Estate Agent or Purple Bricks

hollie.weimeraner

Potentially we will be looking to sell early into the new year and have started getting valuations.  We have currently had one valuation from a standard estate agent and one from Purple Bricks. We have been very impressed with both who seem to offer good service.  I particularly like the fact you can track online the progress after accepting an offer through the PB portal whereas with the estate agent this wouldn't be available. Additionally PB seems to offer an app that shows all offers which are all made online.
PB have valued the property higher than the estate agent but we are more than happy with the estate agent valuation with there being a 20k difference but we could always instruct PB to market at a lower price.
We have another valuation booked through an estate agent so will wait for their valuation before making a decision.  Both have stated they would expect the property to sell very quickly.
Has anyone sold using Purple Bricks and what is their opinion of the service please?
Both advisors offer compelling reasons to use their service and the difference in charges isn't the issue, but being MSE it does pain to pay more if they are both equally efficient.

Slithery

A lot of potential buyers will simply refuse to even look at a property if it being sold by PB due to previous bad experiences.

comeandgo

I am one of those who would never look at properties using Purple Bricks due to the bad service I have previously had from them.

Bad_Accountant

The conveyancers Purple Bricks try to get you to use are also notoriously slow and terrible. They are called DC Law, there was a thread about them here the other day: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6221657/dc-law-a-shambles

AskAsk

i have been wary of them as i understand you pay their commission upfront, which is fixed, so you have already paid them whether your property sells or not.  i can't see on a business model like this, why would the estate agent bother selling your property for you as he has already been paid irrespective of whether your property sells or not.

in areas and times where properties sell themselves, then PB will be fine.  around my area they seem to sell quite well but that is baecause properties go quickly around here.

FTB_Help

Im buying via PB, let me tell you, in the viewing the agent was terrible, hovered around us and just went in to each room and said "living room" , "bathroom", "kitchen" etc and nothing else, there was no "sales pitch" on their side, proceeded to stare and hover around us as we looked through each room, we showed ourselves around the house whilst she followed and just stated the obvious ("kitchen"!). Told us lots of wrong information about timelines of the vendor in terms of when they're looking to move etc, "be in for xmas" she told us, nope, we're looking to exchange in Feb for a specific reason. I wouldn't want to sell via PB after buying via them

Swri12345

As a buyer I would avoid purple bricks. Didn’t see good service from them. Very hard to get hold of, not surprised they get such bad reviews. 

tigerlily74

I am buying a Purplebricks house. The app is good, the post sales support call centre is fine, their conveyancers (not the ones mentioned above) have so far delayed us by six weeks and continue to suck. They only pass on half the information they receive from the seller and take ages to do so. I

Thrugelmir

hollie.weimeraner said:

  I particularly like the fact you can track online the progress after accepting an offer through the PB portal whereas with the estate agent this wouldn't be available.

Good EA's employ internal sales progressors.  That will help communication throughout the entire chain. 

pphillips

I don't get the premise of the question as being a choice between a standard estate agent and Purple Bricks. Is Purple Bricks the only online estate agent or is that just what most people believe?

FlashBuy

As a buyer I never had issues with PB, but then, I never got past my offer being accepted (changed my mind) and I have my own solicitor. As for the viewings through PB, I always got owners showing me around, apart from one other time. So PB is more on the DIY side of selling, I guess?