Purplebricks anyone?? Selling our house - help!!

[Onemoresliceofcakewonthurt]

We're looking to sell - we've had several quotes and Purplebricks are coming back at the cheapest.

Has anyone used them? Feel like I need my hand holding through this!

[Onemoresliceofcakewonthurt]

Someone must have? Feeling desperate

[WhichJob]

Don't do it! Search for old threads on here. Once they have your money upfront there is no incentive for them to sell the property. Got to dash but others will post more.

[KitKat1985]

I'm with WhichJob here. I've been on this board for a while now and there's been a lot of people complaining about the service from PurpleBricks. My advice would be try to negotiate the commission rate with a local estate agent (I managed to negotiate £500 off their fee).

[Boredboredboredboredbored]

Don't do it. Selling is only a small part of the process and one of the easiest if you live in a popular area. The rest of the process can be hard hard work, you need a very good agent on your side. PB are not that.

[scrabbler3]

The general consensus is that if your house is a non-unusual property in an area where things are selling quickly, it's worth saving money by using PB. Otherwise, an experienced high street agent is better.

Apparently, their conveyancers are inefficient so hire your own solicitor.

[jollygoose]

we found them really good and a buyer was found quickly with no problems - however use your own solicitor do not use who they recommend for conveyancing.

[tentative3]

We are selling with Purple Bricks - we got full asking price offer on our first viewing.

However, we live in a standard but recently renovated house that, if I do say so myself, is incredibly well dressed. It is in a desirable catchment area. Several other houses locally have been sold via Purple Bricks so the market is familiar with them, if you like.

The agent from PB valued our house lower than the other valuations we received but was completely fine with us putting it on at what we wanted and held his hands up when we got our offer and said he was wrong.

We are not using their conveyancers. Their admin team gave our solicitor the wrong details for the buyers' solicitors. The agent himself has been very good and has spoken to us a couple of times about some tricky situations we've had with the disasters we keep trying to buy. However, our solicitor has done some legwork that would possibly ordinarily be done by our own agent - ringing the agent of one we offered on etc. We have worked with our solicitor previously, know and trust him and he possibly does more for us than is normal as we have business connections so there is an element of maintaining a business relationship.

We had originally decided to go with a local agent. The photos were poor, the floor plan incorrect and parts of the description had been lifted completely from the details of the house when we bought it. Not only is that lazy but the details were no longer even correct after the (substantial, impossible to miss) renovation. Oh and it wasn't even them that sold it originally, they'd found the details online I assume. At that point we decided that if we were going to have to spend that much time correcting the agents, we might as well be getting a good deal on fees.

It could still all go horribly wrong for us as we're far from home and dry. On balance we're happy with our decision so far but I think it very much depends on your house/location/market. And probably the local PB agent.

[UnconsideredTrifles]

Having read threads on here, I wouldn't. We're selling through House Network, who've been fantastic - contact every week, we have a really good agent with them who is really proactive and seems really invested in getting the sale through. The price is much lower than high street and I've never yet seen negative reviews.

[Onemoresliceofcakewonthurt]

I'm so glad I posted on here now!
KitKat1985 thank you for the advice - I've been in contact with a local EA who have agreed to sell our house for £1020 including VAT, a whopping £400 cheaper than they first quoted! Looks like I'm sticking with local xx

[KitKat1985]

Ahh fab. Glad to be of help.

[CatchingBabies]

As a buyer they are a nightmare! Went to view ONE purple bricks house for sale. Took 7 phone calls to arrange the actual viewing. They rang me 4 times in an hour for feedback which put me off straight away although the house wasn't for us. Now I'm being hassled by mortgage companies and solicitors that have been given my details by purple bricks when they knew I had all that in place. I'm now avoiding any home marketed with them.

[Bizhotima4]

Purple bricks online estates - selling properties

Great to start off with. When they are signing your paperwork they tell you everything you want to hear . They don't say that you have to pay even if they don't sell your property or you're not happy , and you decide not to sell. The representative is very rude , they don't promote your house properly the people that go on the site are always looking for bargains like they are going to the market and no matter what will always look to reduce your property by 5-10% . The professionalism is really poor . Personally purple bricks is a big con and I would never ever use their service again . If your looking to get your home sold at the right value then don't go to purple bricks.

[Knittedbreasts]

We did and they were brilliant. Sold within a week both times. We used Beaumont Legal for conveyancing and they have been brilliant and very cheap

[Bizhotima4]

I'm sorry I can't believe what you have posted you could be the agent or the solicitor that they use to keep an eye on mum net to promote their service.

And if you are not. Wow. But I would never use purple bricks again . And I wouldn't recommend anyone use them at all . You're best off putting your money in your pockets I'm going to the local estate agents and getting better professional treatments

[Starlighter]

We’ve come across them while looking for a property. It’s a mixed bag. They were very quick to get back to us at first and the agents were very flexible in terms of booking viewings. They want you through the door asap!

But most knew nothing about the particulars of the properties and everything felt a bit like guesswork. They were also rubbish at getting back to emails and slow getting back with the nitty gritty details and general area info.

[Knittedbreasts]

Was that aimed at me biz? I don't mind if it was but I can assure you that I am not an agent! I'm a bit shocked at the reviews on here about purple bricks because my experience of them has been great. We chose not to use their conveyancing as we heard it was shit but using them just as an ea has been great for us.

[HuneyBee74]

Don't!

I used to work for an estate agents and we would collectively groan when we found out a seller in a chain was going through Purple Bricks.

I could tell you off hand of around 10 chains (my own included btw!) where the chain collapsed / came close to collapsing because of their utter ineptness.

In the case of my own chain, it literally almost collapsed at the eleventh hour because two sellers above me (using Purple Bricks) had their searches done on THE WRONG HOUSE!!

The chain came very close to collapsing with movers booked, surveys paid for etc and it was unbelievably stressful.

Don't go there!!

[Hellohello45]

I was initially scared off using Purple Bricks after reading threads and reviews. So I went with a traditional estate agent.

The viewers I got via the trad estate agent (and I got a huge amount of viewers) came and said things like “oh I don’t like this part of town”, or complained about things that my property didn’t have that was clear from the floorplan / listing.

I decided that the trad agents were dragging people in who weren’t actually that interested in it. It was SUCH a waste of time.

I eventually got an offer £50k less the asking price and the agent got really aggressive with me when I refused it, saying my property was a hard sell etc etc.

I took it off, waited a couple of months, then went with Purplebricks. I got two asking price offers almost immediately. Everyone who came to see it (WAY, WAY fewer viewers than the trad agents were able to get) already liked it from the listing on Rightmove, they were pretty serious about it from the start.

Purplebricks did try to persuade me to put the property on for less than I wanted, but let me put whatever price I was after (the same price the trad agent had it on at). I also didn’t like the photos, so I took my own (I am a photographer).

I will probably never use a trad agent to sell again. Depends on circumstance, of course, but I much prefer this model. I did the viewings myself, also. And still get on with the person who bought my old place.

I just bought a property via a trad agent and felt manipulated, pushed and harassed by them.

I think Purple Bricks prob only work well if you live in an area that’s in high demand, though.

[Hellohello45]

(I didn’t use their conveyencers though!)

[Hellohello45]

Also should add that I think Purplebricks only works really well if YOU are happy to take on the work.

You do the viewings, you reply to viewers, etc etc.

The control was what I liked about it, to be honest. I was doing the work (apart from the initial write up, which you have the option to change, and the photos of course), but you’re spending way less. And it isn’t that hard to show a few people round and reply to their emails.

[wowfudge]

I must admit @Knittedbreasts, I was at your post because not only did you say how good PB were, but also Beaumont Legal! You may be the only customer to have received decent service from both these firms as the net is full of terrible reviews for both of them.

Our buyers used a different online agent to sell their house and our EA, a specialist sales progressor, did a lot of the work their EA should have done to keep the chain together.

[Knittedbreasts]

Oh. Well igors at Beaumont is excellent if you can get him. As is nick at purple bricks or at least they have been for us.