Experience as buyer? Purplebricks, Doorsteps, Yopa, Strike and other non high street estate agents?

[BakeOffRewatch]

As per thread title, interested in hearing people’s experiences as a buyer? I scroll past, it’s such a fraught process I think estate agents on both sides are needed. But perhaps I’m missing out! I did request details from one the other day and it asked me to pick a time slot to request a viewing and sign up and it felt like too much leg work. I make phone calls to local EAs, get to know them and ask them to send me houses based on lifestyle, get an idea of seller’s situation. But like I said maybe my old fashioned phone call based ways are holding me back!

Experience of buying (still ongoing) through 'SellMyHome' has so far been excellent. Whereas 'William H Brown' (High St chain) didn't show at their appointment to value my house this week, nor did they call or email to say why !

Confess that we've sold through PB and not bought, but I think so much depends on the individual agent and vendor. We were warned not to use PB's solicitors so haven't and are very grateful as our buyers were enticed into using them and it's been noticeably slower on their side than ours. Having said that we liked being able to liaise with viewers and always responded to any messages and offers. We had one amazing PB agent who has sorted the initial listing and sale side, another agent who did our viewings who was ok but admittedly didn't know much about our house or anything about the area and wasn't too faffed about finding out. I think if you're looking to buy in an area that you already know then PB are as safe a bet as any in that you can always ask them to ask the vendor Qs (as you would a high street agent) and just avoid their solicitors!

We tried to buy with Strike and found it really difficult, it took weeks to get them to mark as sold despite supplying the documents several times. You can still book viewings with the vendor even after it is sold which leaves you massively open to being gazumped - traditional estate agents usually won’t allow you to view properties sold STC. We felt that vendors selling with strike weren’t very invested as there is no penalty for withdrawing, the vendor pulled out after a few weeks.

@ballsdeep yeah I agree with you, I just want to deal with professionals not home owners directly. I started this thread cos there’s a house come up that I’m interested in, I’ve been following houses on that road and they’ve priced it top end even though it’s not extended at all and is one of the smaller plots with no garage. I wonder if they did that because no EA priced would price it similar to the other houses? I can see they priced it at 5% more than what they bought it for 2 years ago, so can imagine it might be quite an emotive situation that I would definitely want an estate agent as a buffer! I like the house but not enough to put the effort of arranging a viewing, going to see, making an offer, paying for a survey when vendor can pull out whenever.

@InescapableDeath @tanguero there’s definitely high street estate agents I don’t deal with out there, I tried to go to a viewing today and I got a call asking me what time the viewing was and oh they’d be there in 15mins . There’s two in my area I’ve said I won’t enquire with no matter how much I like a house.

@Orangerunner10 that’s my concern, that the online businesses are incentivised differently and play the low fees, high numbers game and the potential buyer’s experience is collateral damage.

@BakeOffRewatch almost all houses we saw with Strike in particular (with PB I think you pay upfront) were on at inflated prices and the vendors seemed to be chancing it on the off chance they got an asking price offer. I think if a vendor is motivated enough to engage a proper agent they are serious about selling.

@Orangerunner10 I’ve just looked up PB fees after reading your post, didn’t realise they charge up front even if no sale - I’m really surprised any vendor would go for that, especially as it sounds like PB knowledge changes from area to area. But as a buyer that makes me more confident that vendors on PB are incentivised to sell, but as what they pay isn’t tied to what they sell at I can see how unrealistic pricing is still an issue, and PB get their fee regardless.

I’ve just remembered back when I bought I think I did view a PB house (we viewed loads, it was tortuous pre-EU referendum). We were shown around by the vendors, they knew lots of lovely details and history about their house and clearly loved the character whereas what we cared about was commute and safety of area. It was really intense, like they were waiting for us to ooh over it. We needed someone to tell us oh it’s only a xx minute walk to station, not the bombing history of that part of London.

@BakeOffRewatch have you viewed any houses recently? I’m not sure if it’s due to Covid (suspect it is) or just my area where agents are especially lazy, but we probably viewed around 30 houses and unless they were empty the vendor showed us round them all. Similarly I was expected to do all of my own viewings.

I sold my flat through Purplebricks. They were fine, I did the viewings myself which does mean you get a lot of questions that the estate agent wouldn't be able to answer if they were doing the viewings (what are the neighbours like, have you ever been burgled etc).

@Fangsforthememory the flipside of that as a buyer is there are lots of questions you can't ask.

such as?

The real reason they are moving. How much leeway there really is on offer price.

Honest criticisms of the house - far too awkward and embarrassing to say to the person living there.

Not that it mattered, as I said we couldn't arrange any viewings through purplebricks the only time we tried. And then had to put up with loads of calls from them trying to sign us up as sellers.

And we would never have found the house we eventually bought if not for the fact that a local estate agent knew our previous one had fallen through and was able to get us in to view on a Saturday morning at an hour's notice before the house was listed anywhere.

Was also extremely grateful for the agent when they arranged getting people in to fix things before we exchanged and they also dealt with the vendor, who was a very angry man and I would not have wanted to have to deal with on an individual basis

@Orangerunner10 yes have been to viewings last weekend and yesterday, all had EA, and had mine done with an EA. Vendors, including me, went out.

@DropDTuning yeah I did ask specifically for experience as a buyer. Those sharing their selling experience, I am wondering what their buyers and viewers would say.

Questions you can’t ask a vendor - is this an acrimonious divorce sale, where each side try to mess each other over. I’ve been warned off viewing a couple of those and appreciated it (on market for long time). Though for one it ended up selling a year later at a ridiculously low price.

is this an acrimonious divorce sale, where each side try to mess each other over. I’ve been warned off viewing a couple of those and appreciated it (on market for long time). Though for one it ended up selling a year later at a ridiculously low price.

Funnily enough that was exactly our situation! (Our vendors not us)

Their previous sale fell through, they'd already moved out (separately), hence they were desperate to sell quickly and also hence the male half of the couple being a total pain in the arse.

But they weren't messing each other or us around in that sense, they were just very impatient to get the sale done.

We also needed to buy quickly as we had buyers ready to go and our previous property fell through.

It was a really good price and a much better house than we had hoped for.

I strongly recommend getting to know all your local agents because often the best stuff is word of mouth and needs to be acted on quickly.

Could not be dealing with anonymous call centres hundreds of miles away. PB etc are good for sellers because they save money (assuming it sells) but awful for buyers.

@DropDTuning that situation sounds ideal! The ones I’ve been warned off are where they are selling to split assets, and one person doesn’t actually want to leave and sell the family home, so they’re obstructing viewings, doing things to put off buyers. Or one person is abusive and they might “go along” with it and then not sign things last minute to hurt the other party the most, so fees wasted by them and buyers. It’s a shame as these properties are lovely family homes and because of the situation priced as a bargain but I don’t have the tenacity to deal with that.

Anything where I could up spending £800 on a survey and feel the vendor might wobble I stay clear of.

We've bought through PB and another 'local' online only estate agent I actually really liked both.

@dotdashdashdash that’s good to hear, was it the only property you enquired about through the service? I’m wondering how dependent it is on the vendor.

Yes, on both. I guess it is - with PB we dealt directly with the vendor but through PBs online messaging service, with the other online agent we went through them exactly like a normal highstreet agent.

@DropDTuning TBQHWY, the people who viewed my flat didn't seem to feel the least awkward about saying exactly what they thought. I was told that the door handles were 'like something you'd get in a council flat' and a couple of people had quite clearly come to have a nosy because they lived in the next street! I had a very good reason for selling and that was the reason I gave.

Any houses in my locale that have gone on with PB have safe for ages, eventually to be replaced with a local estate agent & sold within weeks.

I’m responding as both a buyer and a seller.
We looked online to buy a house in a different area..I called or emailed lots of agents And none responded..(Except one local agent whose are purchasing through) Savills were the worst of all.
I am a cash buyer up to 1.5 million in an area that would get a fab house for that money... I was very surprised at the response..some of the houses we enquired about are still for sale..
So..when it came to putting our own house on the market we have used an online agent.. Esale.. so far they have been excellent. Really good communication and very helpful. There aren’t many buyers of our type of house in our area but we’ve had a few viewings..we would potentially save 30k by doing it online..
Just a matter of time before we sell hopefully..

Purchased our house as the seller used Purple Bricks. Online viewing arranged. OK, all good. Vendor showed us around and answered our questions. All good. We made our offer via PB website. Initial offer turned down but open to negotiation. Offered a bit more but still shy of the asking price. Offer accepted. Woo hoo !

This was in August. We were cash buyers coming out of rented accommodation. It took four months to complete. We had told our vendors that we would be considering our options if completion didn't happen soon as by then it was November.

We communicated directly with the vendor which was good but PB weren't getting their fee until after completion and did nothing to hurry it along. Also, our vendor had to use PB solicitor because they weren't paying PB until completion.

The property our vendors were buying seemed slow moving. Or was it our vendor not pulling their finger/s out ?

Anyway, we eventually completed. Hooray ! It meant collecting the keys directly from the vendors. Just as well because I could ask how their induction hob worked and get a lesson on how the hub Hive thingy worked. We just use it as a thermostat. Our vendors knew this as we agreed they could take the tech that made the, 'magic box' work remotely.

I would not use Purple Bricks to sell a house. I hope, should we ever buy again the vendor will not use PB. However, if the house we want is being sold via an online estate agent we will have no choice.

Our vendors paid about a thousand pounds to sell their house. A high street EA would have charged them £2,250. So, not that great a saving ? Only saved not much over a thousand pounds. Our vendors did a lot of the, 'leg work' themselves and still ended up paying PB as agreed.

Personally, I'd rather pay an Estate Agent to do it all, including key handover on completion day.

We were lucky that our vendors were on the level, intelligent, educated, communicated well and were committed to selling to us. No thanks to PB. Far to much relied on luck in my opinion, i.e. vendor and purchaser were on the same page and were pretty much left (by PB) to get on with it.

That's why I want a proper estate agent next time. Should there be a next time.

Right encouraged by the existence of some positive stories on here I have sent an enquiry for a property listed through eXp UK. I see they sold one STC near me which had been listed with an EA for ages. I know they were holding out for a price and then their buyer had a problem, so they relisted with online. Stopped following market for a bit last year so don’t know how long it took. Eager to see what it sold at once land registry updated.

Interesting to read this.

I’ve found a house that would be perfect for us on Purplebricks - initially wasn’t at all impressed as no one responded to my first request to view, so I called the agent who said he would call me back once he’d spoken to the vendors. News flash: he didn’t

I have now arranged a viewing for Saturday, but the price ‘offers over’ and considering this house has been on the market since February when houses are selling in days, plus Zoopla estimates, it looks overpriced. It’s shabby and needs doing up also. I could afford their guide price but what does ‘offers over’ even mean?

I have a horrible feeling I’m going to love it and then not get it because they’re stubborn about price. I guess time will tell.

@JackieTheFart my understanding of OIEO/offers over is that it’s EA speak for that’s what the vendor wants, but I wouldn’t have guide priced it at that, seller not “motivated to sell”, has take it or leave it approach. I’ve found anything I’ve viewed fits along with this. Not sure how it would work with an online Service, but the advice I’ve read around is wait for it to be reduced or taken off market when they inevitably don’t get those offers and become more motivated/decide to wait. I’ve found when I view these properties they’re worth it if you have exactly the same taste as the vendor, so won’t be spending any money decorating.