Has anyone used one of these ?

I've often thought that I might use these one day, as I feel that high street estate agents are a rip-off. They seem to do very little for their fee other than stick the property on Rightmove and wait for enquiries to come in.

On the other hand, looking at the report below, it seems that the cheaper online agents take your money up front, and are not bothered whether the property sells or not, because they get paid anyway.

Any experiences anyone ?

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It largely depends on the specific agent you get with someone like Purplebricks.

Accessing the back end of Rightmove etc isn't possible without paying for a licence so you need to use some sort of agency to list on these sites so it's not really feasible to do it yourself.

I used Purplebricks recently and a high street agent on a joint agency basis (i.e. I would only pay the high street if they found me a buyer) and the Purplebricks was better in every regard and miles cheaper. The guy I had worked around the clock and was really responsive at all times. He dealt with offers but the way it works meant that I could also speak directly with people coming for viewings and making offers. You have much more insight into what's going on and more control with Purplebricks. Booking viewings is also much easier on Purplebricks than with traditional agents and it works really well, so it's good for purchasers as well.

These days people look on Rightmove, so high sreet agents have very little competitive edge in my experience and are not worth the additional fees as they are unlikely to achieve a price that would cover it.

You can meet your local Purplebricks guy for free and get a valuation so I would suggest doing that.

In terms of viewings, when we sold our last abode the traditional Estate Agent organised an 'Open Day' booked the appointments and conducted the viewings.My dear wife and I weren't involved at all - Is this a service that is provided by the Online Agents ?

My impression has been (Rightly or wrongly) that when using an Online Agent, one registers, pays a set fee and then gets on with doing all the viewings and negotiations with prospective buyers.Perhaps someone can advise me if this is the case or whether my understanding is total and utter hogwash.

We are actually considering moving from our current location and of course might consider using an Online Agent.Be most grateful for any assistance.

Online agents will conduct all viewings including an open day if that's the best marketing tactic. For Purplebricks it was £300 more for them to do all the viewings. I just did them myself. You can be as involved as you want.

i've recently moved, 4 weeks ago.
Had 15 months experience of selling & looking for new property , so both points of view.

From a buying point we gave up viewing properties that were with online agents such as purple bricks.
As an example we were in Croydon but viewing in Worthing area , on contacting purple bricks the call was taken in the midlands , they new jack about the area.
wanted to view 9.30 / 10 / 10.30am was given a time of 3 pm via email.
also had to create account.
waste of time, basically a scattergun approach.

from a selling point of view we initially placed with a large London firm that gave us a great valuation.
however commission would be 3%.
Big mistake.
the property was over valued and we wasted 3 months with them , cutting ties they fought tooth n nail for a week to not give the listing up.
from there we placed with the opposite a small local firm, just 2 chaps who explained in detail their opinion on a lowrr valuation but softened by only 0.75% commission.
Was very happy with them , constant feedback , info and they knew their stuff about current market etc.

Kids,tired of being bothered by your pesky parents?
Then leave home, get a job & pay your own bills, while you still know everything.

Love it - lol

"It feels much better than it ever did, much more sensitive." John Wayne Bobbit