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

Crashy_Time

Poster_586329 said:

Crashy_Time said:

theoretica said:

Flat 21 sold last year for £370k and its new 2005 price was £228k.  What was the 2005 price for yours?  £250k?  That would give an equivalent 2020 price of £405k.

The economic outlook is way worse than 2005 though?

Maybe, but the demand (and the general amount of money swilling around looking for an investment) remains higher.

Many would say demand for this type of property is now lower due to Covid (I would say it is just the price) and if the printed money starts to cause inflation mortgage rates are going to be pushed up causing even more need for price drops.

LAD917

At minimum, the patio should say "undemised" if you include it on the floor plan. 

This is a complicated situation because your photos and listing description are heavily marketing the outdoor space, which is undemised and to which others have (theoretical) access. I've seen similar listings, where the best part of the sale was undemised outdoor space that others could access, linger and in some cases have several offers fall through. This is the type of situation that solicitors will be flagging in big, bold red letters, and buyers may not accept it in a slow market.  Your best feature becomes a liability.

I'd echo the advice about seeing if you could get a deed of variation or similar from the freeholder that gives you sole use of this space.  

If you can't, you need to figure out how to market it. Buyers probably aren't sure what to make of the current listing. The photos and floor plan make the patio look private. Then there's a bullet about it being communal. In practice, it's somewhere in between. I'd say access to undemised patio (v. communal) and explain "Patio is undemised, but ground floor units each use the patio area outside their respective units as de facto private space."

A complicated situation like this also doesn't lend itself well to an online brokerage. The high street agencies will likely be able to do a better job of figuring out how to market the patio and how to get buyers comfortable with the situation.

The other issue is that buyers may not be sure that your second bedroom can comfortably fit a bed. I echo what others have said about putting a double bed in there, at least for listing photos. You can get an aerobed - there are some that also have a blow-up base. A two-bed property I just sold had one very, very small irregular bedroom. I had a double bed in mine and it sold near-instantly.  Although the room is small, buyers were reassured they could fit a bed and a desk.  A neighbour had hers as a dressing room, and ultimately took hers off the market after only very low offers in line with one bedrooms.

Better furniture will help, too.

Crashy_Time

Even with a private patio...half a million pounds? Start lowering the price and let buyers figure out for themselves who can use the patio IMO.

theoretica

I think you have too many photographs - especially of the outside, path, parking.  Image 4 looks like it mostly shows your sofa - with the kitchen at its worst in the background.  Images 12 and 13 make the 2nd bedroom look small and don't add anything positive to image 11.

deannagone

I think there are some difficulties with attracting buyers.  All have been mentioned but I posted because I wanted to emphasise that the kitchen area needs to be made bigger (more cupboards along the wall where the table is). I'd try to find a couple of matching base units (shouldn't be too hard) and install them.  This can be done on a DIY basis (consult Youtube if you haven't done this before).   I think rather than taking the flooring up, I'd buy either a very very large rug or carpet a designated lounge area as the cheapest way of seperating the two areas.  

Definitely throw that horrible sofa out immediately (apologies, but I really can't see how you left it there for so long lol, its an offense to humanity lolol).  Get a larger one.  Not many children buying flats at that price!

Also agree with the idea of putting a bed in the smallest bedroom.  Just temporarily.

And agree with suggestions that this is not a flat to offer through an online agent.  It needs the personal touch.

The similar 'upstairs' flat shown in another post looks like it has a 'proper' kitchen.  Obviously its a different layout but I suspect you need to make your flat look similar as much as you can.  At the moment it doesn't really look cared for. You need to make your flat look desirable, something they 'must' look at.  The patio area is an advantage (if you can get over the complications because it is designated officially a communal area but quite obviously the developer has set it up as a sole use area).  I suspect the multiple outside area photos were the photographers attempts to make up for the shortcomings inside the property.  Reduce those short comings as much as you can.

If you are trying to sell your property for $500k, or even something near that, you need to make it worth looking at, and buying.  It isn't right now.  

Apologies for the 'hard talk'.  

RoisinDove

Steve57 said:

All UK house prices and especially London are a work of fiction and have nothing to do with the economic cost of building them. Supply and demand is driven mostly by demand which of course included bank lending as part of the demand equation, supply is nearly always short which is part of the reason for obscene house prices. London has had a lot of people leave in the last year or so thanks to brexit and covid19 so for once in history since WW2 the population has fallen.  Hopefully something good will happen for all of us causing house prices to drop to less than half of what they now sell for, and that doesn't have to be a financial collapse, but perhaps sensible lending practices and less handouts from the government. Most of you will appreciate a fall in prices which will help you buy your first tiny flat (like this one) or move to a bigger house to do a family in (now impossible in or around London for real people)  And by the way, the service charges are obscene and no doubt tied to some parasite management company.  A flat like this should be the preseve of a median paid, first time buyer, income circa £30k and single (as this flat is far too small for a couple) however the asking price is over 16x a gross £30k salary. 

Indeed...to give some perspective, I'm a single person on over twice the salary you quoted and could never afford to buy this flat. I'm struggling to get one in the 280-300K range, after over a decade of full time work and trying to save. 

Crashy_Time

Don`t waste time shuffling photos around on an agent`s website, the SD holiday will end at some point, and mortgage rates may rise, cut the price and get ahead of the competition if you really want to sell, people will work out very quickly what the flat really is they won`t be tricked by lenses or moving furniture about.

Crashy_Time

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/29/leaseholders-horrified-after-final-vote-on-10bn-fire-safety-costs

Can`t see this helping London flats?

keiratea

Crashy, don't you think there is a bit of a minimum floor on the price due to benefits?

Wandsworth Council will pay £350/week of Local Housing Allowance for a 2 bed flat ( www.wandsworth.gov.uk/local-housing-allowance ), so funnily enough you'll rarely see properties rent for less than £1500/month (350 x 52 / 12).

e.g. very nearby - www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86118322#/

Landlords seem to be happy to accept as little as 4% gross return atm (still beats savings!), so 1500 x 12 x 25 gives £450K as a reasonable price for a landlord.

GDB2222

keiratea said:

Crashy, don't you think there is a bit of a minimum floor on the price due to benefits?

Wandsworth Council will pay £350/week of Local Housing Allowance for a 2 bed flat ( www.wandsworth.gov.uk/local-housing-allowance ), so funnily enough you'll rarely see properties rent for less than £1500/month (350 x 52 / 12).

e.g. very nearby - www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86118322#/

Landlords seem to be happy to accept as little as 4% gross return atm (still beats savings!), so 1500 x 12 x 25 gives £450K as a reasonable price for a landlord.

4% is pretty thin. By the time you have factored in voids, repairs, agents fees, etc., the income is probably down to 2%. 

The FTSE 100 yield is 3%, and you get that with no effort at all. I have no idea which will give the greater capital growth in the future.