anyone dealt with purple bricks etc and if so how did you find the experience compared with a high street estate agent. About to put my house up for sale, should be an easy sale – 3 bed semi, good location, schools etc. So just wondering what a high street estate agent will offer over an online one (apart from taking an extra £1500) off me. Any hidden costs with doing it online etc?

Appreciate any comments.

Depends where you are and what type of property really. One of our local estate agents lives in the next village, has local knowledge (having been selling houses here for 25 yrs), has a really pro-active stance on the area, and has a list of likely purchasers. You might not get that degree of service with an online agent, but that might not matter depending on the nature of your property, or if it’s an urban terrace whereby there’s a lot of them that are all in effect identical.

Ended up listening to a radio piece on all of them, usual horror stories from both but simple take from it, if your house is priced well and in an area where houses sell themselves go online if you are going to get a lot of viewings and tough negotiations then the physical one does well

anyone dealt with purple bricks etc and if so how did you find the experience compared with a high street estate agent

I sold two properties recently, one through purple bricks in Yorkshire and one through a regular estate agent in Glasgow.  Purple Bricks were awful throughout the who process, trying to speak to them was a stressful event in itself, the agent completely over valued the property so we got few viewings, gave no advice about getting people in, we had to make all the suggestions, they gave no input at all.

Agent for the property in Glasgow was brilliant, handled everything, property went from going on the market on 6th October to sold, as in the money was in my bank, by 26th November. The agent was constantly in touch with the solicitors making sure everything was in progress.

Purple Bricks are dire and I would never recommend anyone use them. Don’t under estimate the difference having a good estate agent makes.

so i am in a similar quandry, have a reasonable house in a good area for schools quiet cul de sac etc and have asked two proper agents round;

agent 1 – local independent, quite pessimistivc about the market price my house at £360k, reckoned it would be about six weeks to sell. 1% plus vat 6 week lock in.

agent 2 – national brand, quite sales oriented gave me the whole spiel on selling the house his team, doing an open day to generate interest and get competing bidders. Priced house at £375k hoping to sell anything above £350k but had lots of examples of houses sold for asking price. Had to pay £150 for photos and EPC refundable when house sells. on top of that fee was  whopping £7250 inc vat, and standard they look for a 26 week lock in.

So, like the idea of the open day and the second one sounded more like he would get it sold. Should i negotiate the price and try for something like £5k with 10 week lock in….

I would give the local indy a go first – it’s only a six week lock-in.

Not sure the other bloke’s sales pitch was worth an extra percent and the extra four weeks.

Purple Bricks do not release details of how many properties they actually sell – I wonder why this is?

agent 2 – national brand, quite sales oriented gave me the whole spiel on selling the house his team, doing an open day to generate interest and get competing bidders. Priced house at £375k hoping to sell anything above £350k but had lots of examples of houses sold for asking price. Had to pay £150 for photos and EPC refundable when house sells. on top of that fee was  whopping £7250 inc vat, and standard they look for a 26 week lock in.

They are taking the piss.

Aim for 1% and 6 weeks lock in. There is no excuse for any more and it focuses their attention. They need you more than you need them…

It depends where you are though, but the busiest time of year is coming up…

We did a viewing through purple bricks – it was quick and easy for us/the vendor to manage the viewing time. The vendors inevitably do a better job of showing you round the house anyway.

This vendor was happy as PB costs £850 compared to 1.5% of £350 k.

As for making the sale and all the rest of the stuff, the estate agents should have local knowledge, a shop window and maybe even a buyer on the books who’s waiting for what you’ve got.

Purple Bricks do not release details of how many properties they actually sell – I wonder why this is?

Find the 5live program on them, it was released and measured independently, not sure on the comparison but they also use it as part of their advertising. Where does your local estate agent publish their sales conversion figures?

Find the 5live program on them, it was released and measured independently, not sure on the comparison but they also use it as part of their advertising. Where does your local estate agent publish their sales conversion figures?

Ask them and they’ll tell you.  Purplebricks won’t.

The last time I sold I found a league table of local agents online. By their very nature they are over competitive cock wavers.  Purple bricks keep their pants on in the shower.

Used Housesimple twice now. Set our own sale price, cost £500 a time (though its £700 now). Sold first time on day one, and 6 weeks for second one. Photos were excellent, and we felt in charge of the whole process. Online was good, and cut out lots of back and forth as we dealt straight with the buyers.

Interestingly we valued both above the level the “proper estate” agent did. It felt as though they were pricing for an easy sale, not to maximise revenue for their customer (us).

If you are IT literate, keep the house nice, are realistic about price then it works well.

It does depend a little on whether you think you have a property that is easy to sell or not.

Purple Bricks charge up front (with a potentially inflated suggested value). If it doesn’t sell then they’re not going to be that bothered about getting it sold as you will have already paid your fee. Local agents will end up costing you more, but it’s probably easier to have discussions with them and most are negotiable with regards to percentage of sales costs. That 2% offer above seems very high indeed – 1% is easily achievable and maybe a bit less if you ask around.

If you are IT literate, keep the house nice, are realistic about price then it works well.

I think you’re over simplifying it just a touch.

OP, I asked the same question on here in November and I used Housenetwork on the recommendations I had off here.

Local estate agent would’ve been 4k commission, I paid Housenetwork £825 for their premium service. I sold within 4 weeks and got more than the local ‘expert’ said we would get for it. If I ever moved again I would go straight back to Housenetwork as they’ve been really good with their communications and service.

PS; I used the online conveyancing sevice (Mi-Ctrl) associated with them as well and they’ve been really good.

House Network have been going a lot longer than Purple Bricks who are jumping on the bandwagon with lots of advertising. I sold my house with HN and they were brilliant and saved me £1.5k. Only downside was showing people round myself and sorting keys out at point of sale but everything else was miles better than a high street agent. I have since recommended them to 2 friends who also had the same excellent experience.