Purplebricks has flatly denied press speculation that its launch in Australia has “tanked”.
Instead, it says that the launch has been a great success.
An article in The Australian Financial Review asked whether the “low-cost” UK agent had “tanked” on its debut.
It described Purplebricks’ inventory as “modest”, saying that two DIY property portals had over 1,500 listings each.
Purplebricks launched in Australia at the end of August and yesterday afternoon had 66 properties listed.
A spokesperson for the company told EYE: “The Australian launch has been a great success and we are very happy with the level of reported activity.
“It is also worth noting that we have many more instructions than those that appear on our website.
“The period between instruction and the property going live is much different in Australia because customers receive and prepare for professional photography, the contract for sale needs to be prepared in advance and the period between sale agreed and moving home is much closer than the UK, so customers choose their timing to go live carefully.
“We are very happy with the launch and the level of activity.”
We also asked Purplebricks about an online review by a UK seller which criticised its security arrangements.
It said: “We had a very bad and disturbing viewing that made us question their security (who would turn up on our doorstep next).
“So I then tested the Purplebricks.com online security. (Created a fake account with everything fake including, name, address, mobile, nothing was flagged or checked by their system and I was able to book an appointment to view my property).”
The reviewer ends by saying that they have gone to the Property Ombudsman with a complaint.
However, a Purplebricks statement said: “We are very proud to be leading the industry by requiring everyone to register their details when they want to arrange a viewing, provide feedback or make an offer.
“They go through an email verification process and will usually have had direct contact with one of our Local Property Experts, a member of their viewings team, our Central Property Experts, our data sales team or been subject of an offer checking process.
“We pride ourselves on being one of the most safe, secure and highly effective estate agents in the UK.”
Ahhhh! the reassuring use of the word expert. Most right thinking people in the industry would be hesitant about referring to a trainee negotiator as an expert; new to the business out of college with just 5 months experience certainly falls a long way short of what I had to do to become a senior negotiator, yet it seems that is the experience and qualification required to become an expert estae agent and provide advice on value.
ASA have been reluctant ( a polite word for belligerent and dismissive) to do anything about the use of the word expert to describe people who really don’t have the qualification, experience or even basic maths ability to value, NAEA do nothing RICS do nothing, it’s not something NTSEAT can do anything about until everything goes horribly wrong, its not within the redress schemes remit so it seems nothing will be done to curb what in my opinion is a deception.
It is a deception permitted by people with rank and authority who seem happy to ignore the basic responsibility of their position, do and say nothing until there is a media lightship to stand in and worse of all discredit people who have worked hard to control the wrongs they are ignoring. Sorry if that sounds like a critical rant but that is exactly what it is.
Someone needs to do something!
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With 66 listings in some weeks it seems our Aussie cousins find them as appealing as a ‘rattlesnake in a lucky dip’ , however the main point is the following nugget from above;
‘We are very proud to be leading the industry by requiring everyone to register their details when they want to arrange a viewing, provide feedback or make an offer.’
Ammusingley this lad seems to be taking a tiny, basic and widely used / first thing you are told on your first day as a junior neg process that’s recognised in every EA branch in the world and sort of claimed it as something they have pioneered?
Jonnie
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You are being mean Jonnie, Australia is obviously a chance for a new start, the opportunity to do things differently, to do thing right this time. Celebrate them opening the book and encourage them to read to the bottom of page 1.
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‘We are very proud to be leading the industry by requiring everyone to register their details when they want to arrange a viewing, provide feedback or make an offer’
Leaving aside the patent nonsense about ‘leading the industry by requiring everyone to register their details’, as an as-yet-undiscovered axe murderer I find this ‘security check’ most reassuring.
That’s ‘reassuring’ as in – If I make up a fake identity and a false address (which any self respecting axe murderer always does) the chances of this outfit knowing who I really am is zero and I can get on with doing what I do best safe in the knowledge that they will be not be able assist Plod in their enquiries. *
*If a policeman is reading this, that’s a joke. OK?
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‘Purplebricks says launch in Australia has been great success’.
What is that factual announcement based upon?
Lets say PB charge £2,600 upfront per listing times 66 listings as above = £171,600 in fees.
PB UK backers appeared to stumped up £10,000,000 for this OZ venture?
Therefore, £10,000,000 divided by £2,600 = 3, 846 instructions to cover this ‘investment’?
3,846 + 3,846 instructions (to pay back original £10 million investment) =7,692 instructions?
7,692 instructions less 66 as above = 7, 626 instructions to go?
So based on those 66 properties PB have shown to be listed this equates to 0.86% of listings that may be required before making a profit?
Is this like saying that an agent who opened a new branch and needed to list 100 properties in the first year to break even had a successful launch as they listed less than one property upon their launch in September?
Early days, but in my mind, their launch ‘tanked’?
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Gets a ‘Luike’ from me.
The last sentence, that is… the rest – I’m working on it.
I’ve run out of fingers and toes!
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PB will find the media in Oz isn’t anything like the UK. They show no allegiance and go for the jugular. PB also don’t have the brokers/stock market over there to manipulate. PB are in for a rough ride …… they don’t like Poms taking them for fools.
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Had an interesting conversation at the weekend on Tw@tter with an Aussie lady who has been reading up on what is going on over here.
She was especially surprised by the fact that Trustpilot consider that using UK “reviews” to promote the Australian company was perfectly acceptable – and then drew attention to the ‘relationship’ that the two enjoy.
Then came the ‘No-5h!t-Sherlock’ moment – when she Tweeted
“We have seen many like them here but they are hammering is with ads so thought I’d see what it’s about. Dodgy!!”
Yeah – funny, that…
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