Three financial institutions have all issued buy ratings for Purplebricks after the firm said it is entering the Canadian market.
Meanwhile it has emerged that Purplebricks will not be using its own brand in Canada for at least the time being.
The purchase of DuProprio-ComFree from Yellow Pages was described by Investec as “a very sensible bolt-on deal”.
It said the £29m price being paid by Purplebricks was “attractive”.
Investec, which acts as a broker and adviser to Purplebricks, said DPCF had a “very strong” 20% market share in Quebec, and about 2% in Ontario and Western Canada. The three regions account for 77.5% of the Canadian market.
Peel Hunt – of which Purplebricks is a corporate customer – made similar points, forecasting “modest slow single-digit £m losses from the Canadian business for the first two years, with profits from 2020/21”.
Zeus Capital, which is under contract to Purplebricks to produce research, said DPCF had a “remarkable management team” which had used organic cashflow to grow the company.
A Purplebricks spokesperson confirmed that the existing DPCF brands will continue to be used.
He said: “DPCF will continue to operate under the existing brands of DuProprio in Québec and ComFree outside of Québec, although there will be a strategic opportunity to introduce the Purplebricks brand outside of Québec in the future.”
The deal is expected to complete on Friday.
Yesterday, the City did not seem particularly impressed. Purplebricks shares closed down almost 5% at 310p.
By contrast, Countrywide shares rose sharply, albeit from a very low base. They finished almost 17% up – around 6p – rising to 44p.
Niagara Falls
I guess it was one way to deflect attention from elsewhere in the world . Corporate version of Dr.Pangloss Spend,spend,spend
Meanwhile 85 LPE.s fight over 1580 instructions in OZ
Across the border in US Bricks seem to have removed their agents from the Realtor.com site ?.According to Zillow they have 299 listings with 209 recent sales Whether that number is correct I don’t know. Certainly not a fat lot and if it isn’t true you would have thought as its out there in the public domain they would make sure it was!
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So to clarify they have bought a business that loses up to £9million a year and is “forecast” to start making money at some point in the future. This fits right in the Purplebricks mantra.
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Extraordinary!!!
Pb are “supposedly” about to publish disastrous accounts on Thursday showing a bigger loss than last year, have failed miserably in the US and the housing market is on the downturn in the whole of North America…..
The answer??
Buy a non profit making business in Canada to keep the ship sinking further.
Complete madness.
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>Complete madness.
PB’s UK business was making a loss but now makes a profit. Would it have been madness to buy that before it made a profit?
The question is whether and how long it will take to get into profit in its other territories and how big profits will get in all territories including the UK. Initial losses in a territory are inevitable but the huge question is whether the overseas operations can emulate the UK with history telling us that it’s not usually as easy.
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“PB’s UK business was making a loss but now makes a profit.”
Is it, ducky?
I mean… IS IT?
Is it “profit” or is it what most reasonable people refer to as loss wrapped up in fancy accounting *********** (credit: Jonnie)?
Is it the kind of “profit” that a businessman like you would be happy to be reporting?
Is it the kind of “profit” that a national company with around 800 fee-earners out there treading the boards 24:7?
Well… IS IT?
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Proof of the pudding, ducky…
You got your money out of PB a while ago. On more than one occasion.
IS IT the kind of “profit” that will make you buy another wadge of shares TODAY??
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I agree with what PeeBee has said.
When us “real” business owners talk about profit we don’t talk about what is actually a loss folded up in clever words to hide a **** poor performance…we talk about money actually made.
In any case we only have until Thursday to see proof once again that the PB model is an unmittigating disaster and doomed for failure.
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Thank you, Ess90.
Just don’t make a habit of agreeing with me – you’ll get a name for yourself!
;o)
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I agree with PeeBee on that.
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Oh, sunshine – fear not…
…you’ve already got a name for yourself on day #1.
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EastsideStory, so you believe the resdient conspiracy theorist over PB’s auditors? Ask him to substantiate his claims.
Stop listening to the misleading nonsense on here and go and have a look at PB’s 2017 audited accounts.
Here’s what Grant Thornton say on the matter “the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the parent company’s affairs as at 30 April 2017 and of the group’s loss for the year then ended”
An overall loss but a profit from UK operations which according to unaudited H1 2018 accounts increased at the half way stage. No profit figures from unaudited interim or final accounts from PB have ever been changed once audited.
Do your own research.
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Well PB, the UK business according to their highly respected auditor was in profit for the financial year to April 2017.
I would imagine the UK business has made an even greater profit for the financial year to April 2018 because turnover increased massively but then costs may also have increased massively so there’s a degree of guesswork there. I’d be willing to put money on it though because personally I don’t think costs will have increased more than revenue.
Also, the fact that companies like Alex Springer invest £125m suggests to me that they will have gone through the books with a fine tooth comb.
So the ball is in your court. What do you have to support “reasonable people refer to as loss wrapped up in fancy accounting ***********”? Sounds like your usual lack of objectivity and being a sucker for any conspiracy theory.
OK, let’s see what evidence you have that would make a reasonable person think PB’s auditor is either mistaken or corrupt?
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Cyberduck…you only have to wait Until Thursday.
Although what’s being widely predicted is losses doubled and revenues doubled. What that tells you is that they have to spend more to gain more revenue, but that the model still has not proven to work or pay dividends to it’s share holders. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was a sticky business with repeat customers but it’s not….it’s a company with many disgruntled customers that has come to the conclusion that it’s once bitten and twice shy.
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Eastsidestory,
Losses will obviously be greater as a group. It’s the UK where I suggest profits will increase.
I’ll restate what I said earlier before PeeBee went mental…
“The question is whether and how long it will take to get into profit in its other territories and how big profits will get in all territories including the UK. Initial losses in a territory are inevitable but the huge question is whether the overseas operations can emulate the UK with history telling us that it’s not usually as easy.”
Still not sure what’s wrong with that. Waiting for PeeBee’s reply to back up his statement of a “loss wrapped up in fancy accounting ***********”
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I am at a loss – and maybe not alone in that area… ;o) – to know what needs to be “backed up”.
I am also profoundly unsure as to why you refer to it as a “statement”. It was a question. Dictionary definition:
“A sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information.”
Among other synonyms it can also be referred to as a probe. It is a ‘something’ requiring an answer or response.
In this particular instance it is clearly something that you wish NOT to answer or respond to in the expected/requested manner – along with the other questions conttained in that post – or the one that followed.
Seems perfectly clearcut to me what I asked – but, for the hard of thinking, I repeat it here – away from the other awkward questions you wish to avoid in order that you can concentrate on it better and I will even highlight, bold out and capitalise (I tried to undereline for the avooidance of but the feature doesn’t seem to work – so I’ve wrapped it in asterisks…) the bit that I think might be giving you the bother:
Is it “profit” ****OR IS IT**** what most reasonable people refer to as loss wrapped up in fancy accounting *********** (credit: Jonnie)?
There you go.
Should need a single-sentence response now – but in reality that’s all it ever needed.
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>I am also profoundly unsure as to why you refer to it as a “statement”. It was a question.
Don’t get fancy you are just making innuendo by asking questions just like all conspiracy theorists. You have no evidence and just want to con your fellow agents into thinking you do.
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“You have no evidence and just want to con your fellow agents into thinking you do.”
Look, ducky – I don’t think I’ve claimed to have evidence of ANYTHING here – have I?
I asked you a simple set of simple questions.
Questions to which you have ducked (pun not intentional), dived and otherwise avoided like a drippy-beaked terminal case of bird-flu.
Questions that… if you answered honestly… would blow you and your heavily agenderised crusade clean out of your water… and if you answered them with tongue firmly in bill and wings crossed… would blow you and your heavily agenderised crusade clean out of the water.
One word for it, my feathery-@rsed adversary
#duckshot.
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Well PeeBee, I’ve provided opinion in regard to your single relevant question in regard to my original post about the UK beng profitable but you seem to have missed those points somehow. See my point about auditors & investors examining the accounts. That’s the kind of thing most investors put trust in. Not good enough for you though, otherwise you wouldn’t be asking the question unless perhaps you’re trying to suggest something by asking questions? God forbid you’d ever do that.
Like I say, there’s no way anybody can prove a negative and you should know that so why ask?
If there’s anything other than casting aspersions and innuendo that drives the questions you ask then I think you should come out with it.
Otherwise I think it’s safe to presume you are just trying to mislead by asking questions which nobody can possibly answer with 100% certainty.
As usual your disingenuity & hypocrisy shining through like a beacon.
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“I’ve provided opinion in regard to your single relevant question in regard to my original post about the UK beng profitable but you seem to have missed those points somehow.”
I’ve missed nothing. They just didn’t answer the basic question I asked.
I would suggest that instead of the above statement, you actually meant “the single question I feel relevant/appropriate/’safe’ (delete where applicable) to answer” – ain’t that right, ducky?
“Otherwise I think it’s safe to presume you are just trying to mislead by asking questions which nobody can possibly answer with 100% certainty.”
WHICH questions do your refer to, ducky?
For example – why can’t you be “100% certain” whether you – a businessman – would be happy reporting the “profit” you refer to?
Why can’t you be “100% certain” whether or not you would reinvest in PB shares TODAY based upon the “profit” you refer to?
Surely those are things that you can be close enough to 100% certain about to respond with a simple “Yes” or “No”?
Even the most basic question – “Is it (profit), ducky?” got a politician’s response (NOT “Answer”) – citing accountancy terms and without using that simple “Yes” or “No” again.
I’ll bet you’re chuffing brilliant at the party game…
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PeeBee what is your problem? Why are you constantly writing ***?
Do you suffer from depression?
Life clearly didn’t work well for you as you are spending your whole life in writing comments about other people’s businesses and ideas disguised under a username.
While others are spending their time building businesses.
Do you even have a business? How is it going? Could you share with us some data so we can check in the companyhouse? You love to comment about other people’s businesses, let’s check yours? shall we?
I know it must hurt you that other people make money while you are sitting here and writing stupid comments.
In all honesty, Michael Bruce doesn’t give … about your comments and investors are not as stupid as you are or at least they have the decency to put their money where their mouth is.
You are just a stupid, ignorant bully who has nothing else to do but show his envy by stupid comments.
All your comments just tell me one thing, you need to see a doctor ASAP. This is very unhealthy.
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True. This is a place for people to read the industry news and share their experience. Let’s try to keep it professional. I am sure this view is shared by lots of PIE readers.
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Welcome back Dom
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PeeBee can speak for himself but for what its worth he is a good agent and does very well for himself on a business side.
As for PB – As so many people point out they do not make a profit, they have had numerous reports made and upheld against them through the ASA and they have been shown time and again to mislead the public.
They offer an inferior service and claim they are better which is not true.
Myself, PeeBee and thousands of other agents do not like the way they lie and deceive. Its not good for the industry or the public.
If PeeBee and others did not speak up they would continue to flaunt the law.
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smile please, do you not see the difference between a misleading advert and audited accounts? Clearly PeeBee can’t look at this objectively and like mentioned above is a bully who doesn’t like people posting a different view to his own.
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Given they are not post EBITA figures must leave even you wondering if all is well?
PB are not a business. They are an investment vehicle. They will make a few people really rich (good for them) however the business is not viable which is why they continually seek further investment.
I have no problem with PB directors / investors making money but the BS they spill out time and again is infuriating.
PeeBee is a little aggressive but his heart is believe it or not in the right place. It makes no difference to him if PB are worth a trillion or a quid.
He is just hacked off public and investors are being spun a line. Like Chris Wood, Robert May, numerous others. They just want a level playing field where an investor or member of the public can make an informed choice without the fluff around it.
Robert has even developed a system to identify the true best agent in a set location. Guess what he is not in it to make himself rich, just to help other agents and the public.
On Twitter today, a landlord has asked PB 40 times for a gas safety certificate, 40 times!!!!! – If heaven forbid the boiler leaks carbon monoxide and a tenant dies. The landlord will be up on manslaughter charges! – This is just 1 issue from the daily issues that plight PB.
If the worse did happen the LL goes to court and it comes out PB had been request 40 times to sort a GSC what do you think will happen to share price, should investors not know how this company acts?
I get you have a share portfolio, but what i do not get is why you defend them so much? its not like the shares even jump much to give a return. Surely CW is a better bet at circa 0.40p who turn a true profit and i have no doubt will double SP by the end of the year.
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>He is just hacked off public and investors are being spun a line. Like Chris Wood, Robert May, numerous others. They just want a level playing field where an investor or member of the public can make an informed choice without the fluff around it.
No I don’t believe that. I think he’s a fraud and a hypocrite with a complete lack of objectivity. He deals in innuendo & speculation.
I outed by him as a fraud when he posted diametrically opposing comments on the subject of whether you can expect Estate Agents to be truthful or not.
Misleading by innuendo – “I was only asking a question”. Do me a favour, I wasn’t born yesterday.
Supporting an industry that is far from transparent and spending all his time focusing on an easy target with about 4 or 5% of the market.
>I get you have a share portfolio, but what i do not get is why you defend them so much?
I don’t have PB shares and i don’t defend them, I correct the misleading comments on here from time to time. That’s not the same thing. I post elsewhere and get criticised for negative comments. Have a look over on the lse forum. Here’s what one PB shareholder said about me “Cyberduck – you have shown your true colors yet again. You don’t own shares here yet you appear to spend a lot of time on here posting data often with a negative slant. You rarely post elsewhere which tells a story in itself. A significant investment has been made by a serious investment group who are very smart people, the Board has been enhanced by the addition of experienced NED’s and the overseas performance is looking promising. Yet, all you want to highlight is a miss on trading. Now – that is why I have called you out in the past and why I believe you are an idiot. I spend only a few minutes each week on here as I am too busy with other stuff but enough to know what your objective is. Yes I am invested and when I decide to sell in 5,10 or 20 years time I expect I will regarded handsomely. You are now on filter as I find you tiresome.”
So this guy knows what my objective is apparantly just like people on here claim to. There’s no one reason why I post on here and it’s changed over time but let’s face it there’s an awful lot of hypocrisy which doesn’t sit well with me. I think I’m contributing both here and on lse but clearly some people would prefer I didn’t 🙂
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Hi smile please.
I think there is a confusion. Everybody is free to express their own opinion here. But let’s not confuse this with bullying, inappropriate comments, etc. I read Robert comments with great interest, he is open with his views and doesn’t hide behind a nickname.
It seems that you know PeeBee, but nobody else knows him. It would be really helpful if we could keep any discussions here professional.
Do you really believe that the investors read these comments (or more like Daily Rant) and form a view? or do you think they are excited about our industry after reading some childish comments?
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Many people know who PeeBee is. Its up to him if he wishes to ‘Out’ himself.
He may well get carried away but i think its passion that is boiling over not trolling.
We all have an opinion, what is it they say “Everyone has one they are like ****holes”
For what it is worth i think he raises some valid points, but maybe because he is so vocal people want to disagree without giving him a chance.
I would hope investors like you and i who are not investing hundreds of thousands are doing their homework and check twitter and industry news sites regarding whatever they product / industry they invest in. I know my modest share portfolio i only have myself to blame if i lose it all.
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They now have a word for this: Triggered.
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My good friend who’s an experienced account describes EBITDA as “what do you want the figures to show?”
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See part of this Forbes article by Ted Gavin entitled ‘WHY EBITDA IS A GREAT BIG LIE’ which PeeBee stumbled across previously:
EBITDA doesn’t provide any consistency check for a company’s accounting practices as to how it arrives at its cash flow reporting.
For example, I worked as a restructuring advisor on a case about 10 years ago where some of the related warehousing operations (who were not my client) reported EBITDAR (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization and Rent). We joked that, when you’re running an operation which is primarily real estate, the one thing that you have in abundance is Rent. So why exclude one of your principal operating expenses? I’ve seen this used often in retail operations as well – take a large, undeniable expense category and turn it into a positive, by choosing to report it in a manner that artificially inflates cash. What’s next – EBITDARE (EBITDAR, plus all other Expenses)? I’m sure if we go through the exercise, we’ll find that even the most underperforming company will look great on EBITDA once we add back all of its expenses.
So could huge advertising costs simply be excluded or reported ‘in a manner that artificially inflates cash’?
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And what about operational profit?
PB stated UK operational profit for H1 2018 = £3.2M.
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Cyberduck
By answering my question it may have relevance to your response:
So could huge advertising costs simply be excluded or reported ‘in a manner that artificially inflates cash’?
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>So could huge advertising costs simply be excluded or reported ‘in a manner that artificially inflates cash’?
I don’t think it’s that easy to fool auditors. PB’s business is pretty simple and I’m no accountant but have been preparing my own company accounts for a long time now. With PB I’d start off by looking at their bank accounts. It’s essentially a cash business. You’d see all income from listings and you’d see all outgoings for advertising. The auditor will do further checks and be looking for supporting evidence.
Like I say it’s not just auditors who will have looked at the accounts. Institutions and Axel Young have bought newly issued shares by PB. They would have had their own accountants look at the books and been satisfied that accounting was in order.
PB have had their accounts audited many times now. No sniff of an issue. Just ignore the conspiracy thoerists with their innuendo unless they can come up with some real evidence.
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“I’m no accountant but have been preparing my own company accounts for a long time now.”
Best get a wiggle on, then – they are due in a mere 2 months and you were quite late with the last set…
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Thank you for your measured response Cyberduck.
As you have easy access to the audited accounts perhaps you could tell me how much they spent in advertising last accounting period and how this was reported and deducted?
For instance, could this have been a capital deduction (something like brand building), if that is even possible, or more correctly an advertising/promotional marked expense deducted from PB turnover?
Whilst you’re looking at the accounts can you also confirm whether circa £400 conveyancing referral fees per deal are accounted for in PB’s accounts?
If these fees not accounted for in PB’s accounts how much commission did these companies pay out to ‘others’?
As you may wish to invest in PB once more in the future, I feel sure that you would value and share this information?
It may be that all is correct but the reason I ask is PB have been shown to have misled their customers on many occasions by ASA rulings against them so based on this are they likely to potentially mislead their investors?
Warren Buffet once said ‘There is seldom just one cockroach in the kitchen.’
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Thomas,
We all have easy access to the audited accounts. They’re on PB’s website.
Why don’t you take a look and if you find anything wrong come back and tell us rather than asking questions?
Perhaps you don’t do this because innuendo is all you’ve got?
>It may be that all is correct but the reason I ask is PB have been shown to have misled their customers
Lots of people mislead in advertising. Doesn’t mean they will try and mislead with their audited accounts. That’s a bit of a leap isn’t it? Do you have any evidence, even statistical, to demonstrate that those who mislead elsewhere will mislead with their audited accounts? You could start by looking at PeeBee, yourself and others on here perhaps who seem to try and mislead by innuendo. Check out a few Estate Agent websites. Plenty of them tell you how good they are. Check to see if they’re as good as they say and if not see if you can find any correlation between that and misrepresentation of their accounts. That’s something for you to be getting on with. Not as easy as casting aspersions about a competitor though is it? Like the easy target do you? Well that seems to be the way of things.
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I guess Warren Buffet’s experience must be dismissed then Cyberduck.
Warren Buffett shares some of his thoughts on EBITDA:“It amazes me how widespread the use of EBITDA has become. People try to dress up financial statements with it.”
“We won’t buy into companies where someone’s talking about EBITDA. If you look at all companies, and split them into companies that use EBITDA as a metric and those that don’t, I suspect you’ll find a lot more fraud in the former group. Look at companies like Wal-Mart, GE and Microsoft — they’ll never use EBITDA in their annual report.”
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Thomas,
Did you see me mention EBITDA?
I referred to operating profit of £3.2M from the interim accounts.
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Cyberduck
You keep mentioning s 50/50 no sale, no fee conversion rate that I mentioned immediately post market crash in 2008.
So at the worst point in the market for many years 50% of my sellers paid nothing to market their property.
Let us move on 10 years where 100% of PB customers now pay to market a property whether it completes or not.
Are these stats progressive?
They are most certainly disruptive.
I do not charge for viewings, which I personally attend and I do not charge extra when my client pays on completion of the deal or if they wish to use their own conveyancing company.
My listing to completion ratio over the past few years has been around 90 to 95% for which I tell my potential sellers.
My average fee with these PB’s add-ons and referral fees are less than PB’s and I wish and need to provide a full service to completion in order to get paid.
This is why I despise PB with their misleading countrywide TV and other marketing because it is simply not a true or a fair reflection of the post-completion 5* reviewed service I offer.
After 30 years of payment on success, I would rather leave the industry than surreptitiously charge to list a property regardless of the outcome.
In my opinion, a ‘proper’ estate agent has to on a complete a transaction and I take exception to PB telling the public via vast amounts of other peoples money that they provide a better service for £1000s less.
It is simply not true, PB cannot save £1000s, on average, for 2/3 of the UK.
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And the group as a whole ?
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“And what about operational profit?”
It’s “a profit from business operations (gross profit minus operating expenses) before deduction of interest and taxes.”, ducky.
Which is all good and champion… as long as ‘interest and taxes’ fall below your “£3.2m”
WARNING – AWKWARD QUESTION FOLLOWS – AVOID… AVOID…
But even if it does tick that box, ducky – where does that leave the “operational profit” balance sheet 2014-18?
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“At the year end date there was no material exposure to movement in interest rates as the Group has no borrowings or other financial assets or liabilities linked to interest rates.”>
“UK corporation tax for the current year” “-”
>where does that leave the “operational profit” balance sheet 2014-18?
Getting a bit off topic now. I was talking about the current situation.
I refer you to my original comment.
So back to you. Where is your evidence of “loss wrapped up in fancy accounting ***********”
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“So back to you. Where is your evidence…”
I refer you once again to my response above. Don’t play dumb, ducky.
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I’m not dumb. I know the favourite trick of a conspiracy theorist is to ask leading questions. Why are you asking that particular question? Is there something you have spotted or actually know about? Answer “No”, youre just trying to promote some nonsense that has no basis.
If you’ve got any evidence and your question isn’t just based on specualtion then let’s have it. There is no way to prove a negative so the burden of proof is on you.
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I didn’t say you were dumb, ducky.
I suggested you are playing dumb.
BIIIIIG difference.
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I’m not dumb and I’m not playing dumb.
Just answer the point, or are you playing dumb and being evasive.
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“If you’ve got any evidence and your question isn’t just based on specualtion then let’s have it.”
Erm… IF I had “evidence” then why would I be asking the question?
I asked a simple question (or seven) – why are you finding it so… difficult… to provide answers to them (some of which of course will be based upon speculation)?
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I’ve commented in regard to the question about profitability. I’m not here to answer your off topic questions though PeeBee. Perhaps you should start coming up with some answers?
Of course you’re just being disingenuous because what you are really doing is trying to say there’s something wrong with PurpleBricks’ statements in regard to UK profit.
“Is it “profit” or is it what most reasonable people refer to as loss wrapped up in fancy accounting ***********?”
Given the number of audits PB have had, your question and mention of “fancy accounting ***********” suggest a conspiracy between auditor Grant Thornton & PurpleBricks. Very unlikely especially seeing as Institutional investors & Alex Springer have no doubt given the finances a good looking over.
Do you accept this reasoning? If not, why not?
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“Do you accept this reasoning? If not, why not?”
NO – because it is not an answer. It is an excuse that can be used for the “fancy accounting ***********” that I was asking whether or not it was.
I am not suggesting a conspiracy – that’s firmly in YOUR head alone, duckjy… and the way we have seen you map out your crusade. We’re all disingenuous – every one of us to a man/woman… we’re all plotting this together – him ‘dohn sarf’, me ‘oop North, her in the Wirral or the Wash or somewhere beginning with a ‘W’ – not to forget him-that-wants-to-be-a-her based in Leeds or Lincoln (or is it Lothian – I forget) – but every chuffin’ one of us is in cahoots to burst your #fanboy_fave Purple bubvble – ain’t we?
Accountancy is an art. Accountants train for nearly as long as doctors – kind of tells you it’s not just a+b=c, dunnit? They can make ‘profit’ out of loss with the quick shift of a couple of costs and variables. It’s all above board and perfectly legal – but it hides the true picture from those that do not understand.
And those and the countless small ‘hobby’ investors who have slid a few quid under this particular ‘vehicle’ like thousands of little bottle-jacks – keeping it up for just a little longer in the hope it doesn’t come crashing down on their heads.
You were one of them – and you bailed when you saw something you didn’t like.
But I’ll never see you admit that here on open forum. But that’s okay, ducky…
…I have the screenshot.
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Cyberduck…
Can you please tell me the dividend amount paid to it’s shareholders to date?
As im sure youre aware, dividends are paid from actual profits.
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Eastsidestory90,
If you make a profit you don’t have to pay a dividend.
So what are you trying to say? You know they haven’t paid a dividend so what is your point?
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My point is you can talk about EBTIDA, operating costs, interest etc as much as you want. The point is a good business works as follows…..
Turnover minus (total) overheads = profit then you pays your tax. If there is nothing left in the pot after the “pay your tax” part then there is no profit and you’re simply spending/living offsomeone else’s money.
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Eastsidestory90,
So a company doing research and development for a cancer cure is not a good business? Surely that depends on whether they eventually come up with the cure?
I’m not making an ethical point here, it’s just that these type of companies are a good example of what a lot of you don’t appear to get about the reason people invest in PurpleBricks. They see them eventually being very profitable and I’m not saying I agree.
The test of whether it is a good investment is nothing to do with dividends or current profits, it’s to do with whether they eventually come up with the cure which will make them a huge amount going forwards. In the meantime investors will review progress and either come up with more funding or not. The same with PurpleBricks.
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You’re actually trying to compare a company that is trying to find a cure for cancer with pb?!
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Beggars belief.
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@cyberduck
You NEVER answer this question:
Do you think is fair that PB customers are charged HUNDREDS of pounds more for using the services of the conveyancers they recommend? The very same conveyancers, who if you approached them directly, would not be adding the HUNDREDS of pounds to our bill?
I wait for the reply – AGAIN
p.s. I know a conveyancer on PB’s panel so I know this is true.
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>You NEVER answer this question:
Well you probably ask after I’ve gone on to do something else. To be honest I’m not sure why you think I should answer anyway. It’s not really anything to do with the above article is it?
Well there are different scenarios. If the person using the service knows they will pay more then it’s fair otherwise probably not. When I signed up with PurpleBricks it was obvious to me that if I was being tied into a particular conveyancer then I wouldn’t be getting the best deal. So I went with the pay in advance option. I imagine a lot of people will realise this too but can’t afford to pay in advance so they’re trading the benefit of paying later for whatever downside there is. People who haven’t realised that nothing comes for free by the time they are selling their home will of course not know.
A similar scenario is in regard to negotiating fees with a traditional Agent. It’s not really fair that some people know to do this when others don’t is it? That some will end up paying more?
I don’t think it’s fair that those that sell with a traditional agent pay all that agents marketing costs as well as the Agents profit margin or that fees are a percentage of the asset.
A much fairer way would be for all sellers to pay an amount for marketing and then the Agent to earn depending on performance or the hours worked. Let’s be honest. Agents are clearly letting people list their propertuies at too high a price in the hope that they will reduce later. Not exactly transparent or fair is it?
I was shocked when I learnt that 50% of properties don’t sell with traditional Agents. I really don’t think the consumer is aware that they are paying double the marketing costs as well as double the profit margin that the Agent takes.
What about the person who ends up paying the Agent’s fee when the seller finds their own buyer. I doubt many consumers know about that. I’ve never seen it mentioned on an Estate Agent’s website.
Then you have referral fees. A nice little earner that’s kept quiet.
I think it’s a bit hypocritical talking about fairness.
I’m off to do something else now. See if you can catch me some other time. Or post over on lse which is a proper ongoing chat forum rather than just a comments section on an article.
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“I was shocked when I learnt that 50% of properties don’t sell with traditional Agents.”
So would most of the “traditional” Agents be that I know – who all complete on far more than 50% of their listings, ducky.
A far greater proportion that half of the of properties ‘put to market’ sell. I would suggest the figure be nearer 80% than 50% – but there will always be a percentage that either ‘fail’ to sell – or the vendor decides not to sell (for an infinite number of personal reasons the majority of which are beyond the control of the Agent).
You shouldn’t believe what you are told.
Hmmm… where have I read that before?
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Tell me, ducky – were you equally as shocked to learn – from more than one unconnected source – that “online” Agents seem only to be able to sell around 50% of their listings?
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“What about the person who ends up paying the Agent’s fee when the seller finds their own buyer.”
That is entirely dependent upon the type of Contract the Agent and the Vendor have jointly entered into. You forget that bit, ducky – JOINTLY ENTERED INTO. No crowbars used – no guns to heads. An Agreement between parties.
What is, in your opinion, the definition of “the seller finds their own buyer”? IF a Vendor believed they could “find their own buyer” without the need of an estate Agent – then why instruct one in the first place – ESPECIALLY one that is going to send them a bill for seemingly unnecessary services?
“Then you have referral fees. A nice little earner that’s kept quiet.”
An even nicer little earner if it’s made var-nigh COMPULSORY for a sizeable proportion of your clients – wouldn’t you agree, ducky?
In fairness I’m sort of with you on this one. I don’t take ‘referral fees’ from lawyers – never have and never want to. Get emails twice weekly telling me I can “Earn £300 per referral” – which go straight into the trash. It’s not “free” money – the client is paying one way or another. They pay me reasonably well for the job they ask me to do – so I’d rather get them competitive quotes from A-class people that I know will do a good job without feeling obliged to drop me a bung! I know plenty of Agents see it differently – but if we all saw everything the same life would be less colourful and you’d have nowt to fill in your ‘retirement’ with – would you?
In the end it’s back to disclosure. IF the Agent discloses the payment (required) and IF the client has no problem with the payment then I can’t see your issue with it but am amused by the hypocrisy of your bringing it up when when your #fanboy_fave Purple pals make an absolute killing out of the chuffin’ thing.
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> I was shocked when I learnt that 50% of properties don’t sell with traditional Agents. I really don’t think the consumer is aware that they are paying double the marketing costs as well as double the profit margin that the Agent takes.
Erm…If the proper agent doesn’t sell they don’t get paid!? You really have no idea.
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