Why aren’t we getting more viewings? Honest feedback welcome

Gonk1967

It's definitely a buyers market at the moment, we're looking to move but we need to sell a flat first to top up our savings for the deposit and other expenses. We've noticed a lot of the houses we've been looking at have reduced in price quite considerably and are still struggling. The flat we're selling has been completely redecorated with new flooring throughout, but not had any viewings yet, but then it is quite niche being an over 55s/retirement flat.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82147028#Comment_82147028

There are many threads on the forum about the difficulties of selling retirement flats. So I imagine in a very slow market for flats generally, you could be in for a long wait unfortunately.

If it was bought new, the drop in price needed to sell could be eye watering, unless it is in a very sought after development/location.

Gonk1967

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82147167#Comment_82147167

The complex was built in 1987. The flat (ground floor) was bought in 2016 for £105K, we've got in on the market for £120K. There is another similar flat in the complex that was put on at £120K but has since been reduced to £115K, however they have not redecorated or re-floored. There are a couple of one bed first floor flats that have been on the market for a long time, but the complex hasn't got any lifts so no surprise really.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82147175#Comment_82147175

Coincidentally new thread posted today.

Warning for families named as beneficiaries or executors of estates involving retirement properties — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Gonk1967

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82147302#Comment_82147302

Thanks for the link but we were aware of the ongoing costs (approx. £290 per month (which is probably peanuts compared to the likes on McCarthy Stone) including service charges, electric, and water) and the estate has more than enough to cover that for at least a couple of years even with the costs of redecorating and new carpets etc.

Both the EA and conveyancer we have engaged are familiar with the owners of the freehold and management company so hopefully there shouldn't be any hiccups there.

pointer77

I tend to agree with most people on here, the decor is to a certain taste.

People tend to walk in and the first thing they think "It needs decorating" which is a lot of work in a two storey house. You're then hoping for someone who doesn't mind a bit of decorating whereas these days, most people just want to move in. It's narrowing your audience quite a lot.

We have a 3-Bed semi in Norfolk which didn't sell last year. We took it off the market and magnolia'd all the feature walls we had as well as some other minor improvements, re-listed this year and it sold within a week.

Worth a thought….

HouseHuntingAmy

Buyer currently searching here, so the honest view from the other side of Rightmove. The first filter is brutal and invisible to sellers: price bands. At £400k you sit just above everyone searching "up to £400k" and your listing never reaches them at all. £399,950 is a silly number but it puts you in front of two bands of buyers instead of one. The second filter is the photo grid, and from what others describe you are losing people there - buyers scroll fast, and anything ambiguous (is that parking ours? where is the garden? is the garage attached?) becomes a skip rather than an enquiry. I would reorder so the first five photos answer parking, garden, kitchen, the best living space and a sense of the square footage, and put the garage-block reality plainly in the description - being upfront costs you nothing because people find out at the viewing anyway. On the three-storey issue, stop apologising for it and aim it. Three bathrooms plus work-from-home space is a specific household - multigenerational, teenagers, or professional sharers - and the description should say "works brilliantly for X" rather than hoping people work it out themselves. And put the square footage in the first two lines: your real competition is the semis at similar money nearby, and space per pound is the one comparison where you clearly win. The neutral cupboards were the right move; the next wins are free.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82149275#Comment_82149275

And put the square footage in the first two lines: your real competition is the semis at similar money nearby, and space per pound is the one comparison where you clearly win. 

From looking at the floor plans in the Right Move link, I do not really see any solid evidence for this statement. If anything the 107 M2 is a bit on the lower side compared to the ( mainly extended ) semis.

HouseHuntingAmy

Fair challenge, and you are right to check - I took the listing floor-area framing at face value rather than pacing it against the actual competition, and if the nearby semis are extended then 107m2 is not the win I made it sound. The bit I would stand by is the underlying one: the description needs one concrete, verifiable comparison where this house comes out ahead, in the first two lines, because buyers scrolling Rightmove compare numbers before they compare anything else. If square footage is not it, then it has to be something else specific - three bathrooms is genuinely rare at that price point, and so is a layout that gives a household two or three proper work-from-home corners. Whatever the winning number is, it should be the headline, and the weaker points should not be apologised for, just left out of the first paragraph. And credit for reading the floor plan itself - that is exactly the level of scrutiny the OP should assume every serious buyer applies.