Selling House Through Purple Bricks

My mum's bungalow was sold within about 3 weeks using purple bricks.
I didn't deal with it, but I know it was stress free and much, much cheaper than traditional estate agents.

Neighbours of a friend sold through PB around four years ago and got a very good price, so they were very happy with the low-cost service. This of course was pre-Brexit vote which dampened the market, in London anyway.

I think selling at a good price is all down to how you catch that moment in the market, if you get what I mean.

Who remembers the days when you could sell your property by an advert in the local paper? Seems extraordinary now!

So basically, you're as likely to sell through PB as any other type of agent.

I was interested in a house they had on a property web site. It had floor plans but no measurements so one did not know how big the house was. Also to make an inquiry one had to ask for a viewing as well - which I did not want without knowing measurements. The seller was annoyed with me that I did not in fact want a viewing.

In the last two years they sold more houses than any other agency. I have no person knowledge of them .

I sold my FiL property a few years ago with these. I didn’t have to pay up front, they gave me a choice. The website is excellent as you can see who is looking at your property. You can choose to have them bring viewers round and other upgrades. Their photos weren’t brilliant but they came back and did more when I asked. I sold the house and money was in FiL’s bank in less than 6 weeks.

I used them in 2017 and had no luck selling. Then last week I received this:

Dear Purplebricks Customer,
I’m sorry to inform you that your Purplebricks local property expert has put fake information into your initial valuation report in order to secure an instruction.
This is being done on a nationwide basis.
The demand number (ie, number of registered buyers looking for your home) is completely fake, a number encouraged by management to put into your report to deliberately install confidence in our system.

They encourage you to get your money back or your agreement cancelled, otherwise take legal action! So I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. You might be lucky and sell but you might not.

Sold our last house through PB, cannot recommend them highly enough.
We had quite a few problems relating to the sale which I won’t go into but the agent who dealt with our sale was great and very helpful, also fantastic price compared to high street agents.

I wouldn't use them. Their for sale boards have no phone number which people like to contact and once you've got a buyer Purple Bricks suddenly become very elusive if you want to contact them. These were our findings, London based.

There's been a Purple Bricks For Sale sign up in our village for almost two years. I wouldn't think about using them. They're making huge losses evidently as their business model is not feasible - they've never made a profit. I'd use a local agent who knows the market and who will go the extra mile to sell your house and support the sale through to completion.

The initial price quote is the basic. You have to pay extra for advertising on internet sites like Rightmove, for a board outside your house, for viewings if you don’t do them yourself.

People sign up for the basic then when the house doesn’t sell they start adding the extras in. For instance I bought a house last year on this street. I now know there was another on with Purple Bricks that I probably would have bought rather than this one, but with no board and not on Rightmove I didn’t even know it was for sale! It’s still for sale now with the owners paying for a board and advertising. Having paid the upfront fee they feel they have to carry on.

I did try to view some with a Purple Bricks. Making a viewing appointment was so difficult I gave up with a couple of properties. Myself and the owners just couldn’t find a mutually available time as I was travelling a distance. Conventional estate agents bent over backwards to get me into properties to view.

Thanks everyone. Lots to think about here. We're still undecided but will give it some thought over the weekend. It's a minefield out there.

To sum up, you may save some money and you may sell your property, but there seems to be an element of risk and possibly more costs than anticipated. It's safer (and more expensive) to go through a reputable local agent who will look after your sale and is easy to contact.

I live in a village where properties tend to sell very quickly but a property being sold through PB took over 6 months to sell. Other properties which went on the market during that time through other agents sold within weeks.

The difference is probably down to the local agent. PB are cheaper which means the local agent will be receiving a lower commission - so chances are they will not put a lot of effort into the selling of the property and concentrate on those where they are getting a full commission.

Last year I went through the horrific process of selling my suburban London house. I did look at PB, but decided that 'you get what you pay for', so went to the largest local EA. So thankful I did. The Lady allocated to my house was incredible and was there for me through the good times and the many bad bits.
When a would-be purchaser pulled out - almost at the last minute ( I actually had a remover in my house doing an estimate for me when it happened), she came round to tell me the bad news. That experience Estimator told me he had never seen an EA who would have done that, not just made a phone call.
Towards the end, she spent virtually all of one day trying to track down the elusive on-line conveyancing company of my purchasers, purchaser and also to PB who were acting for my purchaser.
It was she who telephoned me as I was driving down to my new home to let me know that the money had now gone through on my house, and again - it was she who telephoned me a little while later to say I could now pick up the keys to my new flat. It was over three hours later that I received a call from my Solicitors giving me that information!!!
So, yet, it cost more than PB - but wonderful, wonderful service throughout all those months.
Sure PB will work for some, but with all the very many stresses involved in the (laughingly called 'system') of selling/buying in England, think a good Estate Agent is worth every penny. Wish I could say the same about Conveyancing Solicitors!!

I don't understand why anyone would pay upfront to sell a house
If you want to pay later with purple bricks its effectively a loan with interest added on
They also give an end date for their contract. If you don't manage to sell then you pay again for a new contract
My friend has had her lovely property up for sale for 18 months now with PB and has paid twice!
Just bargain hard with your local estate agent. They are desperate for the business. Good luck with your house move.

If the sale goes ahead smoothly, great. My D used PB and it didn’t go smoothly. She found it impossible to get to speak to anyone and wished she had an office she could walk into! Instead she had to make a telephone appointment but she did agree to use PB solicitors so I think this was the main issue? Anyway she said she would not do on line again for that reason but lots of happy customers I think. Bit like on line holidays. Most will work out fine with no issues.

We've moved 5 times in 34 years and each time I've had to consistently chase estate agents and conveyancing solicitors in order to move things along and update me so I'm wondering if I'll seriously gain anything from using a traditional estate agent which will cost me approximately £3,000 more than PB. I will definitely look at my contract expiring and what protection I would have. Wondering if paying my up front fee by credit card would protect me if they went bust?