Purplebricks

Pinkiepenquin

Hi
Has anyone used Purplebricks to purchase a property
If so how did you find the experience?
Thanks

anselld

There is a thread running ...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4973625

Pinkiepenquin

Anselld
Thankyou for your response and the link to the existing thread
Sadly the thread is 2yrs old apart from a few extries this year this so does not really give an indication
of how they operate now and what buyers experiences are with them now.

anselld

Pinkiepenquin wrote: »

Anselld
Thankyou for your response and the link to the existing thread
Sadly the thread is 2yrs old apart from a few extries this year this so does not really give an indication
of how they operate now and what buyers experiences are with them now.

... however if you are just seeking more general reviews on PB then it would be better if they continue to be added to the existing thread.

If you want something more specific then perhaps you should give some more info ...
Are you using them to buy?
Are you using them to sell?
What aspects of the PB service are you interested in?
Are you looking to save on fees? - if so there are cheaper/free alternatives.
What aspects of the PB service are you interested in.

ElsieMonkey

Read reviews on Trust Pilot website.

I went for eMoov, highly recommend them. Again reviews are on Trust Pilot.

Lemonsqueezer78

Just had my property on the market with PB and have no complaints so far. Service has been very good.

You probably need to talk separately about the Purplebricks "platform" - and the purplebricks employees since one is static and the other is completely subject to whoever your particular PB Rep is in your area.

The rep where I am is pretty good, visited the property to provide a valuation - backed up by several examples of similar properties in the area. He seemed experienced and well prepared. We agreed a price and made another appt for him to come back and prepare the advert (take photos and measure up etc).

He created the shell of the advert on the purplebricks online platform, including a floor plan and sent this over to me for approval. The advert contained only the photos, the floor plan and an opening paragraph about the property, The rooms were not described, only the measurements were given for each room, however I was able to go through the advert and make any edits etc,so I provided a short blurb against each of the rooms and then sent it back for his "approval" and publishing. The photos where good and I arranged an EPC through them for a small extra fee and this was conducted very quickly.

Getting the advert on rightmove and zoopla etc was very quick (instant in fact). It got good interest and was sold in a few days... however that is more to do with my property than anything PB did.

All in all though, I had good service and no complaints and paid what I consider to be a fair price given the work they had to put in (very little, tbh). I have yet to see how good they are at performing any "post sales" service however as it is still early days for my sale.

Things to consider; Purplebricks provide a decent service, at a low cost... however I think this model works better for some scenarios than others.

Firstly you should consider what the market is like in your area AND be honest with yourself about your property and how easy you think it will be to sell. I went with PB because I knew for sure that any EA would likely need to do VERY little legwork in order to sell my place. The market is extremely buoyant where I live and my property is both well decorated and in a great location. In other words, I knew it would pretty much sell itself, without an EA having to do much more than create an advert. And sure enough it was an asking price offer from the first person that saw it (and believe me, I was not selling it cheap). If however your property is in a less popular area/market - or it is in need or work or there are any other factors that might mean you need someone to proactively start reaching out/ emailing/ telephoning prospective buyers, then you should think carefully about whether PB or any other online EA is right for you. These guys do not take many proactive steps to get your property in front of buyers in the same way as a high street EA would do. They won't call or email potential buyers for you so if you feel like you might need someone to really focus on drumming up traffic for you, PB may not be right.

If you genuinely feel your property only needs to go on RM/Zoopla and that is all it will take to shift it, then great.

Assuming my sale goes through, then I saved at least £2.5k (possibly more) going with PB and I would have properly kicked myself if I had used a high street EA given how quickly it went and how little work was required. But that will not be the case for everyone.

But as I say, no complaints at all and has been smooth for me so far. Good luck!

brodawel

Hi Pinkie

I viewed a couple of houses through PB and found it really easy to make the viewings. You book it yourself online by choosing the dates and times offered in a diary system, I thought it was fab tbh, no waiting for confirmation. We offered on one of the properties and it did seem strange doing it online but hey ho, we just went with it. A local PB agent then phoned and texted to say offer was rejected, tried to negotiate with us etc. Never met the PB agent but he was very decent to deal with via phone and text. We didn't increase our offer so that was that.

One other thing I like about them from a buyers side is this, when you have properties saved you get an email letting you know that someone else has made a viewing on that property.

lewishardwick

I think Pb only works if the vendor is willing to do some leg work.

There's no point listing if every time you want a book a viewing every slot is 'request viewing' only to get a response of 'I'm going on holiday for two weeks'. Then why not market it after you come back?!

Some of their agents in my area are particularly flakey. Late, no shows, generally have no clue about the property. But same can be said for some High Street EAs too.

Pinkiepenquin

Hi
Many thanks for all responses
Been interesting reading.....
As my post states we are thinking of purchasing a property through PB so am more interested in views from a buyers point of view
But thanks to everyone who took the time to respond.

Lemonsqueezer78

To purchase only, don't sweat it.... they are really no different than a regular EA to buy through, other than much of it is done online through their website (including booking viewing and making your offer).

You are still given the name of an actual representative who you can email or telephone and will play a role similar to a regular high street estate agent.

Jasperella

We viewed and offered on a property advertised through PB and we found it an easy process. As already said, the offering was done online and we had direct contact with the seller with regards to offer negotiations, there was no PB agent involved in ours. We couldn't agree on a price with the vendor though so we didn't purchase the house so can't comment on the after sales side of things.
The booking viewings/putting an offer in was easy enough though.
We eventually purchased through another online agent House Simple and their system was rather difficult and confusing to use so id say PB is easy and straight forward compared to them.