Help my flat isn't selling and has been on the market since Oct 2018 ☹️

Crashy_Time

ProDave said:

jacko74 said:

ProDave said:

This is a sad situation. I have mentioned before that many parts of the UK the market has been very slow since the GFC and has never really recovered, and prices are still pre 2008 levels and have never got back to that. People in the south just can't comprehend that.

I am surprised it has not sold recently.  Even where I am, at the start of the year before Covid came along, houses were selling and some going to a closing date, something I have not seen for a while.

If it has been on with the same agent for 2 years, I think it will be viewed as stale. Re list it with a different agent, different set of photos and better description.

But now you are in the lap of the gods until we find out what Covi-19 has done to the market.

I'm not sure what's so sad about prices not ''recovering'' back to post 2008 levels?... Prices that were only brought about by mass fraudulent and irresponsible lending and borrowing resulting in an unsustainable bubble that almost brought down the entire economy.

It is sad for anyone that paid peak price and now 12 years later still can only sell it for less than they paid.

Yes, maybe, a little bit, but the OP has been renting it out so he can say he made something back? Time to put it on for 40k and get rid IMO. Just think how sad people who bought in the last couple of years will be in the near future.

Grumpy_chap

The flat looks lovely but the dungeon is a bit off-putting

pinkshoes

The flat potentially looks love but...

The listing is RUBBISH! 

1. If it has a garden and parking, why doesn't it say so??? And put a picture of the garden!
2. The last photo looks like a dungeon. Probably worth mentioning in the blurb but you really don't need that photo!!
3. Could you borrow some furniture to make the flat look more lived in??

The price seems reasonable given how nice it is, but if no one is looking to buy at the moment then not a lot you can do other than drop the price even lower. 

Zoology_Dragon

Both the garden and parking are very important here and neither are mentioned on the listing. I would switch agent before thinking about reducing the price.

Mcgowan1988

Crashy_Time said:

ProDave said:

jacko74 said:

ProDave said:

This is a sad situation. I have mentioned before that many parts of the UK the market has been very slow since the GFC and has never really recovered, and prices are still pre 2008 levels and have never got back to that. People in the south just can't comprehend that.

I am surprised it has not sold recently.  Even where I am, at the start of the year before Covid came along, houses were selling and some going to a closing date, something I have not seen for a while.

If it has been on with the same agent for 2 years, I think it will be viewed as stale. Re list it with a different agent, different set of photos and better description.

But now you are in the lap of the gods until we find out what Covi-19 has done to the market.

I'm not sure what's so sad about prices not ''recovering'' back to post 2008 levels?... Prices that were only brought about by mass fraudulent and irresponsible lending and borrowing resulting in an unsustainable bubble that almost brought down the entire economy.

It is sad for anyone that paid peak price and now 12 years later still can only sell it for less than they paid.

Yes, maybe, a little bit, but the OP has been renting it out so he can say he made something back? Time to put it on for 40k and get rid IMO. Just think how sad people who bought in the last couple of years will be in the near future.

Actually I'm a she, and I rented it out because i couldn't sell. I was an accidental landlord and it's not great when you get that phone call telling you your property has been wrecked.

Crashy_Time

Now that the magic trigger phrase has been uttered (AL) watch any sympathy that was around quickly evaporate.

LittleNinja

I'm looking to buy my first home at the moment and when I do my searches I sort by "newest listed"... Anything marketed earlier this year I think I may have a chance of negotiating. Anything too far back I think is a mistake or already gone. If I saw "2018" on the date I would assume there is something seriously wrong with the property or the agency has made a mistake and not properly removed it. 

I think you need to change agency to get it hitting people's notifications again. Get some better pictures!

seven-day-weekend

I think your flat is lovely. Agree with what others say. Change your agent, have fresh photos showing garden and parking,, mention the cellar as storage space.  For me the most important thing of all though, however nice the flat might be, is the length of the lease.  If it is only short I would need to figure the cost of extending it into my financial calculation before even going to look at the flat.  

RelievedSheff

I think most people have already nailed this on the head.

The listing is old and won't be at the top of any lists and the advert is poor.

I would take the property off the market for a few months and then try relisting it again with a fresh agent who will do a proper ad and do some decent photos that really show off the flat to it's best. It looks to be a great property but it isn't being shown to it's full potential.

AdrianC

LittleNinja said:

I'm looking to buy my first home at the moment and when I do my searches I sort by "newest listed"... Anything marketed earlier this year I think I may have a chance of negotiating. Anything too far back I think is a mistake or already gone. If I saw "2018" on the date I would assume there is something seriously wrong with the property or the agency has made a mistake and not properly removed it. 

Sometimes it does happen.

When we bought this place at the start of 2013, it'd been on the market two years.
This is an area which doesn't have fast turnover of properties - it's very low population and a lot of places do linger unless VERY keenly priced.
There'd been a mahoosive planning battle over a farm <300m away developing a barn into hunt kennels, which was finally resolved in the village's favour almost by accident.
There'd been two offers which had fallen through for semi-trivial reasons.
The EA were atrocious, with terrible details that actively put us off even visiting - we only viewed because we were seeing another place with the same agent, and we thought "might as well"...

We think it was waiting for us...