AIBU to not want husband to use Purple Brick to sell our house?

[LittleMG]

So I don’t really know why, but I feel worried about selling our house using Purple Bricks instead of a regular agent. You have to pay if you don’t sell £800 odd and I’m worried we won’t sell and will end up losing our money and having to sell with a normal agent anyway. AIBU? Has anyone got really good things to say about them? Cheers.

Nobody should be getting stung by Purple Bricks, your solicitors should be dealing with all financial matters re selling and buying. Make sure that you are using a good solicitor. PB are just a selling agent (which to be fair, you could do yourself anyway.)

*ALL estate agents are terrible crooks
*
^this.

As if such a thing exists. ALL estate agents are terrible crooks

The local ones we used did an excellent job of selling our house given it didn't have much going for it and there were lots of better houses for sale in the area. I was, frankly, amazed at the number of viewings and, more importantly, the number of offers we had. She certainly earned her commission!

As a buyer, I found it difficult to arrange viewings of houses on Purple Bricks and won’t bother trying now if a house is on with them

We had a dreadful time with Purple Brick solicitors. They dragged and dragged. Our solicitors were much cheaper and far better

I wouldn’t use purple bricks. If you even get an offer, they’ll not want to continue marketing in case you get a higher offer. Decent agents go the extra mile and you can often gain money far above the percentage you pay them.

Following with interest!

@LittleMG......just my 2 pence worth, having brought and sold 2 houses with purplebricks.....the agent for my area is faultless. Truly brilliant. Attentive and always on the ball. We decided to do our own viewings and feedback was people preferred that as any questions we could answer straight away. I suppose every area is different and perhaps where you are PB arent seen as any good. We found them great and the portal is good too. Personal choice I suppose though.

Also, when we were looking for new houses the first place we go is rightmove and zoopla. I don't look at the agent unless I want a phone number to book a viewing so I really think in 2019 the agent selling the property is becoming irrelevant. Not only that why pay 1% or 1.5%, potentially several thousand rather than a 1 off fee of a lot less. Again personal choice and all depends how popular PB are in your area of the country.

I used them. Sold house to an acquaintance. So we did all the work. Paid £800 and saved myself £6.5k

1 final thing do not under any circumstances use their conveyance company.....they are useless!

Oh but it would have only been £300 if we had gone with their solicitor. Definitely not. Happy to have paid more to use our own.

SAHD see I hated viewings with the vendor! You feel in the way and like you can't be honest or look properly!

How true this is I don't know, but I've heard that after a few months regardless of wether or not your house has sold Purple Bricks take a fee of a £900.

@SeasideSoul just go and knock on the vendors door and say you've been trying to view and potentially buy their home for 2 week. Surely that would work? And make them realise how shit PB are.

Oh no, we've just had an offer accepted on a PB house (first time buyers) and decided to use their conveyancers. Are they really terrible??

I've not really heard anything good enough about purple bricks that would drive me to use them over a well established local agent.

They cost costs and this is reflected in the service sellers and buyers get.

They always seem to be like the estate agency version of that "travel counsellor" scheme that's popping up everywhere now. Ostensibly a big parent brand/resource, but actual individual service is pretty piss poor.

I haven't used them - but if I see a house up with Purple Bricks, I do assume that the vendors are using PB because they are cheap. It would put me off a bit.

You have to pay the fee whether you sell or not. With an EA, no sale no fee usually.

The photos they use are truly awful, it’s like a 4 year old takes them.

Just don't. They are impossible to arrange viewings through much better options out there

@Usuallyinthemiddle.....agreed, it can be awkward. When we had people viewing our house I showed them in, shows them the basics and left them to look around by themselves whilst I sat in the garden (whilst the sun was out obviously) then answered any questions they had. It's not for everyone though but we never had any problems getting viewings and the portal allows you to manage it all yourself.

@ChicCroissant.....we paid £1300 had a stram of viewings 3 offers on the table and sold within 3 weeks. I know its area dependant but why pay over £5000 to an mainstream EA when PB did the same job for a fraction of the cost.

Based on my one and only experience of trying to arrange a single viewing of one flat... I'd never do it. Never did get to see that flat.

I always assume that a PB seller is going to screw me for every penny and won't accept an offer. Our local estate agent is very far from a crook.

@applepineapple.....Ezzi I think they are called?! We chose not to use them as our PB agent said not too. We did have a complex sale tbh so that may have been a deciding factor in his advise. That said I haven't heard many positive things about them unfortunately. Sorry

I tried to view a house through purple bricks and could never get hold of anybody, three times I tried!

I think it's clear it's a mixed bag reviews. I can only go by our experience both buying and selling using them. It may well be area dependent and perhaps we are just lucky to have a great EA with PB in our area.