Anyone used Purple Bricks to sell a house?

vertex

Hi
I had an EA come out the other day. I was surprised how much they charge!! So Im looking for alternatives. Has anyone used Purple Bricks before? Im not sure how it works, but I presume I have to handle viewings etc.. myself.
Has anyone had good/bad experiences with Purple Bricks?
Thanks

SG27

I am buying a house through purple bricks.

Up to the point our offer was accepted it was great. All online negotiation which I quite liked. However its been seriously downhill since then. The post sales team are not very good, dont respond to phone call messages or emails. It seems they have no interest in progressing sales, which makes sense as their fee is upfront so makes no difference to them if the sale completes or not. There is a purple bricks rep on here who helped us get some info, if it wasn't for her we would have probably pulled out of the purchase at that point as we could get no information on the onward chain and whether, after 6 weeks that vendor had actually found anywhere!

It has put me off buying a property through them again and I would avoid houses marketed by them if possible.

I think the problems are partly due to my vendor. They dont check emails and only provide a home number so they are difficult to contact amd also I think they don't quite understand the process with purple bricks is that you have to do a lot of the post offer leg work yourself!

hazyjo

Try the search on here - lots of mentions of PB. Many people have used them. I've always found the reviews to be fairly mixed. Have heard many good reviews re eMoov and housenetwork on here.

comeandgo

I would not use them and don't even look at houses they are marketing. I once tried to get information about a property they were selling in Scotland and they did not seem aware of the differences in the Scottish legal system.

Margot123

I know someone who bought via PB, and the transaction ran very smoothly.

I have bought through a high street agent, and it was an awful experience especially regarding communication. Even though they were earning commission, there didn't seem to be any urgency to tie up the chain.

The company is only as good as their agents.

eddddy

I think it depends a lot on the circumstances.

If you have a motivated savvy buyer, plus a motivated savvy seller, plus a problem-free transaction - the quality of the EA is less important.

But I've been involved in difficult transactions which definitely wouldn't have happened, without the involvement of a skilled EA.

One example being dealing with an irrational dishonest seller. I wouldn't have had the patience, but the EA seemed to spend hours on the phone calming the seller down, and explaining how stuff worked.

thermal2844

Once the offer is accepted, you and your buyer are on your own. There has been zero post sales support in our experience. I have personally had to chase up and arrange many aspects that should have been arranged by the vendor's EA (Purple Bricks). After this experience, I have a nickname for Purple Bricks that sounds like it but with one letter changed...


I will say that I really liked the way offers are handled all online, it was very easy and worked well, but everything else is a big no.

quantumlobster

The experience of a relative in (not) selling with Burple Pricks has been instructive. BP couldn't be less interested. It seems that all they do is take some mediocre pictures, cut-and-paste the description, slap it all up on Zoopla and Rightmove, and then retire to the pub to spend the up-front payment. Not bad for a morning's work!

The relative in question has engaged a traditional bricks/mortar local agent now.

TamsinC

I sold with Purple Bricks and it was a brilliant service - from the day we chose them to completion day. Do research the person who is responsible for your area, look on their individual Trustpilot profiles. Ours had fabulous reviews and we spoke to him on the phone for a good while before making up our mind. We paid them to conduct viewings. The photos were good, we could adjust the description if we wanted, reorder the photos etc, Our agent responded to emails etc within 10 mins even when we contacted him late at night. He kept a close eye on the purchasers too and as they were FTB helped them with the process. He was there from start to finish. I have never had such a good service from a 'normal' estate agent previously.

victoriavictorious

As others have said, it does seem to depend on the local agent and luck of the draw.
Trying to book viewings was virtually impossible for us so we gave up, but others may have a different experience.
I personally wouldn't want to sell through them - there are other, far better online agents.

marmitemum

Do you realise that you have to pay them anyway if your property has not sold after 10 months? They do not shout about that one.