Ah misery! The pain of saving on commission only to lose out on the price: Here’s the advert

| Rosalind Renshaw

On Tuesday, our proptech writer Rayhan Rafiq Omar penned a possible advertising script – loosely based on the notion of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery – for use by a high street agent.

He laid down the challenge: “Personally, I’d like to see someone do a spoof the Purplebricks advert.”

But would it ever be made?

Well, it just has!

Enterprising agents RedDoor Homes, in Rochester, Kent, have risen to the challenge – and made it look like a piece of cake.

Enjoy!

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32 Comments

  1. Chris Wood
    May 5, 2017 at 06:45

    Well made and funny. Hats off to Red Door Homes.

    Report
    1. Bless You
      May 5, 2017 at 12:02

      Well made but not exactly an advert for traditional agents…1.5% of what value.. ??  iam sure the actual flat rate (£) of 1.5% wouldnt be far off £1800 average in the uk….   ..its more like 1% in our city. Which may be why PB only have about 2% marekt share. 
      Think need to do a video where you pick up on the fact if your house doesnt sell you still pay,,,
      and where is the motivation to get the best price if the lister gets paid as soon as you sign a contract promising alot but delivering nothing….this is what costs you the money..
      Your message highlights the fact you sold a house up the road for more, which maybe  subject to your asking price not necc. your skills as an agent…
      go on do another 🙂  ..   
       
       

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      1. Bless You
        May 5, 2017 at 12:07

        Script:
         
        Did you put your property on the market after?
         
        Yes.
         
        Online one..… you know , off the tele..
         
        Oh..well I expect they’ll do the same job…
         
        Yes….and they don’t charge any commission…they call it ‘commissary….
         
        No commission?? What they sell your house for free?
         
        Well , no… they’ll charge me £900 if they sell it or not…
         
        Eh? What do you mean?
         
        Well local agents get paid only if you move…,purpleships get paid anyway…its kind of
        No Sale, Pay Fee Anyway, …..
         
        Oh…. (looks confused) Well I expect they will show people around your house for that price.
         
        Um, no…( not bothered by it face)
         
        and negotiate on your behalf to make sure you get the best price…
         
        Mmm, well….no
         
        No?….how long have you been on the market?   

        Answer : 4 months….

        And you have to still pay them if you want to change agents….
         
        Hits head into cake?????
         
         – – drink coffee….

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        1. awicking05
          May 5, 2017 at 14:50

          Consider it done.

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          1. Bless You
            May 6, 2017 at 22:08

            lol,,great!!!

            Good normally beats evil….i think its time the good start kicking some purple ass!!!  

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  2. AndrewOverman
    May 5, 2017 at 06:45

    Love this. Avoid #CONmisery – instruct a selling agent, not a listing agent. There’s a difference.

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  3. yawn
    May 5, 2017 at 07:38

    Time someone attacked fire with fire, would love to see a generic version go out on TV…. I sense a crowdfund opportunity?

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    1. AgentV
      May 5, 2017 at 08:12

      Absolutely right. With permission obviously, replace ‘Red door homes’ with ‘local independent agent’ and we have a fantastic start for ‘collective intelligent marketing’.
      Then we could have a centralised enquiry telephone number to distribute leads, and all enquiries in their area could be passed to red door homes as fair reward for their efforts.
      Just one to two thousand independent agents could easily support the costs on an ongoing monthly basis.
      What a start to a fight back!!!!!

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      1. dave_d
        May 5, 2017 at 09:14

        I would absolutely back this

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        1. AgentV
          May 5, 2017 at 09:45

          dave_d you are a great and welcome start! Enthusiasm for the cause of independents and and an open mind is all that is needed to get going. How can we contact you or can you contact us?

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          1. awicking05
            May 5, 2017 at 14:51

            Lets talk. Im happy to look at doing the production. Please feel free to contact me on 01634757750. Andy

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      2. tomplatt43
        May 7, 2017 at 16:49

        I would back this too!

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  4. AgentV
    May 5, 2017 at 08:16

    I personally am going to keep this on my iphone to show anyone talking about using an online lister! It doesn’t matter that it is another business…it is a fellow independent as far as I am concerned…..and we are now all in this together!

    Well done Red Door Homes!

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  5. Certus
    May 5, 2017 at 09:02

    A job well done lads. may I use this please?

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    1. awicking05
      May 5, 2017 at 14:52

      Hi Certus, Please use and share away. We dont have the marketing budget that Purple Bricks have so need all the backing from high street agents to get our message across.

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  6. AgentV
    May 5, 2017 at 10:05

    OPEN COMMENT TO REDDOOR HOMES

    Thank you guys for producing something that can help focus and galvanise what we as independents need to do. Are you happy for everyone to use it in the cause, and would you be open to discussing working together on larger scale projects for a collective community of independents?

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    1. awicking05
      May 5, 2017 at 14:55

      Hi AgentV,
      Absolutely need everyone to share it and please call me on 01634 757750 to discuss a collective plan going forward.
      Andy Wicking

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  7. gk1uk2001
    May 5, 2017 at 10:31

    Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant! And I would gladly help out where I can for a generic one to be made for use by all. Well played.

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    1. awicking05
      May 5, 2017 at 15:07

      Please contact me and i will arrange for a generic one to be used by all independant high street agents. We can arrange a google hangout to get it going and replicate any purple bricks advert that we jointly decide will work.

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  8. Ben the Badger
    May 5, 2017 at 10:46

    What so many ‘agents’ – whatever their approach to self-promotion and remuneration – forget (or do not realise in the first place) is that they have an overriding duty of care to the property owners!

    When we were drafting the original Regulations to implement the Estate Agents Act 1979 the Director-General of Fair Training said to me, “Of course, if estate agents knew the law there would be no need for these regulations”.

    He was referring to an agent’s fiduciary duty of care – this concept was firmly established in this country in the 11th Century, but 400 years earlier in Greece and perhaps a few years later in Rome.  Not sure about China!

    BTB

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    1. AgentV
      May 5, 2017 at 12:04

      Ben the Badger
      This is such an interesting comment. I would genuingly like to hear more. Please can you totally encompass the full extent of ‘an agent’s fiduciary duty of care’ in case it presents angles that we have not seen before.

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  9. MissCharlotteP13
    May 5, 2017 at 11:36

    This made me laugh! Great video for a Friday, thank you!

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  10. ddmoore08
    May 5, 2017 at 11:55

    Why did’t they give the asking price??? Because high st agents are not transparent…

    In summary too little too late… enjoy your pints tonight men 🙂

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    1. rsvstu97
      May 6, 2017 at 10:16

      Lighten up.

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  11. claris
    May 5, 2017 at 12:23

    Brilliant. Absolutely love it. CIELA please pick this up. It’s pure gold!

     

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  12. ddmoore08
    May 5, 2017 at 16:31

    While you old boys are on the keyboard slapping each others backs, I can bet the online guys are out selling 🙂

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    1. awicking05
      May 5, 2017 at 17:29

      listing perhaps, selling i doubt.

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    2. tomplatt43
      May 7, 2017 at 16:47

      @ ddmoore08 They wont be out selling! Their vendors do the viewings!!

      Report
  13. Traditionalist
    May 6, 2017 at 11:00

    Why on earth do we need to stoop to PB’s level?  The mere fact that they are not compelled to state on any advertising – all fees paid are non refundable regardless of whether we achieve a sale –  is beyond me.  Why arent we pushing the ASA on that.  Incredibly many people still think that if PB dont sell their house, they wont need to pay their fee!

    Their website says that the fee isnt paid upfront – however following a conversation with PB they said: ‘Our fee is payable upfront upon instruction, however if you choose to instruct our conveyancing service “eZie Conveyancing” this allows you to defer the fee until the point of sale or 10 months, whichever comes first’! PB went on – the EPC is £84 and accompanied viewings £300.  PB also said that ‘due to their low fees and high selling rate’ (however PB have never actually released their listing to sales ratio so this cant actually be a statement of fact), we do not operate a no sale, no fee basis. However once you have paid the fee we will not take the fee again and your advert will still be marketed until it is sold’.  I thought it had a 10 month limit?  So LISTING (an enormous difference to selling) a house in London could cost £1199 to list on the portals, £84 for the EPC, £300 for the viewings.  IF they sell the house, the BASIC fee for their conveyancing is £500 plus VAT – but they cant give an exact figure as it is up to the LPE to to quote individually (!)

     

     

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    1. cyberduck46
      May 7, 2017 at 11:26

      Traditionalist,
       
      With PurpleBricks’ fee you can choose to pay up front or alternatively when the property sells or after 10 months whichever is sooner.
       
      If you choose the deferred payment option then you have to use a particular conveyancer who pay PurpleBricks at the time of instruction. So PurpleBricks always receive the fee on instruction.
       
      If the property doesn’t sell you can take it off the market and put it back on as many times as you want. There’s no time limit.

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      1. PeeBee
        May 7, 2017 at 13:03

        “With PurpleBricks’ fee you can choose to pay up front or alternatively when the property sells or after 10 months whichever is sooner.”

        But of course people do not understand that PurpleBricks still get their money within DAYS when choosing the so-called ‘deferred’ payment option, NOT after 10 months/sale.

        “If you choose the deferred payment option then you have to use a particular conveyancer who pay PurpleBricks at the time of instruction. So PurpleBricks always receive the fee on instruction.”

        Are you 100% certain of the factual correctness of this statement?

        Tell us, please, how your above scenario works.

        Knew you couldn’t resist the pull to return to posting, cyberduck – but I wonder if you will resort to ‘ducking’ out of responding to this in the way you have to issues on other threads…

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        1. PeeBee
          May 8, 2017 at 16:51

          The floor is all yours, cyberduck 46…

          Report
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