Purple Bricks

Surely CC protection will kick in for services not received?

I'd probably not use their solicitors for the conveyancing. Keep that separate.

We have an excellent conveyancing (family friend) firm to use

You have use a solicitor off their "approved" list.

I have to use an approved solicitor?! Cheeky so and so's!

Reluctantly I think she'll go local EA, extremely annoying because they contribute nothing positive to the experience around our way and her charming cottage should sell quite easily.

You have use a solicitor off their “approved” list.

That wasnt the case when I used them to sell my Dads house. You were only tied into using their conveyancer if you took the option to pay the fees AFTER completion. If you paid them up front you could use who you liked.

I cannot stress enough, DO NOT USE THEIR OWN CONVEYANCER. They were utter utter incompetent shit.

Have you heard of Strike and do you have an opinion on them?

I bought a house they were EA for. They weren't nearly as terrible as I expected.

novel stealth ad - likes - ok where in WW? size/state? asking price?

Speaking as someone who has recently been looking at houses, I've found those listed on PB to be unrealistically priced & poorly written up/photographed.
From a buyers point of view if I see a house on PB I scroll on by as you know it's going to be even more hassle on top of the usual house buying hassle.

Friends used PB- they were a nightmare. They were both on 6 figure salaries and wanted to save a £k or 2. House was in one of the most sought after local areas but PB didn't market it well.

Speaking as someone who has recently been looking at houses, I’ve found those listed on PB to be unrealistically priced & poorly written up/photographed.
From a buyers point of view if I see a house on PB I scroll on by as you know it’s going to be even more hassle on top of the usual house buying hassle.

I feel the same, as a buyer, I usually don't spend too much time considering houses that are listed with them (and the other similar seller-direct companies).

Often their ideas of what a house is valued at, and their expectations of the buying/selling process is a bit off from reality.

Especially round this area where houses are priced well above national average and house price increases have generally been huge each year, if the seller is trying to save a few £k on something like selling a house it raises a few red flags.

We are 10 months in to a what we thought would be simple, but is in fact a complex purchase/sale that has required involvement from the estate agent several times per week. I would say that they have put hundreds of man hours in to it. As much as estate agents are despised, I would not want to be involved in any sale or purchase without them.

What incentive do pb have to sell the house if they get the money up front?

Ha! My mum is not on a 6 figure salary and since my dad died she only has a meagre pension so saving circa £2.5k is a strong pull.

The local PB rep was pretty good, we'd used him to value our house the week before and I liked the cut of his jib. As I wrote before, she'd write the blurb and do the viewings, just need photos, floorplan and access to the rightmove shopfront.

@akeys001 It really wasn't a stealth ad! 🙂

However as you asked... it's a lovely mid terrace stone cottage in a village called Glynarthen, not far from Cardigan/Aberporth. It's immaculate, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, two living room, wood stove in an inglenook, kitchen dinner and lovely garden. Valued between £250k and £275k by PB and local agents too.

Streetview is from 2009 and makes it look sh!te!

If it is in demand, could the difference in sale price between what the two different agents achieve not out weight the difference in fee?

Not saying which agent would get you a higher price, no one will be able to predict that but a traditional agent has interests aligned to yours to some extent as the more it sells for, the more they get. Albeit there is a point when they prefer to just sell it and get something.

Interesting point but round our way when people use multiple local agents they all market properties at the same price!

I seriously believe all we need is access to an online shopfront from an EA, no local agent has a USP over another, in my opinion.

It's not necessarily the case, but the EA can earn their money later in the process if heads need knocking together and issues ironing out.

Market price and sale price are not the same thing for houses, depends on luck, supply, demand. It’s not like buying a bike.

When we bought our first house we were pushed up in our offer by the agent telling us another was on the table and they were taking best and final.

You shouldn't just measure the value of an estate agent against the price you get charged. If a good local estate agent can get you 5 or 10% more then the benefit will greatly outweigh the costs.

It's an "if" though and it's impossible to know either way unfortunately.

My mum will write the blurb (EA speak is absolutely appalling!)  so all she needs is access to rightmove etc.

She may think she can write better blurb that the EA but when people read house adverts they assume they've been written by EAs so a simple, honest, accurate account may be viewed poorly.  Also I'm sure what your 70 year old mum thinks the selling points of her house are may not align with the things people walking into an EA actually say they want.  If she lets the EA write it she can still review it for anything which is plain wrong.

and will show people round

its easy to feel that EAs just answer the phone and make appointments for you to show round but GOOD EA's should be a bit more thorough - and I suspect in a pushy/inquisitive way that your mother might not be.  So you know if the buyer has looked at lots of similar places, makes stupid offers, has no mortgage arranged or is currently renting, cash-rich and super keen.

she only has a meagre pension so saving circa £2.5k is a strong pull.

Actually if her aim is to maximise value then it MIGHT be worth paying the 1% more and getting the EA to do the viewings.  I've obviously never met your mother but I'd be pretty sure that the EA would do a better job of negotiating the price than my mother.  Even if the EA isn't doing any real negotiations just stopping the chances thinking "here's an old biddy I'll try a cheeky offer" would be worth it for me!

so all she needs is access to rightmove etc.

Whilst that is probably how most houses are sold, the fact PB are struggling (up for sale) when property is at a premium tells me something is wrong with their business model / offering.  if she has a chocolate box cottage I wouldn't rule out the value of that being in an estate agent's window.  I like a nosey in the EA windows in town, despite the fact I'm not currently looking to buy.  I know people who weren't planning to move but saw a house in a window and were smitten.   If it's a highly sought-after house the local agents probably have a few people they will call before it even reaches the window.

My mum and dad did the viewings on their house a few years back - they never sold. Trouble is my dad can just rattle on and bloody on aimlessly for hours and I'm sure he told buyers far too much info.

And viewers would have been desperate to get away too - like being held hostage by a rise and recline chair saleman! 🙂

And if it's really popular could your mum manage lots of viewing in one day? If it's that good you'll have loads in a very short period.

There's actually a house for sale with Purple Bricks behind my mum and dads house at the minute - the asking price is laughable. Easily £60k over anything comparable in the village. And the only access to it is via a very long pedestrian-only right of way over my parents property. It's not selling.

I cannot stress enough, DO NOT USE THEIR OWN CONVEYANCER. They were utter utter incompetent shit.

One of my customers used to run a substantial solicitors firm - 600 staff - a lot of conveyancing work and she says without exception every time PB were involved it was a royal pain in the ass .

When we last moved we looked online at the local area to our then house to gauge which solicitor/ estate agent to use. Some had gone round themselves with a crap camera phone and the pictures were dire, it would have put us off even looking at the property.
I consider myself a competent photographer, but we went for their photographer. When she came round she picked up all the bits of the house to tidy away personal items and the like to really show it off to its best.

As it was we never needed it as the guy who bought was tipped off by the estate agent before ours hit the market as he had told them he was looking to move to our area. As per Poly's comment above.

The house we're currently in the throes of purchasing is managed by PB. As a result of the experience, the next move with any property managed by them will be a hard pass. They're dogshit. Admin, comms, the works.

We used PB ~ 5years ago, we had all the local EA round to value it beforehand, MRSRNP ran her own business and was used to selling/sales. We used our own solicitors. House sold easily and without hassle but it had been fully renovated and was before the world went crazy.

Don’t tar all agents with the same brush. A lot of them are very good and worth their weight.

I’d suggest finding a smaller one that offers a more personal service. They will work harder to exceed your expectations and should, if priced right and the interest is there - get you more than an online agent or one that just lists and hopes for a result.

At the risk of belittling any estate agents, I'm sorry if this comes across as cynical, but on a relatively easy to sell property (i.e. nice property, nice area, good condition etc), what value does an estate agent add?

I had very poor experiences previously. I found when I was searching I looked on rightmove and then booked an appointment with the estate agent. I'd have preferred to be shown the house by the owner than the estate agent who rarely knew enough about the property. Then when purchasing I was going through solicitors, the estate agents weren't really that much of a help

Everytime I tried to view with PB it was a farce.

I know the question was about credit card protection (yes, I imagine if PB collapsed, you'd get a refund) but I want to join in the rant.

I've moved house with Purple Bricks and reputable local estate agents. When shit happens, and it will, a decent local agent is absolutely 100% worth it. *Our sellers* solicitors were doing the chasing on *our buyers* agents to harass the buyer because Purple Bricks didn't.

Never using Purple Bricks again.

@chakaping I usually agree with what you write on here but the house we bought last year was sold through Strike and we, and the sellers, thought they ere absolutely useless! I wouldn't use, or recommend them to anyone based on our experience.

@chakaping I usually agree with what you write on here but the house we bought last year was sold through Strike and we, and the sellers, thought they ere absolutely useless! I wouldn’t use, or recommend them to anyone based on our experience.

Haha, you'll notice I was very careful not to recommend them as I'd seen negative comments before.

I was surprised that they didn't cause any of the issues with my purchase and were actually reasonably competent.

I'm 8 months into going through a sale with Purple Bricks and it has been an absolute shambles. Initially it was good. We had offers in the first week and agreed a sale after 8 days. We chose the pay later option and the solicitors are beyond useless. They take 48 hours to get back to you, don't do what they are supposed to and ultimately our sale fell through because they were so slow and incompetent..... Our house was empty and it wasn't in a chain either... When I've tried to complain to Purple Bricks, they say they will get on to them, but don't. I've been waiting 3 weeks to speak to someone in the complaints department too!