Valuations, Purple Bricks any good?

[BG2015]

Going to put our house up for sale in the New Year and just about to ring estate agents for valuations.

Last time I sold, the EA were absolutely useless. By total fluke I ended up selling my house to my friends daughter and her husband. She arranged viewings with me personally but then made the offer through the EA. Their fee was 3% which, in the circumstances was a total rip off, but of course I was tied into a contract with them.

We have 3 quite prominent and good estate agents locally but just wondered what the online estate agents are like.

I've read mixed reviews on Trustpilot about Purple Bricks and it seems it's very much dependent on how good certain agents are.

Purple bricks seems to be less popular these days but when I was looking in 2021, they were everywhere. Many of the houses they were selling seemed overpriced compared to similar properties with other agents. We're talking 270k vs 250k which was significant. The overpriced properties tended to be the ones with terrible photos so it may have had more to do with the sellers trying to maximise price and minimise costs rather than PB themselves. It did put me off looking at anything marketed by PB though. If sellers weren't prepared to pay for professional photos, I assumed they'd be doing viewings themselves (awkward) and using a cheap, slow, conveyancing service. I could be completely wrong but that's how I felt.

I think Purple Bricks has been taken over - just looked it up - it was sold for a pound.
But is making a big comeback, mostly online, so will probably be cheaper to gain good reviews.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purplebricks

Agree with PP, I tend to associate a house listed with PB as being one where the seller is in charge and listing it at the price they think it’ll get, with terrible photos and often the properties that have been hanging around for months/years not shifting. I’d do some research as to which agents in your area gets things sold the quickest at the best price and go with them having met and interviewed. But 3% fee?! That’s insanely high - most are 1-1.5% these days.

I’ve sold twice with Purple Bricks and they undervalued on both, think they wanted quick commission. I upped it (and got) the asking prices on both.

It’s a tough market right now and you need the best EA you can find not only to sell your house but more importantly, get the deal to completion. It’s really not the time to be trying to save money by using an online EA. Beware of any EA that gets paid before your sale reaches completion as they will lose interest.
No sale, no fee is the way to go.

Totally agree with this @Twiglets1 - it’s not just the price or the viewings etc - but their ability to assess who’ll be a good buyer (it’s not all about who’ll pay the most) and to recommend good solicitors etc. I’m using an expensive EA but they’ve pretty much insisted both sides use heavyweight conveyancers and are being very hands on in steering the process forward.

I didn't want to write an essay with my first response but have to agree with @Twiglets1

We finally went on the market this year and completed in September. Our own agents were just ok but our sellers' agent was brilliant. I think we'd still be in conveyancing purgatory if it weren't for him getting involved and pushing everyone up and down the chain. It was such good service we decided to leave a review (despite not being his client) and noticed other purchasers did the same.

Yup, we used an expensive EA to sell my Dads flat in central London in 2022 (all the EAs seem expensive there) and they were very good indeed at helping to sort out all the issues that arose during the selling process. I was annoyed at their fees at the beginning but not by the end - they earned them!

Don't sign up to any contract longer than 8 weeks. You need to be able to get out if the EA is not doing a good enough job.

We sold in 2019 - didn't use Purple Bricks although we did get a valuation from them. House undervalued by £50k. We used a conventional estate agent - brilliant service all round, and they got the sale over the line in record time. Using Purple Bricks is a false economy, particularly in today's challenging market. I wouldn't touch them.

We had a purchase fall through when we used them. The vendors were awful to deal with directly and their conveyencer was shocking. I don't even look a properties advertised by them anymore.

I absolutely understand that position, but the contrarian within me thinks it spots an opportunity. If everyone is ignoring them then it leaves the field open for the vultures. I used to say that I'd never bother looking at a leasehold property where the EA fails to disclose the service charge, but then I slapped myself in the face and thought - opportunity!

If being a vulture means extra stress - nah, I would rather be a duckling.

She who dates Rodney ... she who dares.

I used PB as my last house sales were stressful because of shit agents and I needed a quick sale.

I wanted to be in control of communication and choose my buyers.

It worked out brilliantly, found the right buyers within a month and completed 4 weeks later.

I did list it at a bargain price though, because a stress free conveyancing process was more important to me than £££. And I wanted buyers that I was confident would be nice to my former lovely elderly neighbour, as I adore her.

It's worked out perfectly, the buyers got a bargain, affordable first home and my neighbour says they visit her for cups of tea and take her bins out and in for her...they're fab.

So Purple Bricks is no!

The houses either side of me have both just sold. One went within 2 weeks, they are upsizing and buying a probate property.

The other (same style house as me) went on in September and has just sold, it's sold for more than similar houses on our road so it's definitely pushed the ceiling price up. They are downsizing.

I need both Sold signs to go before I put mine up for sale as it looks a bit dodgy I think, all 3 houses in a row up for sale/sold.

I'm downsizing too and as it will make us mortgage free and be the last house we buy, we need to maximise the £££. The equity needs to bridge the gap between pensions.

I have send PB to sell in 2016…” we got our asking price….we did the viewings ourselves….our house was on an estate which was very popular so would always have sold easily….. think we paid around £700 …so less than an EA

PB are beyond useless, I would actively avoid a house who was listed with them. Even if I really liked the house I wouldn't go to a viewing if it meant I had to have dealings with PB.

2 friends used them to 'try' to sell pre-covid. 1 in Bristol and the other London zone 4. My terminology will be wrong here, but the Bristol one had an offer accepted and I think the buyers pulled out. Our friend still needed to pay the fees- despite it not actually being sold. The other friend had to pay their fees to get out and went to a regular EA.

We bought a property 3yrs ago and we actively avoided PB properties! I might be completely wrong, but I assumed people used them who were trying to save money and do it all on the cheap. (Not that I agree with paying EA when some do very little for their commission either!)

I avoided houses on with PB- they can be a nightmare for a real EA to deal with and slow the conveyancing right down.

I too would not view/buy a house being marketed through Purple Bricks or indeed any online estate agents based on a family member’s experience. You need an estate agent to steer the sale through to completion.

Do not use purple bricks if you want a quality service. My personal experience was appalling.

Paid for PB to do viewings for me, but they messed it up by turning up an hour late for an open house viewing, couldn't answer viewers questions etc. Then did not check the credentials of the offer made. No follow up with buyer. After I chased up found out buyers mortgage got refused.

Has to conduct viewings myself in the end, did not get refund.

PB valued house £20k less than what I sold it for. Also the estate was trying to get me to settle with another cash buyer for a significant less money, without conducting more viewings, but I refused and did the viewings myself and got more, and had to get the buyers credentials myself. All went through ok when I done the work myself.

We bought 2 years ago through them - fucking nightmare!!

You put your offers in via their portal, no actual talking to an agent.

Our vendor used their conveyancing and it was shocking. On move in day we couldn't get a hold of anyone to give us the keys - the sale had completed and we were sat outside for TWO HOURS with our removals van!!

DO NOT use their solicitors if you choose to sell through them. It was thanks to our EA that the sale got completed - if there had been even ONE other house available I would have pulled out.

I tried to leave a trustpilot review about how bad their solicitors were etc and they kept getting it delted as I personally, wasn't their customer. No, but I suffered due to their complete ineptitude!!

I bought a btl house that was sold through Purple Bricks. I paid full asking price and thought I had got a bargain but the vendor wanted a quick sale and I was first viewing. I thought the process for arranging a viewing was easy to do. The vendor showed me around. We agreed I'd buy it for the full asking price then I rang PB to confirm my offer. It all went through smoothly and I bought it in 9 weeks.

They sound terrible