How does Purple Bricks actually work in practice for the seller?

[Treadington]

Anyone sold with them?

I get that it's a one off payment - would pay up front to avoid getting into a credit agreement.

And would choose to do own viewings - ok with that - and understand prospective buyers will book viewings direct with me.

I would not use their solicitors.

But there's a few things I don't understand:

Can prospective viewers contact me directly to ask questions?

How do I know that prospective viewer is in a position to proceed before agreeing to a viewing?

How do prospective buyers make an offer? Is there a chance to 'converse' with them regarding their offer?

If they are claiming to be a cash buyer or saying they have a mortgage in principle, who checks this?

Would very much welcome explanations and anything you wish you'd known.

I sold my last property with a different online agent and bought through PB so have some experience both sides of the fence. The thing I'd say is shop around, PB is the biggest/best known but there are loads of alternatives and while they all work on pretty much the same flat fee/no commission/app based model the actual service behind varies so find the package that works best for you.

With most online agents at the time of listing you fill out a questionnaire and provide lots of info at the time of listing, then there's the functionality for buyers to communicate and ask further questions through the app or online portal. An agent will pass on to you if the questions can't be answered with what you've already provided. The agent will usually do some degree of vetting of buyers but the quality/robustness of this will likely vary (just as with 'real' agents IME!) so if you are very keen on e.g. only allowing viewings from cash buyers or those that have already sold you may need to either go for a slightly higher service provision or you may find some less procedable ones slipping through (I did!).

Re offers, the offer is formally made online usually but again I did have access to a call centre person who relayed messages/communication between us and assisted in the negotiation so in that sense much like a 'real' agent would although I felt the quality of the advice I received as seller was not what you'd get from someone with real knowledge of the local market and the expertise to advise properly, it was more 'they've offered this, it's 90% of asking price and they're a FTB, do you want to accept' so you do need to feel fairly confident in the value of your property and not expect too much handholding or hard-line negotiation from them, you are paying much less than you would a traditional agent so this and viewings is kind of the element you have to be prepared to do yourself. Also after the offer was accepted they didn't do a huge amount proactively for me, it was in the hands of solicitors from then on really and I ended up exchanging mobile numbers with both my buyer and seller so we could communicate directly at that point rather than going via the rather labourious call centre, bit of a mixed blessing as my nervous FTB buyers ended up slightly pestering me with mundane questions and my anxious seller sent daily panicky messages about when we were going to exchange which i guess a more traditional agent would have filtered for me, but again worth it to me for the saving of ££££...

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend PB, I know a couple of people that tried to sell through them, their properties were over valued, they didn’t sell, and still had to pay the fee. They also found it difficult to get contact from the office once they were instructed. At least with a high street agent, it’s no sale no fee usually. We moved last year, we chose a high street agent, no regrets.

maxelly that's very helpful.

Having used a high street agent to sell a property previously I have no desire to pay them what will be massive fee. They simply don't deserve it and I believe, due to location, the property will sell itself (hopeful).