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Original poster

Has anyone sold with Purple Bricks? Are they as good as a regular estate agent?

47 replies

KitKat1985 · 03/07/2017 08:57

Hi. Just that really. Am due to put our house on the market in the next couple of weeks, and was wondering about using Purple Bricks as they would potentially be a lot cheaper, but am a bit anxious that they might not be as good as a regular estate agent. Has anyone used them and could tell me their experiences? TIA.

OP posts:

pumpkin17 · 03/07/2017 09:18

We did and actually buying through Purple Bricks currently, too.

Had no issues at all, and in fact other houses in our area not been up for longer and not sold. I believe it being online & being able to book viewings 24/7 has been a positive.

Only thing I would say is shop around for conveyancers. We just went with theirs and they're not great & also cost over the odds.

SpikyCoconut · 03/07/2017 09:19

I have. They were fine, no complaints at all.

UrsulaPandress · 03/07/2017 09:20

I googled them and found loads of negative feedback.

hiddenmnetter · 03/07/2017 09:30

Haven't sold with them but our vendor is using purple bricks.

Agent is good as gold, vendors less so.

Purple bricks means you do more work yourself: showing the house etc. Also sometimes people are uncomfortable being shown the house by the vendor. You can't openly criticise things like decor etc. (Maybe pretend to not be owner like a sibling or something?)

I would use purple bricks in the future, but only if my house was standard or normal. An unusual house with unique features would probably require a marketing strategy of some kind rather than just the old "photos and put on Rightmove", which is all our EA did.

Our vendors also didn't realise that when signing with purple bricks they were obliged to use a purple bricks solicitor and had instructed someone else. The agent once she realised got them back on track but it certainly made things slow down for a little.

Otherwise it was all fine. The messaging system and offer/counter offer was ungainly but we muddled through in the end.

SirRodneyEffing · 03/07/2017 10:15

I came on here to ask the same question about Purplebricks. I'm not sure about the upfront payment thing, where is the motivation for them to actually market my house? Or if they went out of business I guess I wouldn't get a refund. Their email does say the payment could be deferred for 10 months, but that ties you in to their conveyancer, but no mention of their charges.

I think I've just talked myself out using them

badgercat · 03/07/2017 10:55

I've had a bit of up and down with purplebricks, the agent who came round took fantastic pictures and gave me so many pointers on how to market the house. You have the option to pay £200 odd for them to do viewings for you which in hindsight would have been less stressful for me.

We sold within the first week of being on sale - however this is one of the downs with Pb, my buyer decided he probably should sell his house first 3 weeks into the process. Pb couldnt have predicted this however they didnt spot it either I only found out by chance.

we went back on the market and sold again within a month, this time the new buyer hasnt instructed his solicitors 3 weeks in and only by my pestering EVERYBODY was i able to get an answer. I cant fault them when i do call, however it seems no one is following the progress of the sale from their end.

The solicitors they use so far have been faultless, good value and communication is great.

I'm still happy we saved ourselves 3 grand over using a local estate agents but you need to be able to do some of the legwork yourself which may not suit some.

Original poster

KitKat1985 · 03/07/2017 13:32

Hi. Thank you for your replies. I'm a bit anxious about doing viewings myself I must say. I think I'd rather pay the supplement and have them do it. I'd be worried like a PP said that it would make viewers uncomfortable too. I don't mind doing some of the work though as I'm on mat leave currently so have a bit more free time to do stuff. I didn't realise we'd have to use a PB solicitor though.

OP posts:

badgercat · 03/07/2017 13:59

You only have to use their solicitors if you take up the deferred payment option, so either pay upfront or defer for 10 months/pay on completion of sale

I like the solicitors, fee for selling was in the region of £600 i think, you need your own printer though as they send all the documents to you via an online portal for you to print off and return.

Doing your own viewings is okay when they are genuinely interested but its a bit soul destroying when they clearly just fancied a day out and had nothing better to do !

NosyJosey · 03/07/2017 14:05

The things is you pay whether they sell it or not. If you then decide to go multi agency and the other agent sells it, you've got both sets of fees to cover (agent 2 also being hired under multi agency contract). I've also never had replies to viewing requests. I can't say this wasn't the vendor ignoring the message, but you never know when there isn't a person to ask.

I know someone who sold one house with them, then tried to sell a second one and got nowhere and ended up multi agency. It's a hard one to call for me.

NosyJosey · 03/07/2017 14:06

I totally thought I'd posted that comment three hours ago

drummergirl34 · 03/07/2017 14:11

As a buyer, here's my feedback:

In the early days of PB, I think the sellers themselves wrote the descriptions, that's seem to now be replaced by 'agents' who write them. The descriptions are pathetic and are along the lines "OPPORTuNITY - look at this great house, instant viewings, it's a great home and ready to move in". and that's it.

online support is fantastic and quick

if you want to ask a question about a property, you have to book a viewing first. If you contact support they give you the agent's email...

teh agents are pathetic, all they want to do is turn up and open doors for viewings - answer questions? no. I've emailed 2 after being given their address by support, both never replied. I complained to the online support, and got a response later that day from both. I sent a reply to one of the agents, and some 3 weeks later, still no reply. I complained to the online support (who turned out to be the same person that I originally complained to) and they escalated it.

some properties have 2 photos presumably because the agent just can't be arsed.

TBH, they're now as bad as agents who lie and want to do the minimum amount of work for that commission.

ShowOfHands · 03/07/2017 14:12

We had them round to value a property and they got it very wrong indeed. The chap didn't seem to know the area at all and was not pleasant either. He would only speak to DH. Might have been a one off but I wouldn't use them again.

thirtyplusone · 03/07/2017 14:35

I think it's worth saying that EA fees are totally negotiable. I just bent the arm of ours down from 1% to 0.4% which will only end up being a few hundred pounds more than PB and with that we will get the local knowledge, databases and an office I can park myself in if things don't get done . They are competing for your business so do push them to get the most out of the deal you can.

LuxuryWoman2017 · 03/07/2017 15:44

I sold my house with Purple Bricks with no issue, it was though the kind of house ( spacious 3 bed Victorian, town centre, great condition) that gets snapped up.
I was very confident about doing the viewings myself and enjoyed it.

I would never use them for selling anything a bit different e.g. a listed property, riverside or anything a bit different.

The solicitors were fine if a bit slow, I have bought and sold several times so know what to expect and rough timeframes.

It saved me thousands but you are a bit 'on your own' so if you're not used to selling I'd have a rethink as you do have to pay after 10 months sold or not.

EmmaJR1 · 03/07/2017 15:50

My in laws got a valuation with purple bricks and ward and partners. Purple bricks valued it at £160k. Ward and partners valued it at £180k - it sold for £190k...
I'd get a couple of valuations to be on the safe side, they seemed quite lazy in their efforts IMO,

ShowOfHands · 03/07/2017 16:38

We had the same completely inaccurate pricing "guess" Emma. The house sold a week later for 40% more than their valuation.

chalkyc2 · 04/07/2017 00:04

I'm not particularly loving buying through them right now....and again as a buyer when I see a house is with an online agent it actually puts me off going to see it!
The only good thing is the direct message system - mostly because the agents seem to be rubbish.

xandersmom2 · 04/07/2017 07:15

As a buyer I found them flippin' useless, DH and i got to the point where we didn't even bother going to look at houses listed with them any more.

Their central office doesn't know details about houses (how could they?!) and their local agent, at least round here, doesn't respond to messages asking for more details about a house you might be interested in.

We viewed one, sent a message for more info, after a week chased through central office and nothing, finally got a response to some of my queries after i found out my hairdresser knew the local agent's Mum and emailed her for me (how ridiculous, but.....). I responded and said 'thanks, you just didn't answer this question here' (which was "what is the vendor's position, have they found their new home?" - rather important when you're considering buying a place) and never got a response. So we moved on and are buying somewhere else. That house is still on the market and village gossip says they haven't had any offers - wonder why??!

Also - the other 2 houses on with PB in the village vbeen on for months. Both reduced their price substantially, twice. Both now also have a high street agent sign up as well.....

badgercat · 04/07/2017 07:20

Why didn't you contact the vendor directly xandersmom2 ?

xandersmom2 · 04/07/2017 08:24

badgercat - they had the 'message seller' button online set to be the agent rather than the seller.

We could have gone round and knocked on the door but I'm sure they didn't want that - they didn't even do their own viewings. I wouldn't want a potential buyer knocking on my door out of the blue. The vendors are in their 80's and the wife has dementia, so....

badgercat · 04/07/2017 08:54

ah, I see.

That really was the benefit for us using Purplebricks, around 80% of our viewings were booked of an evening when most estate agents would be closed, I could also get messages directly.

They definitely wont be suitable for anyone who wants to just sit back and let someone else do all the hardwork

Diamondeye26 · 26/08/2017 19:43

Once you pay they leave you to it. It's actually better for you to pay upfront if you choose to go with them. As the deferred option means you have to use their solicitors or pay 360 to choose your own

Nan0second · 26/08/2017 19:47

House simple is a lot better (who we used - I don't work for them!)
You don't pay until house is sold, you don't have to use their solicitors unless you want to (we didn't), they send a professional photographer round and you write your own blurb.
They chased our buyers and really pushed the sale. They were like a typical estate agent but only cost me £500.
As above we did have a standard 3 bed house in a fairly sought after area so we knew it would sell easily (and it did!)

Viviennemary · 26/08/2017 19:51

I'm not thinking of selling any time soon. But I've seen the advert. Don't think I'd use them. Negative feedback people mention is a bit concerning. Maybe people who aren't really committed to selling use them because they're cheap. They do sound a bit useless it must be said.

Dailystuck71 · 26/08/2017 20:48

Take a look st the recent article on watchdog. That was quite an eye opener. They have no incentive to do anything for you once you've paid them upfront. By deferring you are entering into a credit agreement with a third party and have to use their solicitors at an inflated cost.

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