Can't sell 1 bed flat in Eastcote, Middlesex

gomer

kazzamunga wrote: »

That's fair enough, but genuinely, they've been on sale for 320-335k for the last 4 years - I didn't pluck the figure out of thin air, I chose it based on estate agents' advice and my knowledge from regular Rightmove visits over the last 4 years.

I don't expect you picked the figure out of a hat for a moment. All i can say is knowing Eastcote very well & having spent much time there, my first instinctive reaction was to 'balk' at the figure.

I just don't see a 1 bed fetching that price in Eastcote in the near future & can understand why you are struggling to sell at that price. I just feel you may have slightly unreasonable expectations. I'm going on immediate gut reaction & my immediate gut reaction was to splutter my coffee a little bit.

I know it's not what you need to hear & I'm sorry.

kazzamunga

gomer wrote: »

I know it's not what you need to hear & I'm sorry.

Ha yep, thanks, just what I need. I guess 2016-2018 was some strange dreamworld and it's been replaced be a new reality. Like I say, the flat next door got 335 for his slightly smaller Ground Floor Flat in 2016, so I would have thought stranger things have happened than mine achieving in the high 290s.

RelievedSheff

kazzamunga wrote: »

In the area or on that estate? They are two different things. There is an estate across the road, for example, where the 1 bed flats never go for any less than 340, even though the area average is lower, since it has underground parking and large square footages, so shouldn't be directly compared to small flats above shops and flats in crappy cul de sacs and flats next to railway tracks, etc.

So yes, I know that the area average has fallen since 2016, and clearly the desirability of the estate has fallen since then. But I don't think it should be randomly compared to any flat in the general area, when it has historically been chosen as a safe and well maintained and nice-looking estate.

On the same estate would be a good start!

RelievedSheff

kazzamunga wrote: »

Ha yep, thanks, just what I need. I guess 2016-2018 was some strange dreamworld and it's been replaced be a new reality. Like I say, the flat next door got 335 for his slightly smaller Ground Floor Flat in 2016, so I would have thought stranger things have happened than mine achieving in the high 290s.

The market in 2016 was clearly very different to the market in 2019 and now going into 2020. So there is little point in looking back at what has happened in the past and every point in trying to establish a pricing strategy for the present day.

The price is clearly not right or it would have had interest and offers by now.

Start by establishing what similar 1 bed properties on the same estate have sold for in the last 12 months. This will be a starting point to then work out a reasonable asking price.

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

There was nothing wrong in your price discovery mechanism, it's just that the market has changed significantly more than you would normally expect in a period of 2-3 years when there hasn't been a recession.

kazzamunga wrote: »

Ha yep, thanks, just what I need. I guess 2016-2018 was some strange dreamworld and it's been replaced be a new reality. Like I say, the flat next door got 335 for his slightly smaller Ground Floor Flat in 2016, so I would have thought stranger things have happened than mine achieving in the high 290s.

kazzamunga

RelievedSheff wrote: »

The market in 2016 was clearly very different to the market in 2019 and now going into 2020. So there is little point in looking back at what has happened in the past and every point in trying to establish a pricing strategy for the present day.

The price is clearly not right or it would have had interest and offers by now.

Start by establishing what similar 1 bed properties on the same estate have sold for in the last 12 months. This will be a starting point to then work out a reasonable asking price.

I have - the most recent are 303k and 296k. So you see we're not actually that far out.

I get it, 2016 was a different time - I just get the impression you might have spat your coffee out in 2016 as well, so I thought maybe you weren't aware that the prices in the area had risen. I get that it didn't used to be that desirable, but I'm just talking about the general price rise (and then dip) in the area

PensionNs

Haha, exactly what I thought! Btw it's Gomer who spat their coffee out, not Sheffield.

kazzamunga wrote: »

I just get the impression you might have spat your coffee out in 2016 as well, so I thought maybe you weren't aware that the prices in the area had risen. I get that it didn't used to be that desirable, but I'm just talking about the general price rise (and then dip) in the area

Crashy_Time

kazzamunga wrote: »

That's fair enough, but genuinely, they've been on sale for 320-335k for the last 4 years - I didn't pluck the figure out of thin air, I chose it based on estate agents' advice and my knowledge from regular Rightmove visits over the last 4 years.

There was a massive property bubble caused by too much cheap credit given out to anyone who could sign their name which imploded in 2008, there was massive Government/Central bank intervention to save the property market and other debt bubbles (because true price discovery would have seriously damaged the banks balance sheets) so by about 2016, especially near London, all the low rates and HTB schemes had pumped up another bubble, but then Brexit came along and the main political parties also twigged that they needed to be seen to be holding landlords to account (renter vote) hence higher/more taxes putting people off BTL/Landlording in general..................so you have the perfect storm of less people looking for BTL type properties and more people (and banks) being ultra cautious about how much they spend/lend on property in general, all meaning that you can`t just pop any old property on the market anymore and get people lining up to out bid each other. You need to price sensibly, and probably undercut the other selling prices for similar houses, because the BTL brigade are no longer there in the numbers they used to be in order to push up demand.

kazzamunga

Crashy_Time wrote: »

There was a massive property bubble caused by too much cheap credit given out to anyone who could sign their name which imploded in 2008, there was massive Government/Central bank intervention to save the property market and other debt bubbles (because true price discovery would have seriously damaged the banks balance sheets) so by about 2016, especially near London, all the low rates and HTB schemes had pumped up another bubble, but then Brexit came along and the main political parties also twigged that they needed to be seen to be holding landlords to account (renter vote) hence higher/more taxes putting people off BTL/Landlording in general..................so you have the perfect storm of less people looking for BTL type properties and more people (and banks) being ultra cautious about how much they spend/lend on property in general, all meaning that you can`t just pop any old property on the market anymore and get people lining up to out bid each other. You need to price sensibly, and probably undercut the other selling prices for similar houses, because the BTL brigade are no longer there in the numbers they used to be in order to push up demand.

Thanks that's really useful. I have to say I'm really glad I posted here, because most of you are in agreement about the current climate and the pricing etc, so I feel I can trust your input in a way that I can't trust the estate agent's.

We've all agreed that we're going to reduce to 295, and at the same time change the picture that shows the boarding around the front door (the management company has fixed this, so I've asked the agent to get another pic done). We also want them to add the length of the lease (at 114 years it's pretty good) to the info, and I'm going to get the ground rent and service charge added too. I've also asked if they are talking about the fact that we had a deed of variation done to fix the ground rent for ten years to prospective purchasers, because we think these are all selling points that not all the other flats will have.

Hopefully a combination of those things and more people looking after the new year, will do the trick....

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

I don't always agree with your predictions of impending doom Crashy, but that's an excellent summary!

Perfect example is the "investor" who bought the neighbouring flat for 335k in 2016 and then had to sell it for 296k in 2019.

Crashy_Time wrote: »

There was a massive property bubble caused by too much cheap credit given out to anyone who could sign their name which imploded in 2008, there was massive Government/Central bank intervention to save the property market and other debt bubbles (because true price discovery would have seriously damaged the banks balance sheets) so by about 2016, especially near London, all the low rates and HTB schemes had pumped up another bubble, but then Brexit came along and the main political parties also twigged that they needed to be seen to be holding landlords to account (renter vote) hence higher/more taxes putting people off BTL/Landlording in general..................so you have the perfect storm of less people looking for BTL type properties and more people (and banks) being ultra cautious about how much they spend/lend on property in general, all meaning that you can`t just pop any old property on the market anymore and get people lining up to out bid each other. You need to price sensibly, and probably undercut the other selling prices for similar houses, because the BTL brigade are no longer there in the numbers they used to be in order to push up demand.