Selling a Retirement Flat

exe76

Hi, just looking for some advice / suggestions

My Mum passed away in 2022. We listed her flat in late 2022 - it was originally purchased for £330,000.00 - as it's a retirement flat in a really nice complex, it was more for her safety and security than an investment, so no problem at all with the value dropping.

It's still on with 2 agents, for £290,000.00-£300,000.00

We aren't getting any interest - whilst I appreciate retirement properties are notoriously hard to move on, the monthly council tax is now >£500,00 and service charges >£6,000.00pa which is ridiculous and not sustainable. 

Wondering if anyone else has any suggestions?

Thank you, 

Brie

Is there any possibility the local council might take it for social housing for someone elderly?  

mebu60

Offer to pay first year's service charge if you get full asking price? 

ognum

exe76 said:

Hi, just looking for some advice / suggestions

My Mum passed away in 2022. We listed her flat in late 2022 - it was originally purchased for £330,000.00 - as it's a retirement flat in a really nice complex, it was more for her safety and security than an investment, so no problem at all with the value dropping.

It's still on with 2 agents, for £290,000.00-£300,000.00

We aren't getting any interest - whilst I appreciate retirement properties are notoriously hard to move on, the monthly council tax is now >£500,00 and service charges >£6,000.00pa which is ridiculous and not sustainable. 

Wondering if anyone else has any suggestions?

Thank you, 

A couple of months ago there was a post from a guy trying to sell his deceased mothers retirement flat.   He even tried to give it away without success.  These flats have a very limited market, not many elderly have a spare £6K for service charges and he was required to keep paying them despite no one living there.

If it was me I would cut my losses and the price of the flat drastically, put it up for £200k.

GDB2222

ognum said:

exe76 said:

Hi, just looking for some advice / suggestions

My Mum passed away in 2022. We listed her flat in late 2022 - it was originally purchased for £330,000.00 - as it's a retirement flat in a really nice complex, it was more for her safety and security than an investment, so no problem at all with the value dropping.

It's still on with 2 agents, for £290,000.00-£300,000.00

We aren't getting any interest - whilst I appreciate retirement properties are notoriously hard to move on, the monthly council tax is now >£500,00 and service charges >£6,000.00pa which is ridiculous and not sustainable. 

Wondering if anyone else has any suggestions?

Thank you, 

A couple of months ago there was a post from a guy trying to sell his deceased mothers retirement flat.   He even tried to give it away without success.  These flats have a very limited market, not many elderly have a spare £6K for service charges and he was required to keep paying them despite no one living there.

If it was me I would cut my losses and the price of the flat drastically, put it up for £200k.

Obviously, nobody here can advise the OP on the correct price. But, I agree that it makes sense to cut the price heavily enough to tempt a buyer fairly quickly. If it's been on the market for over a year at £290k+, then you know that that price is too high, probably far too high. 

ognum

GDB2222 said:

ognum said:

exe76 said:

Hi, just looking for some advice / suggestions

My Mum passed away in 2022. We listed her flat in late 2022 - it was originally purchased for £330,000.00 - as it's a retirement flat in a really nice complex, it was more for her safety and security than an investment, so no problem at all with the value dropping.

It's still on with 2 agents, for £290,000.00-£300,000.00

We aren't getting any interest - whilst I appreciate retirement properties are notoriously hard to move on, the monthly council tax is now >£500,00 and service charges >£6,000.00pa which is ridiculous and not sustainable. 

Wondering if anyone else has any suggestions?

Thank you, 

A couple of months ago there was a post from a guy trying to sell his deceased mothers retirement flat.   He even tried to give it away without success.  These flats have a very limited market, not many elderly have a spare £6K for service charges and he was required to keep paying them despite no one living there.

If it was me I would cut my losses and the price of the flat drastically, put it up for £200k.

Obviously, nobody here can advise the OP on the correct price. But, I agree that it makes sense to cut the price heavily enough to tempt a buyer fairly quickly. If it's been on the market for over a year at £290k+, then you know that that price is too high, probably far too high. 

I totally agree, I believe though that the selling on of these retirement properties is difficult with a limited market.  There is a block a couple of miles from my home, it was built about 5 years ago.  They have still not sold all the flats, at present 70% sold.  Retail the prices are considerably down from purchase.

We live in an affluent area where seniors could/should be able to afford the service charges but they won't pay.  

GDB2222

ognum said:

GDB2222 said:

ognum said:

exe76 said:

Hi, just looking for some advice / suggestions

My Mum passed away in 2022. We listed her flat in late 2022 - it was originally purchased for £330,000.00 - as it's a retirement flat in a really nice complex, it was more for her safety and security than an investment, so no problem at all with the value dropping.

It's still on with 2 agents, for £290,000.00-£300,000.00

We aren't getting any interest - whilst I appreciate retirement properties are notoriously hard to move on, the monthly council tax is now >£500,00 and service charges >£6,000.00pa which is ridiculous and not sustainable. 

Wondering if anyone else has any suggestions?

Thank you, 

A couple of months ago there was a post from a guy trying to sell his deceased mothers retirement flat.   He even tried to give it away without success.  These flats have a very limited market, not many elderly have a spare £6K for service charges and he was required to keep paying them despite no one living there.

If it was me I would cut my losses and the price of the flat drastically, put it up for £200k.

Obviously, nobody here can advise the OP on the correct price. But, I agree that it makes sense to cut the price heavily enough to tempt a buyer fairly quickly. If it's been on the market for over a year at £290k+, then you know that that price is too high, probably far too high. 

I totally agree, I believe though that the selling on of these retirement properties is difficult with a limited market.  There is a block a couple of miles from my home, it was built about 5 years ago.  They have still not sold all the flats, at present 70% sold.  Retail the prices are considerably down from purchase.

We live in an affluent area where seniors could/should be able to afford the service charges but they won't pay.  

My daughter's parents in law moved into a retirement flat, and it was very good for them. They moved from a house, and the flat was quite small in comparison. On the other hand, there were extensive communal areas downstairs, and a restaurant where they could have lunch. They made friends with people in the block, and they avoided the social isolation that often comes with increasing physical infirmity. 

That’s the plus side. The minus side is that a lot of the companies running these flats are rather grasping. For example, they often take a percentage of the sale price when a flat is sold on. And, of course, the service charges are high. 

daveyjp

What are similar flats which don't have retirement restriction selling for?  It needs to be priced with that in mind.  

I can pick up a modern 2 bed retirement flat in a local town for £100-150k, a similar open market flat is £200k+.