It started with a tweet – but it soon led to some very strong exchanges of views between consumer rights broadcaster Alice Beer and other twitterati.
Beer was flagging up a piece on radio, and since it was about those beastly people, estate agents, what could possibly go wrong?
Stumbling into the war zone, she tweeted: “93% of estate agents do not list their fees and 72% of home owners agree the first fee given to them. Why? Today doing radio interviews asking for greater transparency from high st agents.”
She might just have got away with it had she not added the hashtag: #commissionimpossible @PurplebricksUK
It was followed up with a picture of Beer (plus notes) at the microphone explaining that it was “home owners” wanting this transparency according to new research from Purplebricks.
It all proved to be quickly akin to lighting the digital blue touch paper.
One person tweeted: “Guessing Alice has shares in Purplebricks then.”
Beer replied: “You are completely wrong and that is a very leading accusation.”
Another said: “A study by Purplebricks!!! A good balanced report then.”
Beer responded: “Commissioned by, not carried out by. Do you think I came down with the last shower.”
Enter another tweeter, who said “Surprised PB ‘commissioned’ anything to be honest. They usually dress it up as a ‘fee’ . . . That’s what needs investigating.”
And so it went on . . . and on . . . and on.
People weighed in with all sorts of comments, and perhaps most (okay, all) were surely not quite what Beer – who by this time had wisely given up on the debate – can have expected.
There were exchanges about how many properties Purplebricks sells; its reviews; and criticisms of Beer herself, with one person saying: “I thought you were independent?”
Another said: “Feels to me that your emphasis is extremely biased towards one side of the story. Is this what reporting is all about?”
We suspect that Beer, who is the consumer editor for This Morning, may not want to return to the subject of online agents at any time in the near future.
And indeed, we see that she is now more comfortably looking at how to dry your laundry indoors.
Below – the notes used by Alice Beer during the radio piece which looked at the apparent lack of transparency of high street agents, based on research from Purplebricks
I was the one who said the emphasis was biased. Just look at the notes she had in front of her……spoon-fed drivel with next to no counter balance argument.
Where is the mention of Full Service Agents being driven to achieve a completed sale and in the process often to achieve the highest property price possible, compared to ‘pay whether you sell or not’ and the incentivising to recommend you to ‘take the first offer that comes along’.
The’lack of clarity, lack of transparency’ in her notes is just laughable considering Call Centre Lister hidden costs such as for viewings, using you own solicitor and the small printed ‘you have to pay whether you sell or not!’
BSOS23PC
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Not again. Estate agents do not list selling fees as the clients sometimes want different things. Plus why quote a fee. Sellers need to know what service they are getting. Not basing it on a fee. Some people do not realise how much money they lose by trying to save £150 on fees for example. Bad marketing and service could cost them thousands. Some estate agents dont provide a service. Like purple bricks. Theres no personal service. they advertise tbey are the same as other agents. well their nothing like some I know. They hide fees. Extra monies from conveyancing. Extra monies on surveys. Extra monies for viewings.
People you get what you pay for. I have never come accross the best service, the best marketing to get the best buyer and the cheapest fee. These 3 never appear together. Yes someone will say oh I sold my house and the agent charged me £10. Great. You were either really really lucky as in winning the lottery or you lost out on thousands amd you don’t even realise.
Rant over.
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Absolutely agreed….the only reason the Call Centre Listers quote their fees is to make themselves look as cheap as possible….to get people to call them, and often the fees are made to look cheaper still by not including the things Full Service Agency would (like accompanied viewings for instance!).
Our typical fee (as many north of London are) is below £2,000 inclusive and it’s ‘no sale no fee’ with total Full Service including accompanied viewings, offer negotiation and follow through to completion. And on top of that you use your own solicitor.
Compare that to ‘pay whether you sell or not’ £1,500 with the viewings and ‘choose your own solicitor fee’….no guarantee of selling, and from everything that has been portrayed,no follow through service to completion!
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The problem was the “piece” by Alice Beer was sponsored it wasnt based on any cries for transparency from potential vendors. It was a puff piece designed to deflect attention from the lack of transparency of call centre estate agents, the fact they are struggling to sell properties and the fact their listings are dipping. Every avenue is being looking at to destroy traditional estate agency through smoke and mirrors rather than through doing a good job
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On 28 January, the following question was Tweeted to Purplebricks:
Maybe you should advise as to whether Ms .@_alicebeer made a ‘guest appearance’ or received payment of any kind from yourselves or companies working on your behalf on this “campaign” of yours? #To_You…
You will all be surprised to learn that the question remains unanswered…
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It’s funny that traditional agents think consumers don’t want to know how estate agents fees are calculated 🙂
For complete transparency, Trading Standards need to ensure that traditional agents publish their fees or say how they calculate them and also say whether they are negotiable.
Great January listing figures for PurpleBricks according to my proxy. Up from 2179 in January 2017 to 5062 last month. The Jan 2017 figure is not my own.
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Can I ask why you think it’s just Estate Agents that should publish their fees and not hundreds of other service industry businesses that shouldn’t too…?
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Cyberduck46: “Great January listing figures for PurpleBricks according to my proxy. Up from 2179 in January 2017 to 5062 last month. The Jan 2017 figure is not my own.”
Eh ?
I haven’t seen any new listing in my part of the world, where are they all ? London? Australia? silly me, must be America !!
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ducky says:
“Great January listing figures for PurpleBricks according to my proxy. Up from 2179 in January 2017 to 5062 last month.”
On a day-on-day basis, some 6025 “listings” were added to Zoopla – according to me… I don’t have a proxy.
Of those, only 4661 remain ‘live’ on Zoopla (as of 1100 today).
Many of them are RElistings.
Here’s one example (although listed today):
zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/41210036
Anyone care to guess just HOW MANY times it’s been “listed”…?
(no cheating, mind…)
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5?
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Not
Even
Close
#Try_Again
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CD, like many people you completely miss the point(s). Firstly Purplebricks have made the decision to compete on commission/fee, this was their decision, and that is up to them, but just because they made that decision it doesnt mean the industry must change just for them. I choose to compete on service, and for that reason i would rather get the chance to discuss what my company can do for a vendor. If when i am speaking to a potential vendor they ask what my fee/commission is i will tell them.
Secondly Purplebricks do not openly display their total costs. Their headline cost and “calculator” is proudly displayed, but their add ons are hidden behind tiny little symbols that you need a magnifying glass to see. The deferred payment arrangements and penalties are buried deep in the FAQs, much like the FACT that you still have to pay when they dont sell your home. This is not being transparent but in the main deeply misleading. These facts are not widely known by the public and if Purplebricks wish other estate agents to display fees, then perhaps Purplebricks should look at themselves before pointing fingers.
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Absolutely spot on!
They are only raising the issue anyway because they think they will gain more publicity for doing so.
I personally believe they don’t give two hoots about the general public….they just want more and more of them to pay up front, whether they sell or not, for an advert, poor service and a very very poor strategy for getting the very best sale price!
Next thing is the Call Centre Listers will be putting huge resources into servicing a few customers properly, to try and generate great reviews, from the people they choose to ask, just to make them look far better on ‘feefo’ than they would otherwise be.
I was considering using ‘feefo’ until I saw I would be competing with undoubtedly manipulated Call Centre Lister reviews.
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Totally agree about fees being tailored to each client-so how can they be published?
For conveyancing businesses of all types the Competitions and Markets Authority has convinced the Legal Services Board (the overarching regulator) to get all the legal business regulators for solicitors, licensed conveyancers and chartered institute of legal executives to regulate that the fees and service levels and reviews of that service MUST be published online by each firm.
This despite the fact that recent, extensive research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority showed that only 6% of people see the fee as being of primary importance. Most chose their conveyancer through recommendation (unfortunately some of those recommendations are paid for placements).
It won’t be long until the CMA turns its mind towards estate agents.
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Got a little bit spicey on their FB page week or so ago, surprised the thread is still up.
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Very heavily edited now…
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Any chance of a link to the FB discussion please ?
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“1in5 said they paid too much”. I wonder what the percentage would be for people who paid tax, bought fuel, bought food or more to the point, bought a TV licence! Does she think 4 out of 5 would think they got value for money?
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It seems clear that broadcasters/presenters and individual politicians will do anything to boost their public or social media profiles.
Bias reporting seems to be the norm regardless of content, as long at it associates them with whatever is on trend.
They hold a powerful weapon which should be used against the real greed and corruption of our green and pleasant land, instead of being intent on closing legitimate small businesses who’s costs are ever rising as profits fall, putting people out of work.
Most people who work in property have a passion for it and they couldn’t do it effectively without also enjoying working with people.
It beggars belief that TV advertisements can offer quick loans to desperate people with APR’s in the thousands and nothing is reported or questioned as to the ethics of this! OR THAT THEY ARE ALLOWED TO EXIST AT ALL!
It is not surprising that we have a forced tax by way of a TV licence just to own a TV, even if we never watch any BBC channels.
That’s like charging a tenant not to live in a house!
What about the Great British Passport which allows us in and out of our own country and makes it easy for officials to identify us, thus making immigration easier to control, as long as we’re paying the APPLICATION fee for something they want us to have.
I only wish I were a big player with unlimited resources so that I could hire a film crew to make a film of a typical day in the life.
A tenancy set up for example, might go something like this;
The viewing is carried out and all the viewers questions answered in full.
A second viewing may now take place with their partner, parents or best friend who couldn’t make the first viewing.
Granted, the Landlord fee covers the above.
Application forms are given and an appointment made but their guarantor can’t make it because they work. They can only come at 5:45 after we should’ve closed, so we pay overtime to facilitate this.
We accept the forms and photocopy the various ID before taking our application fee of £180.00 (often reduced for armed forces, emergency services, unemployed etc) whether 1,2 or more applicants apply, not forgetting the VAT which we can’t show!
We do the government immigration checks to ensure that they have the right to rent (translation) the right to be in the country so that they didn’t slip past someone who is paid through our taxes to do their job correctly so that we don’t have to do it for them.
We do due diligence on everything that we were told as fact, just in case it isn’t, as is often the case!
We upload everything to the tenant referencing agency, meanwhile the phone rings everyday as the eager applicants ask have they passed yet.
Eventually after dealing with multiple complications they do, and we call them to give them the great news and arrange an appointment for sign up.
The date specific tenancy documents are prepared which takes a member of staff (a now qualified apprentice) 2 hours to prepare before they are passed to a director to be double-checked and verified. Far longer than it takes to press the print button as some other half-wit suggested.
The new tenants are coming in on at 2pm on Tuesday 31st.
A member of the team goes to the property to do a full picture inventory which is uploaded to a disc containing 140+ dated pictures, (2 bed terrace) of which there are 3 copies made. One for the Landlord, One for our records & One for the tenant (Free of charge).
The water/taps/shower/boiler are checked, along with the appliances, if included.
A dated video is made of the smoke alarms being tested and working.
The gas certificate is copied and provided in the pack.
A detailed written inventory is prepared including any damage already present, meter readings are taken and photographed. (A copy of which the tenant receives free of charge)
The new tenants arrive at the office and a director takes them through each page of the tenancy agreement, explaining it in detail, including their rights and responsibilities. This take at least one hour.
They are guided through and given a fact sheet regarding condensation and how to avoid it or alleviate it.
They are taken through the Fixflo app so that they understand how best to report a fault to enable us to act quickly. They are given alternative ways to report faults.
They are supplied a direct debit mandate and/or our bank details for payment.
If they have pets they will taken through a pet CV and informed of their rights regarding deposits which we will register with the D.P.S
Now their guarantor receives the same care so that we are confident that they understand their rights and responsibilities.
The new tenants are handed their keys and we ask them to return the written inventory within 7 days if there are any amendments to be made or if they disagree with anything.
The inventory is amended including the tenants changes and copied in triplicate, One for the Landlord, One for our files & One for the tenant (free of charge)
The deposit is registered.
We do not charge a check out fee!
We are now on call when keys are lost or locked inside. When a window is smashed due to a domestic incident. When one partner wants removing from the tenancy due to a fall out. When the tenants are having trouble with their neighbour. When they’ve seen a mouse. When they don’t understand changes to HB or UC. When they want to give us a sob story as to why the rent isn’t being paid but they’ll pay it as soon as they get back from holiday. And even when a light bulb blew on occasion, and on and on….
What you bandwagon passengers forget Alice Beer is that the Landlords fee is for tenant find and PROPERTY management.
There’s never a mention about all the things we do for the tenant, often long into the night when we should be enjoying time with our families.
I’m quite sure that you earn far more than anyone in my agency including directors and quite possibly all of us combined, simply for doing a job without any of the stresses of running a business!
The least you can do, is to do your job properly and qualify your information as any good journalist would.
PS; If people want to go to Purple-bricks and pay up front for the risk of them not selling their property, let them. Sometimes I go to Pound Bakery instead of Greggs. Maybe that’s a bad analogy because I still leave with lunch!
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5?
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Sorry 5 was meant to be to PeeBee for my guess.
PS; If people want to go to Purple-bricks and pay up front for the risk of them not selling their property, let them. Sometimes I go to Pound Bakery instead of Greggs. Maybe that’s a bad analogy because I still leave with lunch!
Love the analogy…..must have taken shed loads of time to type all that. You sound like just the person we would like in the Ideas Network to help the fight back. Please join us and hear about great ideas currently in development. You can email us at;
in@agentv.co.uk
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Oh… I CAN’T WAIT for tomorrow’s headline story!!!
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