housing asking price. Moving furniture round the rooms and improving the look of the rooms isn't going to make a very expensive ex shared ownership flat any more affordable for someone.



I would suggest selling it as shared ownership. Selling the share.

sharhar

Thanks everyone who took sometime to reply and offer advise.

I didn't want to sell it as Shared Ownership because there are too many shared ownership homes just few hundred meters being advertised for long time. There doesn't seem to be much interest.

I have had so many suggestions so will try and digest them all.

The most common opinion is to make the house look lively, I would definitely do that get the photos retaken.

Cakeguts

hariprabu2010 wrote: »

Thanks everyone who took sometime to reply and offer advise.

I didn't want to sell it as Shared Ownership because there are too many shared ownership homes just few hundred meters being advertised for long time. There doesn't seem to be much interest.

I have had so many suggestions so will try and digest them all.

The most common opinion is to make the house look lively, I would definitely do that get the photos retaken.

Generally speaking if something has been advertised for a long time it is because it is too expensive. I don't know what is being built in Reading at the moment or how the shares that have been advertised for a long time compare to other shared ownership flats? People who are looking at shared ownership tend to be on a tight budget so they aren't going to pay more for a share of a flat if they can get one cheaper somewhere else.



Can you do some research on shared ownership flats in Reading and see how much the shares are for sale for? New property tends to have a premium on it so you often can't sell it for more than you paid for it new for several years.