London 2 bed flat. Over 1 week listed but only 1 enquiry/viewing - please critique!

NameUnavailable

Who told you the market was heating up? I know that's what we keep reading in the press but where I'm looking (south of London/south east) it seems very much to have cooled down. 

The problems for you are that it's a flat and quite likely to require EWS1 sign off (even though it's under 18M). Also there are commercial premises within the building which some lenders don't like. 

The flat itself looks very nice (I have noticed most newer builds lack internal storage space) and has outside space with will be a big selling point for some people. 

From what we hear many people are looking further out where £500K would buy a house with a garden. That said others will still want to be near London or nearer to friends/family/work etc. I think from your point of view it's just a case of waiting for the right buyer to come along, rather than any inherent issue with the property or listing. 

moneysavinghero

it's the 15th cheapest out of 45 two bed flats within 1/4 mile

Maybe the 14 cheaper properties are getting the viewers.

musehead

RAS said:

Do you actually live in it, as it looks more like rented accommodation than owner occupied?

How does the service charge compare with others?

Almost totally lacking in storage.

Nowhere for a guest to sit except on the sofa next to you. So distinctly antisocial.

If there is a table in the living room, where are the chairs? Can't see anywhere to store them, or is it one of those with chairs stored in the base? Set it up for a meal, if that's the case.

Set the second room up as a guest bedroom at least. 

The outside space looks very uninviting and the idea that others in the flats could use the space immediately outside your sitting room window is off-putting

Kill the underground garage shots and one of the street front.

I do live here, but I decluttered and removed some of my possessions for the photos.

I think the service charge is quite typical for modern flats around here, but older blocks tend to have a lower service charge.

I'm not sure what to do about storage - there's nothing built-in (apart from the hall cupboard and kitchen cupboards) but potential buyers would presumably be putting up some freestanding cupboards or shelves if they wanted more.

Yes, the chairs are stored in the table base - I'll set it up!

Unfortunately it's not very feasible to change the second room into a bedroom as I need to use it as an office.

What is most uninviting about the outside space? Although it's technically a communal area, in reality there's no way anyone else would sit in that area. While I've lived here, not once has anyone come into the patio area.

Thanks for your advice!

princeofpounds

So I'm going to pick a few holes, but overall it doesn't look like a bad flat. I'm familiar with London flats and I know that 1800 isn't a particularly bad service charge.

In many ways, I'm echoing what's already been said.

Yes the 'kitchen' is very off-putting. It looks like one you'd put in a bedsit. You need more storage, a bit more worksurface, and most of all some visual separation from the living area. One of the ugliest trends in the last couple of decades in London is this habit of developers sticking a few units across the wall of a sitting room and calling it a kitchen. 

Speaking of bedsit vibes, you've got the whole place set up as if it's for one person, whereas a large part of the market for 2 beds will be couples, or even sharers or singles thinking about letting a room given it has two bathrooms. It's part of what gives it the sterile air. You have more seats at your outside table than you do in your 'sitting room' (if you exclude the kitchen stools). Looks like an apartment for Billy No-mates.

Agree there is also very limited storage. It's actually a decent size sitting room and I actually think it would benefit from a much more substantial and attractive bookcase/storage unit than the two sub-IKEA efforts you have in the corners. In fact, the whole wallspace between them, especially to the right of the TV, looks weirdly bare. But it would be ideal for pictures or photos. You have one random painting at the back which kind of accentuates the sterile nature of the place. A rug might help as well.

Agree that the ground floor/outside situation is slightly confusing. I assume all the area within the planters is yours? That's a good outside space, but there's another shot where it looks like it's next to, essentially, a footpath around the building. That's not appealing, even if in practice it's not used much and you have some distance of separation. 

Agree that it looks like it's right on the noisy main road. When I've searched for flats, I've discounted these unless it's made very very clear early on that it's not facing the road. The picture of the front of the flats doesn't help at all - from other angles it's a nicer building - nor that of the garage.

Finally, remember that the property market is booming right now, but that is least true for city-centre flats given the demand for green outside space through Covid.

cattie

Location is good so should appeal to young professionals & service charges very reasonable with a good lease length. However, internally is does seem to be lacking. The lounge looks cold & uninviting. Can't you buy a nice cheap rug & perhaps invest in an armchair or 2 or even a cheap sofa so it looks the kind of space where you can get together in comfort with friends for the evening. You could possibly pick up something decent from a charity shop to keep your costs low.

The kitchen, well it definitely looks as if the developer wanted to spend as little as possible & give the very bare basic of kitchen units. It almost looks unfinished, as if the original plan had been to have units right across the wall to where the dining table is, but that it's a job intended to be finished when you have more time or money. I live alone but couldn't cope with a mini kitchen like that.

I think too many photographs of the outside are shown, there are about 10 but not all show the best the property has to offer. Choose just a handful that really show off the outside space & get that patio looking it's best so people can see themselves out there on nice summer evenings.

theoretica

musehead said:

Unfortunately it's not very feasible to change the second room into a bedroom as I need to use it as an office.

You might want to think about doing it just for photos - as you aren't even getting viewers at the moment.  Move the desk out and a bed in (or a load of boxes with a duvet over them to look like a bed).  A bit of a pain, but can be done without actually rearranging your whole life.

getmore4less

In terms of price, it's the 15th cheapest out of 45 two bed flats within 1/4 mile

 
my numbers are for sale/SSTC

lets start with that.

45/22  not a lot of sales for 2 beds

if we do up to £500k we get 16/4  £550k 19/6

117/63  for 1/2 mile still not a good ratio

1 2 3+ beds for 1/4 and 1/2 mile

16/7   45/22   16/6

59/27 117/63  47/27

full matrix for 1/2 mile

	1bed	2bed	3bed+
0-425	33/18	5/4	2/4
0-450	40/22	10/6	2/4
0-475	51/23	12/9	3/4
0-500	57/25	30/14	4/5
0-550	59/26	53/21	5/5
0-600	59/26	76/33	7/8
0-max	59/27	117/63	47/27

relative to the sales there is quite a bit of choice.

look at the 5 SSTC from £475-£500 that will give an idea what people have been viewing and buying.

dell12

I don't think there's much wrong with the flat - I know the area and i'd agree it's competitively priced. Sure it's not to everyone's taste but it's a pretty blank canvas and it wouldn't take all that much for people to change things around. 

It might be worth considering using a high street agent (although I guess you've paid upfront now). I think onliners work to get your home on Rightmove, but after the first week or so when the property is first listed, they don't do anything to push buyers your way later on.

musehead

princeofpounds said:

So I'm going to pick a few holes, but overall it doesn't look like a bad flat. I'm familiar with London flats and I know that 1800 isn't a particularly bad service charge.

In many ways, I'm echoing what's already been said.

Yes the 'kitchen' is very off-putting. It looks like one you'd put in a bedsit. You need more storage, a bit more worksurface, and most of all some visual separation from the living area. One of the ugliest trends in the last couple of decades in London is this habit of developers sticking a few units across the wall of a sitting room and calling it a kitchen. 

Speaking of bedsit vibes, you've got the whole place set up as if it's for one person, whereas a large part of the market for 2 beds will be couples, or even sharers or singles thinking about letting a room given it has two bathrooms. It's part of what gives it the sterile air. You have more seats at your outside table than you do in your 'sitting room' (if you exclude the kitchen stools). Looks like an apartment for Billy No-mates.

Agree there is also very limited storage. It's actually a decent size sitting room and I actually think it would benefit from a much more substantial and attractive bookcase/storage unit than the two sub-IKEA efforts you have in the corners. In fact, the whole wallspace between them, especially to the right of the TV, looks weirdly bare. But it would be ideal for pictures or photos. You have one random painting at the back which kind of accentuates the sterile nature of the place. A rug might help as well.

Agree that the ground floor/outside situation is slightly confusing. I assume all the area within the planters is yours? That's a good outside space, but there's another shot where it looks like it's next to, essentially, a footpath around the building. That's not appealing, even if in practice it's not used much and you have some distance of separation. 

Agree that it looks like it's right on the noisy main road. When I've searched for flats, I've discounted these unless it's made very very clear early on that it's not facing the road. The picture of the front of the flats doesn't help at all - from other angles it's a nicer building - nor that of the garage.

Finally, remember that the property market is booming right now, but that is least true for city-centre flats given the demand for green outside space through Covid.

Thanks for these comments.

Yeah, I can see that the kitchen may be off-putting. If I really can't sell the flat, I could totally replace it with a better/bigger kitchen but there's not much I can really do about it for now. Is there a way I could achieve a better degree of visual separation with the current setup?

In terms of things I can do this week, I could definitely get a bigger/more comfy sofa in (maybe a 3 seater), a rug and a better bookcase/storage unit. The current ones are indeed not very good, and too small. I can put some more pictures up too.

The outside area within the planters is a communal area according to the lease, but in practice it's my area. It's a little hard to phrase it without it sounding off-putting. But it's really never been a concern the whole time I've been here. You're right about the footpath too, although it's very rarely used.

I'll definitely remove the external and garage photo, and make sure to emphasise that it's in the back part of the building.

Yes, I was hoping that the patio would give me a leg up above many of the other flats around here which have no outside space at all, but perhaps it's not enough for people post-covid!

musehead

cattie said:

Location is good so should appeal to young professionals & service charges very reasonable with a good lease length. However, internally is does seem to be lacking. The lounge looks cold & uninviting. Can't you buy a nice cheap rug & perhaps invest in an armchair or 2 or even a cheap sofa so it looks the kind of space where you can get together in comfort with friends for the evening. You could possibly pick up something decent from a charity shop to keep your costs low.

The kitchen, well it definitely looks as if the developer wanted to spend as little as possible & give the very bare basic of kitchen units. It almost looks unfinished, as if the original plan had been to have units right across the wall to where the dining table is, but that it's a job intended to be finished when you have more time or money. I live alone but couldn't cope with a mini kitchen like that.

I think too many photographs of the outside are shown, there are about 10 but not all show the best the property has to offer. Choose just a handful that really show off the outside space & get that patio looking it's best so people can see themselves out there on nice summer evenings.

Thanks, yes I can get a better sofa and rug in pretty easily although I don't think there's really enough room to fit a sofa and an armchair there... it might look quite cramped!