Purple Bricks, Tepilo, etc, any reason not to?

We may be putting our house up for sale soon and the difference in fees between these and traditional Estate agents is quite a bit! Share your experiences please?

Bum, wrong forum (again!), mods can you move it please?

They make your house sale come alive

My wife is an estate agent and has said there are a growing number of customers who are trapped into contracts with online agents where they have to pay even if they sell there house via another agent. Further more my friends used purple bricks and were forced to use their conveyancing solicitors which were well over market price. Not to mention having to manage the sale process and chasing. Many high street agents will do flat fees, in fact my wife will match purple bricks on a like for like basis. So do your own viewings she will charge the same without the same contractual obligations.

Had two local estate agents round and neither could give me a good reason for not saving 3k. Decided to give online a punt because not in a rush. Chose eMoov mainly because of their online viewing scheduler thing. Although some viewers seemed to get confused still.

You have to write your own description and set the price (online valuer guy was waste of time). Photos were excellent.

Had had plenty of viewings (couple of no shows) and acceptable offers. More than one because they don’t really seem to vet until you accept, although at that point they do require proof like any other Agent and will liaise with Solicitor.

On the phone and online chat they are very knowledgeable. Only downside has been sometimes difficult to get back in touch with the same person, still have to chase promises to call back. Presumably because they make them work for their money.

I used housenetwork a few years ago and the service was flawless tbh. I would recommend and I wouldn’t hesitate to use again.
They had experienced sales people working and even though they had a flat fee they worked with me to get the best price possible out of the buyer, when they wanted to offer less.

I used House network and they were brilliant. Honest, Efficient, good online system, their listing looked way more professional than other agents. Sold quickly for more than we expected in a local crowded market. Wouldn’t hesitate to use again.

Forcing you to use their conveyancer is wrong and possibly illegal. Contracts saying yo have to pay even if sold thru another agent are common when using multiple agents.
If I was selling now I would use an online one – unless I wasn’t able or prepared to monitor / chase then

House network offered their own conveyancer to us, they were very honest and admitted they had been having problems with their last conveyancers and had recently got a new company to take over that side – they actually said “we don’t know what they are like yet so I can’t recommend them too much until they’ve been proven to be as good as we expect them to be”.

Forcing you to use their conveyancer is wrong and possibly illegal

That’s as maybe, but it’s what happens and there are ongoing court cases. According to my wife (who is fairly well respected in the field) with purple bricks you sign a credit agreement so you have to pay them if you sell or not. I can’t comment on other online agents, but like I say go to a local agent talk through what you want and make them an offer over the commission. Sensible ones are already adapting their business and pricing to compete.

My wife is an estate agent

So probably biased against them then?

and has said there are a growing number of customers who are trapped into contracts with online agents where they have to pay even if they sell there house via another agent.

So some people have signed up to something without reading the contract. High street agents can do exactly the same sort of thing (say they have to be paid even if no sale) unless you make sure you’ve got the contract you want.

Not to mention having to manage the sale process and chasing.

I didn’t have to do that. Only difference with Houseneteork was that I showed potential buyers around myself.

Many high street agents will do flat fees,

They dont advertise that round here. Every one I went to would have been £1000 – £1500 minimum more than HN.

in fact my wife will match purple bricks on a like for like basis.

Why do they charge more in the first place then? I know from a long career in retail that “price matching” is hardly ever taken up.

Saying all that, I wouldn’t use a high street EA even if they were free in Huddersfield. Apart from one exception (and I saw 45 houses before we bought ours) all the people showing us around houses were total cretins, completely clueless about the house and actively insulting and condescending to us on several occasions. The EA’s we went to before we went with an online service either ignored us when we went inside their offices, or never phoned us back or were so useless I actually couldnt use them – one example being that they simply would not come round to value our house outside 9-5 hours. Wouldn’t even entertain the idea and looked at us like we were idiots and insulting their family when we asked for an evening (6pm earliest) or weekend visit. When asked how they got any business from couples who both work full time they just looked at us blankly. Utter utter morons.

My brother had the same issue when trying to buy a house in sheffield, don’t know if it’s a Yorkshire thing or not but I’m not alone amongst people I know I’m having this experience.

I’m in Edinburgh so the market is a little different up here. None the less, here’s my experience…

I priced up purple bricks to sell my old house and once you include conveyancing costs, they came out financially on par with a proper solicitor doing the estate agent work…

I however bought this new house from a couple who sold via purple bricks. They got no help, guidance or advice on the sale of their house. As a result, I got a VERY good deal – I suspect we got it for around 10% below Market value!

Newrob, I guess they came across ascretins and condescending to you as they probably worked you out quickly…especially as you spoke to them as you post on here?? Not worthy of your worldly knowledge???

Is my wife biased…well yes she is going to be. But likely the most balanced agent you are likely to meet. Furthermore she doesn’t work on ‘commision’ So it’s little fuss to her, hell she doesn’t even need the job.

The fact is the market is in considerable transition! Online agents absolutely have their place for people ‘super informed’ self proclaimed experts like yourself… However I would suggest (based on actual industry experience from my wife) and my own experience in a similarly developing industry, that as a business (and industry) you diversify or die, traditional estate agents are proactively doing this (not all granted but those with foresight) Are they marketing it…hell no! not when currently less than 4% of house sale transactions are managed by an online agent. But they absolutely will if you find a good one, working of like for like services and comparisons. That said their costs are much higher so will also be slightly more expensive.

Buyers also prefer traditional agents with conversion rates for online agents say around 57% vs 84%. Suggests to me the market isn’t quite there yet and there will be further changes and development.

But you can shout the virtues and slam every agent in the country based on a fairly localised opinion, but you will find agents offering a more competitive commision with a leaner offering in terms of service and there will always be a market for those that want to deal with someone face to face. Hell its the reason people pay more and still buy used cars from a dealership over a supermarket or lease deal from Ling….

I used pb they were great and my house sold in under 24hrs on a weekend. You only have to use their conveyancing if you also use the credit facility.Pay upfront and you can use whoever you like

We used move&save I think. Their conveyancers were beyond shite and this to me seems like the part of the process that really makes the difference.

We were happy to do the viewing and effectively project management it ourselves. Really, they were just a gateway to the online sites like rightmove. I think we actually paid for the service up front.

Some of the others who came around to give us a valuation were laughable. Similar to above, we couldn’t see what a bricks and mortar estate agent would give us over these. One even said she didn’t believe in floor plans. I tried to explain that they were a real thing but she didn’t think they sold houses. Given the number of houses we rejected because the layout wasn’t right, or wasn’t shown, I still believe she was very wrong (and very orange).

Whatever you choose, get a big tub of lube and try to relax, you’re going to get reamed every which way. It just gets very uncomfortable if you fight it too hard.

Newrob, I guess they came across ascretins and condescending to you as they probably worked you out quickly…especially as you spoke to them as you post on here?? Not worthy of your worldly knowledge???

I just told it as I saw it. I went to each house with an open mind and only asked politebasic questions which anyone would ask if they weren’t in the particulars. I would expect anyone trying to sell me a house to be professional, knowledgable and informative, however 95% of the contact I had with local EA’s was anything but. I’m not the only one to think so either, my brother had the same issue in Sheffield but I know loads of people equally frustrated.

Here’s some examples:
1) Cant be bothered working outside office hours to come and look at our house
2) Out of the 3 agents we went to go and see (3 biggest in Hudds) none of them phoned us back as they said they would when we enquired about selling through them.
3) When asking for help on houses they had for sale in the high street shop they said they didn’t know, and it was pointless taking an information sheet as they didn’t have much info on them compared to what was online. They said look at Rightmove instead to find details.
4) Not turning up for viewings appointments and not apologising afterwards.
5) Turning up for appointments without the keys or alarm codes. One house my wife went to see the EA set the alarm off and got almost nasty when my wife said she didn’t want to look round a house which had an ear splitting siren going off inside it. He then proceeded to curse and swear on the phone as he was trying to sort an alarm code out.
6) This happened at least 50% of the time – turning up with zero knowledge about the house they were meant to be showing us around. Not even knowing how many bedrooms there were or which was the biggest one or having keys to the garage or knowing what council tax band it was or when improvements had been made etc etc.

I fully appreciate it might be different in other parts of the country but there’s a lot more internet EA signs going up round Huddersfield all the time. Certainly round here the trad EA’s are doing a generally very poor job. I don’t know why, maybe they can’t get the staff, maybe they don’t have to try as they know everything is selling.

I understand that internet EA’s aren’t for everyone too, if you can’t show people round or have a particular house which might benefit from some specialist selling you may want to stick with traditional services.

I also think a lot in internet EA’s can be poor. I went with HN as they had been round the longest and offered the same service as a trad EA but many times cheaper probably because you weren’t paying for their high street rents.

There was simply no “working me out”, they could barely work out what they were doing themselves most of the time.

Purple Bricks, Tepilo, etc, any reason not to?

From personal experience if your house is in an area that’s selling well and there’s nothing odd about it then probably fine. If your house is likely to take a while to shift then I wouldn’t.

We’ve just sold through purple brinks and it took a while, their comms is appalling.

You only have to use puplebricks conveyancers if you do the pay later option. I’d avoid this option as their conveyancers are….suboptimal.

You only have to use puplebricks conveyancers if you do the pay later option. I’d avoid this option as their conveyancers are….suboptimal.

mmm yes we seem to be realising that right now. Although I would say **** useless.

I sold two properties last month, flat in Glasgow sold through bricks and mortar agent, went to closing date within a week of being on the market, sold in two weeks, buyer moving in 5 weeks after closing date (cash buyer). Estate agent has been fantastic all the way through and are making sure the solicitors are getting everything sorted. We’ve had nothing to do.

Other property, house in wetherby, been on since April with purple bricks. We have had sero communication from purple bricks, no suggestions on how to get people in the door. We’ve had to do everything. It was way over priced to start with. Now it’s sold subject to contract we’re enduring the terrible conveyancing.

I wouldn’t use an online agent again. And certainly not purple bricks

Theey cannot insist on using their conveyancers. they might try but IIRC it has no legal basis

Yeah, was trying not to be libellous as we’re still going through the process. Soon as we’re done though I’ll leave them a scorcher on trip advisor

Alright TJ, they don’t. We’ve just imagined it.

We looked into this last year. Purplebricks do not force you to use their conveyancers, IIRC they offer a financial incentive (pay on completion I think rather than pay up front?) to use them.

We chose not to in the end, as the price difference wasn’t great and you pay whether you sell or not.

As said above if your house is straightforward and your chain is too its definitely worth considering. We were buying a probate which took sometime so *probably* got our moneys worth out of them with the management of our buyer and their concerns / demands.

But, EA’s showing us round properties are useless, all they appear to do is unlock the doors (and in our case sometimes forget to lock them). We had critism about parking at our old place (parking was an issue because it was an open day and something like an extra cars on our street).

The era of skimming 3% or so of a sale price to post a few pictures on rightmove and open the door for a few punters is over.

Theey cannot insist on using their conveyancers. they might try but IIRC it has no legal basis

Jeez didn’t you read some of the other posts?? Not that i’m aware of the legality (why are they not allowed to make utilisation of their solicitors a term) however as stated earlier, there are (supposedly) a number of ongoing legal challenges around some of the practices…. scare stories meh maybe, but understandable if some of the contracts are questionable. But as others have said not just online agents, the traditional agents have had form for this.

The era of skimming 3% or so of a sale price to post a few pictures on rightmove and open the door for a few punters is over.

This

thestabiliser – they might tell you that and even try to write it into contracts but it is not allowed

Thanks for all of your post’s, I think that I’m going to give Housenetwork a try. It’s scary actually pulling the trigger though!

While I think a lot of estate agents aren’t as good as they should be, my main concern with them was always something that would be made worse rather than better by moving to an online agent working for a fixed fee.

The basic job of putting together the particulars, photos etc, coming up with a price and sticking it on rightmove is a commodity. It’s not difficult. Finding the right buyer, for the best price, and taking the deal through to a close that everyone’s happy with in good time is much harder.

Pay someone a fixed fee and they are incentivised to just take on as many properties as possible and sell them at any price.

Pay someone a flat percentage and realistically they’re not incentivised to do much more than that. They’re already getting their fee at whatever the “easy to sell at” price is. Do a hell of a lot of work to add 5 or 10% and their fee only goes up by barely more than their extra time is going to cost.

In my view if you really want them to work for the best price you should pay them a much smaller percentage of whatever the price you could do it for without them (just to cover time and costs) and a far higher percentage of whatever they achieve beyond that. So they’re not paid for old rope but they’re well rewarded for making a real difference to you.

Not easy to get them to change their fee structure but in my (limited) experience a good one can see the benefit to both parties of something like this. YMMV….