Agent or purple bricks etc?

[WingingWonder]

House going on market
Same valuation ish from local agent I’ve used before who is good, but expensive
Have viewed with purple bricks a few times and liked the ease of text etc
There are also people like yopa
Has anyone sold with either of the latter, how was it?
There is £4.5k difference ....
Market near us is going well
Thanks

PB quality depends on the agent, if you’re tied it to using their conveyancing service that’ll be an issue for a lot of buyers.

Will you be doing your own viewings?

We were happy with Doorsteps - paid £200 instead of the £2000+ quoted by the local agent.

We did our own viewings and gave our contact details to viewers so we didn't have to rely on Doorsteps to manage offers; it worked really well for a straightforward house in a popular area!

I have to say, I don't think we would view or offer on a property listed with purple bricks unless we were desperate or we absolutely loved the house on right move. It just screams "we are trying to cut corners on costs" and wouldn't fill me with confidence that the sellers had taken due diligence in looking after the house. Have to be honest!

PB is cheap and it’s a cheaper service. You don’t get the chasing up that agents do and holding deals together. Also very good houses that are unique are rarely PB. Estate houses that at all the same - won’t matter so much.

A neighbour is trying to sell by PB. Well known in the village for being a bit careful with money! House needs modernising and is consequently overpriced. It only has a front garden. I think I know what will happen - not expecting it to sell any time soon.

We used local estate agent for our house sale.
Personally it was worth the money with two toddlers I wouldn't have been able to do viewings as well as the cleaning beforehand.

I also wonder if it would make it awkward for a potential buyer having the home owner there showing them around they can't really say what they think where as with an agent they can say what they want there and then and also if they aren't interested in the property they can tell the agent straight away.

If you've got time to show people around and aren't worried then go for what's best for you.

We used Purplebricks and did our own viewings (which was more convenient for us). We also achieve more than the "max" price other agents wanted to list at (PB do have a tendency to price high). Currently going through the process and my only niggle is I wish the agent would leave us alone and let the solicitors get on with it. Not sure I would use them in a less buoyant area (we sold in 3 weeks).

@MrsJamin really interesting about what you're saying about it looking as though people are cutting corners.

Purple bricks really depends on the local agent. We've tried to view several purple bricks properties but the agent in that particular area is a bit useless so found it difficult. If you are doing the viewings yourselves, it's much easier. This has been true with some highsteet agents as well though, so it's not an exclusively PB issue.

We bought our current house with purple bricks in another area different area and much preferred the interface of it all over the traditional set up (have to constantly phone during working hours)

You can do everything online 24/7 such as arranging viewings and making offers. You can also chat directly with the seller/buyer. This made it really good for keeping the conveyancing process on track as rather than wait for solicitor replies we'd just chat directly with the house owner to get the info we needed.

I think there is an element of snobbery about PB with a lot of people but if you have a good local agent and have your own solicitor then frankly it's a hell of a lot of money saved if you sell with them.

If .... being the word. Some properties will clearly sell but others that need effort or are overpriced may not.

There is an assumption that people selling with PB have cut corners on maintaining their property and also that they're tight and won't negotiate on price. Neither necessarily true....also some people don't like being shown by the vendor.

I sold 3 times with purple bricks, all over asking and in under 2 weeks (london) was totally fine.
maybe depends where you are.

We used PB, because it saved us £6k in fees. And during lockdown we were home to manage viewings anyway.
Just because it saved us money doesn’t mean we didn’t look after our house! Nor do we cut corners. It just meant 6k in the pot to do up the renovation project we are buying.

I liked PB for ease of arranging viewings. Our local agent was pretty good.
However their after sales service is rubbish. It goes to a central call centre type set up. We paid for an excellent local solicitor to make sure it all went smoothly - do not use PB online conveyancers!

The man reason I went with a traditional agent was the agent is chasing the commission. We had a young guy who got the sale through just before Christmas. He was worth every penny!

I bought with them and disliked having direct contact with the vendor. They make you share contact details and the vendor messaged a lot which was annoying. I'd have preferred the buffer of the estate agent.

We went with the agent who did the most business in the area. We live in a very defined area and one agent sells 90% of the houses. I was very glad we went with him as he really knew his stuff when it came to emphasising the good points of ours compared to others in the area. It's still a tough market round here and I think he did a good job of marketing it. I think some houses and areas need more input from agents than others

Thanks all
Really interesting to see the views of cutting corners- here some of the houses using them are £750-1m, I guess because of the ££ saved- which based on calibre of trad agents IMO is money well saved (poor quality photos, poor follow up etc)
We liked viewing with PB because of eas of communication with buyer by text etc but hadn’t appreciated the other end of it
Will see how trad agent responds when I suggest a lower % and see what they say, I’m not in a rush to sell so can afford to ‘sit’
(This isn’t undervaluing a service just aware of what value I place in things- the house we sold a few years ago got same service as this one would and had no more outlay or time for them to handle...)

Being prepared to “sit“ is really saying you are not serious about selling and want a higher price than is reasonable. Sitting isn’t really a purple bricks forte. Why pay up front and “sit”? I’m always wary of people who don’t care if they sell or not. Never a good experience.

We used an online agent. We in no way cut corners in our lives. Our house has been decorated & cared for to a very high spec/standard. I’m really fussy. But we are also thrifty. We are big savers & hate wasting money. The housing market was good when we were selling & we know from extensive research that houses on our estate sell very quickly if you price within a certain range. Our online agent provided professional photos as part of the fee & they were fab. I’m a confident person & do a bit of selling as part of my job so I enjoyed doing the viewings. I recon I did a much better job than many of the agents who showed us round properties to buy who on the whole just trailed us round not saying much & then left us too it We sold in 3 days, had a bidding war & got over ask. I admit the bidding war was the worst bit, I found it hard to stay impartial!

As the chain has progressed, it has taken up a bit of my time. It’s me corresponding with our buyer & handling them pushing us & it’s me dealing with our vendors EA. I’m on maternity so I’ve got time. I think the EA hates me, I email her constantly for updates & to push this & that 🙈

We also have a really nice buyer, I’ve enjoyed chatting to her & giving her a hand with local schools etc.

I’ve not heard from our online agent since we sold & that’s fine with me! It’s saved us thousands & in a week, should be job done in 12 weeks. 4 house chain. Covid/Disasters aside!