straightforward sale only, purplebricks conveyancing?

kinger101

There are other online agents available. I've used Emoov previously, and they had a good sales progression team. Others on here have said positive things about House Network.

victoriavictorious

OP, before you make a decision on which agent to go with, do make a point of 'mystery shopping' them to see how easy (or otherwise!) it is to arrange a viewing.
It would have been far less complex to arrange an audience with the Pope than trying to arrange a viewing via Purple Bricks; in fact we gave up trying altogether. The property we were trying to get a viewing for, is still on the market after several months.
Next, try to book a viewing through House Network. The difference speaks for itself.

TamsinC

victoriavictorious wrote: »

OP, before you make a decision on which agent to go with, do make a point of 'mystery shopping' them to see how easy (or otherwise!) it is to arrange a viewing.
It would have been far less complex to arrange an audience with the Pope than trying to arrange a viewing via Purple Bricks; in fact we gave up trying altogether. The property we were trying to get a viewing for, is still on the market after several months.
Next, try to book a viewing through House Network. The difference speaks for itself.

And yet weirdly, we chose to sell through Purple Bricks for precisely the opposite reason - it was SO easy to bookman appointment for a viewing of a house we were thinking about buying when the traditional agents were dragging their feet. I think horses for courses. We DIDIN'T go with their conveyancing though.

kinger101

^^
My experience with PB has been that unless it's the vendor doing the viewings, it's almost impossible to arrange a viewing. The PB booking shows all slots as being available, but the agent then moves your viewing to some other slot for their own convenience/logistical reasons. And they really don't give a flying duck when you explain you cannot make the new time/date, or any of the other really limited options they present when you speak to the viewing agent on the phone.

You should definitively rule PB out if you're not doing your own viewings.

victoriavictorious

OnTheMove wrote:
local' is a bit of an issue as we're living away from the property 90% of the time, 300 miles away. in this case, local to the property would actually be a hindrance to us i think.

A conveyancing solicitor doesn't need to be local to the property at all. Local means 'local to where you are most of the time'to enable you to physically visit the office to sign things / drop things off in person / pay for things in person / wave a big stick in person, etc... should you need to (which you doubtless will at some point.)
The house we are buying is 170 miles from our solicitor's office but it could equally have been next door or in Timbuktu it makes no difference. Its where *you* are that matters.

victoriavictorious

kinger101 wrote: »

^^
My experience with PB has been that unless it's the vendor doing the viewings, it's almost impossible to arrange a viewing. The PB booking shows all slots as being available, but the agent then moves your viewing to some other slot for their own convenience/logistical reasons. And they really don't give a flying duck when you explain you cannot make the new time/date, or any of the other really limited options they present when you speak to the viewing agent on the phone.

You should definitively rule PB out if you're not doing your own viewings.

That was exactly the problem we had, plus more.
We managed to get a PB viewing agent who not only knew nothing at all about the property, but also didn't seem to even understand that we were asking for a viewing, and despite Mr. VV repeatiing - and spelling - his name 4 times on the phone,, the agent still got it wrong. (Yes, we are native English speakers and no, we don't have a weird name!)
We didn't get a yay or a nay to our viewing request for 3 days, then when we finally did get a response, the viewing was arranged for the week following the date we had asked for, so it was no good to us.
At no point did the PB viewing agent make any attempt to qualify us or ask any questions as to our buying position, mortgage application, etc etc.

ric1982

victoriavictorious wrote: »

That was exactly the problem we had, plus more.
We managed to get a PB viewing agent who not only knew nothing at all about the property, but also didn't seem to even understand that we were asking for a viewing, and despite Mr. VV repeatiing - and spelling - his name 4 times on the phone,, the agent still got it wrong. (Yes, we are native English speakers and no, we don't have a weird name!)
We didn't get a yay or a nay to our viewing request for 3 days, then when we finally did get a response, the viewing was arranged for the week following the date we had asked for, so it was no good to us.
At no point did the PB viewing agent make any attempt to qualify us or ask any questions as to our buying position, mortgage application, etc etc.

Same here. Booking viewing is nightmare with PB.

PurplebricksUK

Hi All

I am sorry to hear that there have been issues with people booking viewings, that's not how it should be at all.

I would be more than happy to help arrange a viewing for anyone that still would like to, just message me with your details and I'll do what I can to assist

Thanks

Debbie

thelem

That was our experience in Brighton as a viewer with purple bricks too. Their online system showed lots of availability, but when we tried to book an appointment we had to fit in with their schedule (i.e. we were given a time and told take it or leave it). Weirdly it was at a time that had shown as unavailable on their online system! In the end we knocked on the door on the off chance and the vendors were happy to show us around.


We viewed lots of properties with traditional agents, and while they weren't always able to offer us our preferred viewing time, they did at least work with us to try and find an option that worked for everyone.

kimmy123_2

Can anyone recommend a good one in the london area?
Thanks