Purplebricks says it is to recruit “hundreds” of new Local Property Experts as it ramps up its bid to become the biggest estate agent in the UK.
The business already has over 500 self-employed Local Property Experts across the UK.
Michael Bruce, Purplebricks founder and CEO, said: “Our quest for more talented Local Property Experts is a direct result of overwhelming customer demand.
“People now have a great alternative to the traditional estate agent – one that will save them loads of commisery and give them a brilliant service.”
He added: “Customers love our passion for service and our willingness to go the extra mile. We want to work with people who focus on people, not just property.
“In return, we offer our Local Property Experts the support and flexibility to grow a successful business, the chance to reap the rewards of their hard work and the opportunity to join an exciting global business that is transforming an industry.”
Purplebricks said its Local Property Experts typically have five years’ experience, with many having been valuation managers, branch managers or area managers with high street agents.
Purplebricks also said that they “tend to earn significantly more than they did when an estate agent on the high street”.
A Purplebricks spokesperson said: “The amount we pay Local Property Experts is confidential.
“What we can say is that Local Property Experts have the opportunity to earn considerably more than they would have done at a traditional estate agency on the high street and enjoy greater personal flexibility running their own business.
“A significant proportion of people earn substantially in excess of the average estate agent’s salary, whilst others who have just started their business with Purplebricks build up reasonably quickly to become a scalable, profitable business. They have a number of revenue streams as part of their relationship with Purplebricks. 2015 is in no way reflective of our business and its position in 2017.
“We have a very strong pipeline of recruits, mostly coming from highly experienced roles elsewhere in the industry. This is a unique opportunity to benefit from one of the fastest growing teams in estate agency and to participate in bringing a completely new level of service and experience to our customers.”
According to paperwork we have obtained, a Local Property Expert who was signed up towards the end of 2015 was last year paid:
£200 per instruction
£80 for every viewing service taken up
£50 on completion for every legal instruction
£50 for every mortgage sign-up on completion
£100 for every lettings move in
(All payments plus VAT with the LPE in question running a VAT-registered business. The rates may have changed.)
The LPE was also guaranteed £2,000 per month income for the first three months after commencing a ten-day training course.
The letter setting out these payments plus other points was signed by sales director Kenny Bruce.
The LPE was also paid £20 per sign, according to invoices sent to Purplebricks’ head office. In one month last year, the LPE invoiced for ten instructions, one viewing, one letting, and six signs. In another month, the LPE brought in 14 instructions, and also invoiced for 28 viewings, three sets of legals and five signs.
In their best month last year, the LPE – based outside London – invoiced for over £4,350 plus VAT. In their worst (and first) month, they gained just one instruction, with the invoice showing Purplebricks making up the £2,000 shortfall, as per its guarantee.
Some of the invoices did include £200 deductions which the LPE told us were where there had been complaints. In one invoice there were four refunds.
According to one invoice, there was a £200 refund where a property was not listed within two to four weeks.
None of the invoices we have seen had any payment for getting a property under offer, or to exchange.
The LPE, who is no longer with Purplebricks, told EYE there was no incentive other than for listing; they stressed having been happy with their earnings levels.
On the Purplebricks website, there are a number of LPE jobs listed, with OTE earnings ranging from £45,000 to £60,000, and so the invoices we have seen do seem to tally with these.
The bid to become Britain’s largest agent is a consistent part of Purplebricks’ strategy. In its operations manual of February 2014, issued to Local Property Experts, it says: “We will within three years be the largest sales and lettings business in the UK by being excellent at everything we do.”
Yesterday, Purplebricks’ shares hit a new high of 454.75p.
Interesting and very impressive figures.
I wonder if Matthew Taylor’s recommendations to government that firms which have a “controlling and supervisory” relationship with their workers would have to pay a full range of benefits, will have any impact on PB and their share price? As I understand it, this could mean millions of pounds in national insurance contributions and other costs.
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Lonely Old Job though in it..preying on people with PAYANYWAY Scheme and then getting it in the next from at least 20% of customers who cant sell their houses.
You really are a salesman not an estate agent.
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Commiseration….that feeling a proper estate agent gets when a vendor who chose an upfront payment model first and ends up having to pay two estate agency fees.
How does that save these users £1000s?
So who is paying for these 100s of new Local Property experts at £6k per new recruit?
Remember PB recently posted a loss of around £6 million for UK and OZ.
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How odd as a sales person you are not paid on the property selling!
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The ‘sale’ is ‘selling’ the vendor now… trading standards need to create a new department as they arent playing the same game as us no sale no fee agents.
PAY-ANY-WAY Agents need to governed by new rules.
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Perhaps like having to have a consumer credit licence if they are talking about deferred payment loans?
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Hands up anyone who would be motivated to do their best to take on with superb presentation, promote a property to local contacts, carry out twenty to thirty viewings to maximise the number of offers and do their best negotiating multiple offers to obtain the very best sale price, (say at least 30 man hour in total) for £330?
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Can I make a suggestion.
Knock up a canvassing leaflet highlighting the LPE only gets paid on listing the property and not selling it (put link of this story in it). And pop it through the half a dozen boards they have in your patch.
Also use it on valuations if you are up against them.
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Suggestion; a p.s that they have no motivation or incentive to increase a buyer’s initial cheeky offer and they aren’t personally overseeing or progressing any of their sales.
List it, leave it alone, NEXT!
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Why did the LPE leave? Hope they are reading this, and can give us some insight.
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Employ an ‘expert’ paid to sell you everything from a loan agreement to a for sale board but not to sell your home.
Hmmm!
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Unless the country doubles in size or the firm doubles its market share increasing the number of listers will half the income available to each lister.
The parent firm will increase its turnover but the listers won’t. To earn average national wage each listing rep has to take on 3 properties every week. That might be possible while there are relatively few reps but as the firm increases the number of contracts it has the competition for instructions will increase between listers.
How is the firm going to cope with having a duff lister on a contiguous territory, a rep who harms the reputation for those around them?
One thing I’m curious about is the vicarious liability between lister and client; who is responsible for negligent advice? Who gets sued? The legal duties of an agent mean while it is possible to be a well paid listing neg the 6 year limitation period is a fairly onerous responsibility. A simple 10% error on the average property price could easily wipe out a full year’s income.
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>One thing I’m curious about is the vicarious liability between lister and client; who is responsible for negligent advice? Who gets sued? The legal duties of an agent mean while it is possible to be a well paid listing neg the 6 year limitation period is a fairly onerous responsibility. A simple 10% error on the average property price could easily wipe out a full year’s income.
Nobody in their right mind would sue a limited liability company with income of £40K a year unless insurance was in place. Likewise with a small Estate Agency on the brink of going under.
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Stopping the miscreant from directing another business ever again is a good start, if that is the only redress.
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In some cases it could be double an average yearly income.
If say PB Valued a property at £700,000 and then reduced it to £630,000 a difference of £70,000 how could i be sure they even negotiated me the best offer once it was sale agreed?
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If you honestly believe a member of the public who has lost thousands or tens of thousands of pounds because of negligence by an agent wouldn’t take a claim to the small claims court or a full legal case, you need to get out more.
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Chris, read my comment again. You don’t sue a limited company that has no money. It’s basic common sense and the main reason why people use limited liability companies. The clue is in the name.
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>Stopping the miscreant from directing another business ever again is a good start, if that is the only redress.
Mark, as far as I’m aware you can’t be banned from acting as a director because of negligence.
>how could i be sure
smile please, the burden of proof is on the claimant. If you aren’t sure it’s not a good idea to sue.
Most people get more than one valuation. Personally I would always get 3. Also in my own case I have a good idea of the range that the property would most likely go for because I know what I paid for it, what improvements have been carried out and have both the HPI for the Council area and one I compiled myself from properties close by that were bought at a similar time to mine and have sold recently 🙂
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so you are using a passive intermediary service not an estate agency service. It is unreasonable to make fee comparisons between the two services.
I don’t think there would be half the issues of false and misleading claims if PI agents had the decency to be honest about the services they offer.
“We charge a lot to whack your home on the internet and that’s it!”
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Robert,
There are clearly differences but it’s not just a passive intermediary.
Have you seen their post sales charter?
https://www.purplebricks.co.uk/terms/post-sale-charter
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This is the best Sales man job in the world for the following reason unless i am living in cuckoo land;
1. Turn up for work for 3 months – you get paid
2. Stack the shelves with the product – you get paid
3. Every time you show the product – you get paid
4. if someone buys the product and you guide him to a legal adviser – you get paid a small BONUS
5. If someone buys the product and you guide him to the finance broker – you get paid a small BONUS
6. If you SALE the product – you DON’T get paid
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I expect the puprlebricks staff have a really hard time with some customers when they realise they might not sell and have PAID ANYWAY.
I did this back in 2007 , listed 2 houses but refunded them again due to it feeling unethical…
to honest to play this game now thx to onliners.
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How many ‘local’ experts can a ‘local’ area sustain at current (stagnant) market share?
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I can remember Peel Hunt suggesting 1000 LPEs for the whole of the UK. I’ve seen 1500 somewhere else I think.
Each area will be different. Look at London only 23 LPEs sharing 152 listings for the week to July 7th (Zoopla). According to Zoopla 4157 listings for the whole of the London market for the week to July 7th so plenty of growth potential if you compare to the West Midlands where PurpleBricks have a market share of 6% (RM – last 3 days prior to July 7th).
The West Midlands were one of the first areas targeted so I’m assuming London and all other areas will catch up to an extent. All figures approximate.
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In my patch they already have 2 LPE (Covering a 10/15 mile radius)
They are only showing 40 listings (including stc), lets say they have 20 each, that is only 4k they have earnt in circa 4/5 months – 1k per month, no holiday pay and no car, and the costs of being self employed.
I know the local reps, they have bounced round from office to office for years. Service is not there strong points, always been weak listers, only winning instructions on price.
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Some areas will be problematic.
Each area will have its own potential so an LPE should have a decent idea what this is if they have experience.
Even an area with a low potential might still be attractive to somebody who wants to work part time. For example a parent who wants to spend time with their kids could close off their appointment diary and just work while the kids are at school.
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Well that must fill the seller with confidence.
Ahhh 3pm viewing? – No cannot make that, picking little Johny up from school and taking him swimming. How about 10.30am tomorrow after i have dropped Laura off at her play date?
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A quick glance down the areas currently available on Bricks website means that in some cases they will have to increase current listings 6 times to make OTE £45k possible .There are a number of areas with less than 30 listings some of which have been on a year or longer
Attracting recruits with unrealistic targets of earnings will only end in tears for both customers and experts alike.Customer service will become the big loser .The cherries have already been picked which has now culminated in Emperor Experts who control territories and recruit sub-agents creaming off the top .
They will be keeping a firm grip a little like the crusty old senior partner in private practice triple locking the equity away from the Young Turks rising through the ranks
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An ex-employee was an LPE. He did well and earned better than I had predicted.
The reasons he left were;
He was an excellent lister, but then the calls started ‘what’s going on with my house?’ He wanted to list more and this was a pain. He was never good at following things up.
He hadn’t realised that being self employed meant he had to take on additional regulatory issues and run a small Limited company with it’s associated costs, admin functions and record keeping.
He was also concerned about taking holidays. There may be support but he felt when you are an ‘LPE’ you need to be available.
Was he critical of the business model or the company? Not at all, he just said it wasn’t for him so has gone back to the PAYE world with a decent basic and 5 weeks annual leave and a car.
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“He was also concerned about taking holidays”
Just when the holiday season starts PB starts recruiting.
My guess they are replacing their “property experts” who are actually going on holiday and not staying at their desks !!!!
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Just wondering how that income compares to a traditional agent.
Looking back at one who claims a very high conversion rate (above 80% from memory) as well as an average of 8.2 weeks to sell at an average of £9000+ above the asking price…
They had 7 “for sale” properties listed on 23rd April. Out of these 4 are still on the market. 2 of them with a total value of £245K are SSTC. The other with a listing price of £38K has either completed or been withdrawn.
No wonder there’s so much bitterness and misinformation from traditional Estate Agents.
There is of course an incentive to sell for PurpleBricks’ LPEs unless they are only in for the short term. According to the article £100 comes from mortgage and conveyancing on completion when the seller signs up for those options. Also, if you’re trying to grow your business and your “Sold STC” boards are coming back on the market then you are not going to last very long.
Perhaps that was the problem with the LPE in the article above. He wasn’t thinking of growing the business.
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Remember – the ‘commision’ paid to LPE’s for listing & selling services will be subject to tax.
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How many are registered and paying it. – Very few i bet!
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“People now have a great alternative to the traditional estate agent – one that will save them loads of commisery and give them a brilliant service.”
Brilliant service? Tell that to my vendor and the couple she is trying to purchase from who decided to use Purplebricks and their preferred solicitors “Eazi” conveyancing. Possibly the worst experience trying to progress a sale I have had in 13 years of agency.
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I note Mr Bruce says “Customers love our passion for service and our willingness to go the extra mile”. Shouldn’t that be many extra miles due to the proximity of their “Local” Property Experts?
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Do the LPEs know who the Money Laundering nominated officer is?
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https://ibb.co/dnSWaF
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Since the ruling last week and warning from NTSEAT has anyone seen the PB adverts? Are they still running on TV? Since I don’t watch live TV I don’t know.
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Not stumbled across them in a while.
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Yes they are still running, seen several of them in the last couple of days
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So clearly not taking any notice of last weeks notice then!
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I suspected the person giving all the thumbs down will be an insider
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No it’s me
Nah kidding !!
LOL
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If any other Agent had these many complaints they would be out of business.
The only reason PB bricks aren’t yet out of business is that they’ve ALREADY BEEN PAID by these complaining clients.
All of these unhappy clients would have withdrawn their property from a proper Agent, rightly so.
It’s a farce.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/purplebricks.com?stars=1
http://www.allagents.co.uk/purplebricks/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwkZfLBRCzg-69tJy84N8BEiQAffAwqt_48Gr4P_C4EucChPIZzSDH-VS9Zo0FB7uYV4oSvsUaAshN8P8HAQ
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Sorry, these are not the revenue/earning figures I was offered when I mystery shopped them and applied (got) a region/LPE role. Around 60% less for an instruction and something like £60 for a viewing “package”, which meant you got £60 for 1 or as many viewings as it took….not £80 per viewing, which this articles is saying. The figures wouldn’t be misleading in any way surely????
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Whenever Pb come up everyone comments…great publicity.
It,s strange as yesterday I thought i saw an article about people not visiting branches anymore which surely means they are looking online.
PB not turning up for a viewing well thats never happened in agency has it.
Guys they have changed agency and are the first to do so in years.
They are simply following the Likes of Amazon etc where you don’t need an agent or a high street presence.
My local independents valued my late mother in laws property between 380K and 320K….if thats a professional then expect PB to grow.
Sorry guys but after 30 odd years in the business including owning my own this is the future
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Not quite the future. I believe the future will still be ruled by ‘the best service’.
Does anyone believe that is yet being delivered by any online lister?
I don’t believe this can be provided for less than a certain fee amount that allows the time and effort to be put in to achieve the very best overall sale price!
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Hi Hodge,
1. What was the actual value as you an agent would have valued it for?
2. what did it actually sale for?
3. the big difference in price could be a valuer (who is only paid to get a proeprty onthe books like PB) will overvalue the proeprty just to win the instruction (this is what is happening in my area and for us we go in for the secondary instruction where after a couple of months the vendor realises his mistake)
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I’ve just come back from a pitch and PB surfaced in conversation. Just as I saddled up to run through a them vs us list, they gave me chapter and verse on a friend of theirs who had tried PB, long story short, total disaster. New instruction for me at 1.25% plus VAT, circa £11k fee. The word seems to be spreading along with the overwhelming evidence.
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As it will with time!
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I was Fs but have run avery succesful EA business.
PB dont have alocal rep here yet and my sis in law did all of the negotiations. However 2 x local independents of over 20 years established and a large corporate gave the vals.
So no PB in this case.
Moreover the agents in question all quoted 0.75% without any hesistation . So if they cant haggle then why would i beleive they will neg the best price.
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If ever there was an incentive to over promise and under deliver…
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Unless i,m wrong and i,m not in this case as i am confident you are Cubitts you lose 30% of instructions as they have not sold.
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I’m not and never have been. We generally convert between 80-90% of instructions to sales including those that decide not to sell for varying reasons. PB in my patch would at best be 15% .
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Some of the invoices did include £200 deductions which the LPE told us were where there had been complaints. In one invoice there were four refunds.
According to one invoice, there was a £200 refund where a property was not listed within two to four weeks.
Try doing that on a PAYE. Smacks of the good old days of direct sales, commission only sales reps of the 1990’s. Promise the earth, hire and fire at the master bidding and we all know how that turned out for many of the companies that did it, they one day ran out of ducks to shoot and sank. LPE is set up to evade employees rights and legisltation?
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The good high street Estate Agents will survive as long as they keep providing added value and giving their client vendors and looking after the buyers great service as well. Also saying and singing from the same hymn sheet to say that a high street agent actually negotiates the sale on behalf of the vendor and often achieves more than the commission often paid .How many vendors who have paid up front to have their property listed on line have the experience to negotiate?
I’m in the process of viewing a property offered through Purplebricks Listing Agents on behalf of a retained client and my patience is being stretched. Tried on line to get appointment as instructed. No go. Spoke to the LPE (E???) who said book appointment on line as she does not do that. Eventually I phoned and once registered appointment asked for and then they would email me when confirmed.
The second property I am viewing is via a high street agent. I phoned asked for an appointment and job done immediately. Could not be easier and after all if the buyer has a good experience that is that not part of an agents duty to their principle?.
In some of the semi and rural areas a LPE (P?) ,Local Property Adviser may be better, projected fee income will be gross. Travel costs will be high in these areas and the costs of running an office , even home based, with the appropriate insurance in place( PI, PL, Vehicle for trade purposes etc etc) plus income tax and all the other costs all come off the bottom line.
Do PB cover their contractors for PI and PL purposes does anyone know?
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Would some local property agents for purplebricks over value the properties so they can get the £200.00 commission on the seller signing up?
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Perish the thought SP!!!!! Go and wash your mouth out with soap. As if such a thing could ever happen!
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Also if they value it correctly they might have to do lots of viewings for £80 mightent they? Probably far easier to not have to do any viewings, leaving more time for other take ons at £200 each.
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I see the PB LPE is stalking the comments again, pressing the dislike button whenever something negative is said about their wonderful, wonderful company. Go on then, dislike this one. You know you want to.
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The public haven’t forgotten that PB are only offering a web presence on portals that their local agents advertise. They also recognise that local agents do it for nothing if it doesn’t sell. Most I speak to are happy to pay agents commission if it does sell, as they know the agents overheads and employee salaries have to be paid. PB only get the ones who want everything for cheap fee and ignore the fact they pay a fee, no matter what happens.
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