Why I warned about Purplebricks
A few weeks ago I posted a video warning of the dangers of listing your property with purplebricks and paying an upfront fee, this was at a time where they had announced that their fees would be increasing by as much as 25% and I referred to a similar scenario last year when Doorsteps had increased their fees exponentially, collected as much as they could and then went into receivership leaving thousands of sellers out of pocket.
What I cannot stress enough is that online estate agents are not in the business of selling property, they are in the business of selling advertising, and even if you do find yourself in the fortunate position that you will receive an offer as most clients of purplebricks have found out at their cost, the work of an estate agent does not end at the point that an offer has been received and accepted, that is when the work of a professional agent begins. A professional dedicated estate agent will be on top of every event through the Journey, all through progression to exchange and completion to ensure that this will actually happen.
It is an empirical fact that over 90 percent of agreed sales would fall down without the assistance of a professional agent to mediate, there is also the matter of offers being forwarded especially in a climate as now, where most offers are low, or lower, or well below asking price, many people are uncomfortable to do this face to face, they much prefer to make their offer through an agent, they feel much more comfortable to do so and more importantly they are more likely to forward an offer and the agent will be there to mediate, to actually establish the viability of the purchaser, to do the background checks, anti-money laundering checks, proof of funds Etc. and then they are in the best position to explain to the seller that they have this offer or that offer, but as many of you may know the highest offer may not necessarily be the best offer, it is a combination of the offer, the position of the buyer and their ability to raise the funds.
If you are in the market to sell a property now I would urge you to steer clear of any online estate agent avoid the national chains also and look for a local independent agent with a good reputation reputation and local brand
More than anything, look for the person rather than the company, because if you do find an independent local agent, especially one who is self-employed and has a vested interest, the chances are they will go above and beyond to look after you and to market your property to get you the best price and they will be on top of every hiccup throughout the Journey of progression and you will have the most chance of getting your property through to exchange and completion.
In the meantime I believe that there are questions that need to be asked about companies such as purplebricks cynically increasing their prices based on a promise, knowing full well that their company is in trouble and their clients have a very high risk of losing their fees, at best this is immoral, at worst it is or should be illegal.
I’d love to to hear your thoughts on this if you have any questions as always get in touch and I’ll see you in the next video