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

davidmcn

seven-day-weekend said:

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.  

It's Scotland, everything's freehold.

GDB2222

Looking at sold prices in Kelty, it’s hard for an outsider to tell whether the OP's flat is overpriced for the area. If so, it won’t sell. It’s worth changing agent, for sure! But, there needs to be a Plan B for if that doesn’t work, or if the new agent honestly tells the OP it’s overpriced.

 It’s good that most people are being optimistic, because it is a nice flat and a terrible listing, but if it’s not going to sell then the sooner the OP starts renting it out again the sooner she’ll get some money coming in rather than going out. Taking it off the market for a few months is fine if you’re living there, but not at all fine if it’s empty.

Personally, I’d relist straight away with a new agent. I’d listen to the agent about price and relist it at the lowest price I could possibly afford to take. I’d leave it on the market for two months, and if there’s still no interest in buying I’d bite the bullet and start renting it out again. 

orangecrush

I know the area, and I think your price would be reasonable IF the listing was good.  But the listing is terrible! 

Get a new agent and make sure you proof read what they want to put on the advert.  More photos would be good, even if its the same room from different angles.  Maybe not the dungeon though

In terms of presentation, here's what I'd do:

- Nice rug in the living room, small table with flowers, a few pictures on the mantelpiece

- Window box outside with some cheapo bedding plants in it

- Get some glassware and crockery for the kitchen cupboards with glass, there is loads going free here as people are clearing out during lockdown

- Hide the toaster and kettle and get some living herb pots - Aldi here has them

- Pictures of the outside are a must!  Lots of evidence to suggest demand for properties with gardens is going up after lockdown.

getmore4less

The floor plan does not look right pic 2 looks to be the living room with window and there is a door not on the plan.
google maps shows good space at the back is there any access out of the flat at the rear or is it only through the front door.
Is the flat 123 a rental looks to be owned by a SUNBURY PROPERTIES LTD.
Is there right of access down both sides
parking at the front any at the back?
where is the door to 119 and 121?

daveyjp

Having a wc and bathroom separated by such a large distance is a siginificant compromise.  No window in the kitchen another.

davidmcn

daveyjp said:

Having a wc and bathroom separated by such a large distance is a siginificant compromise.  No window in the kitchen another.

Internal kitchens are pretty commonplace in Scottish flats of this size, I doubt buyers at this price level would treat it as a compromise.

jacko74

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.

But they can still sell it.. just not necessarily for quite as much as they were gullible enough to pay at the peak of the fraud/greed bubble.

As applies to everything... the value of your investment can go down as well as up.

daveyjp

davidmcn said:

daveyjp said:

Having a wc and bathroom separated by such a large distance is a siginificant compromise.  No window in the kitchen another.

Internal kitchens are pretty commonplace in Scottish flats of this size, I doubt buyers at this price level would treat it as a compromise.

Except it hasn't sold, suggesting they do at the current price point.

davidmcn

daveyjp said:

davidmcn said:

daveyjp said:

Having a wc and bathroom separated by such a large distance is a siginificant compromise.  No window in the kitchen another.

Internal kitchens are pretty commonplace in Scottish flats of this size, I doubt buyers at this price level would treat it as a compromise.

Except it hasn't sold, suggesting they do at the current price point.

True, but I don't think the internal kitchen is the problem.

sheramber

daveyjp said:

Having a wc and bathroom separated by such a large distance is a siginificant compromise.  No window in the kitchen another.

Floor plan says bathroom but  it is a shower room.  Does the shower room have a wc?