A property’s price was adjusted three times in the space of one day by just £5 each time.
Last Thursday, the property’s price was increased by £5, then reduced by the same amount, and finally increased by £5.
The £300,000 property listed on Zoopla had already had its price changed twice since first being listed only the day before, on March 11.
It was first listed at £270,000, but then had its price increased by £40,000 to £310,000, before being cut by £10,005 to £299,995.
We asked Purplebricks about the £5 tweaks, and a spokesperson for Purplebricks said that the customer had made the alterations on the Purplebricks platform, either themselves or asking their agent to do so.
These had automatically fed through to the Zoopla listing. Baffling – does a property look better at £300,000 or a fiver less?
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/44198857
Comments (17)
Michelle is clearly not aware of the old maxim:
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt”
A search on Rightmove using the property postcode. BN41 2HP Shows the property listed on Rightmove as reduced in price when in fact the price has increased.
Yup – that’s one of Rightmove’s failings. Drop a price and it bumps the listing. Put it back up and it remains marked “Reduced on…”
You would think those nice people as @ASA_UK, @TPOmb or @NTSELAT would give a shizzle to something so clearly W…R…O…N…G as this…
…but apparently they don’t.
PB share price now 37p and falling
As Michelle well knows, they are completely blind as to what a vendor is up to.
It’s not real estate agency – the 41p share price this morning bears testament to that.
“…a spokesperson for Purplebricks said that the customer had made the alterations on the Purplebricks platform, either themselves or asking their agent to do so.”
Sorry – but aren’t Purplebricks there to advise their client as to the optimum marketing strategy for their property? And to implement and carry out said strategy, that should result in a successful sale at the best price achievable in a timescale to suit that client?
They are NOT there to simply facilitate their client to yoyo the price of the property around on the portal in order to jockey for position or in a futile attempt to ‘game’ the system which is already corrupted to bu99eration point – are they?
Call me naive – but I doubt there is a single self-respecting Agent out there that would tolerate a vendor chuffing around in such a manner.
But apparently they are some NON self-respecting Agents that simply take the money and lap it up.
Any agent (using the term loosely in the case of the purple ones) has an obligation to offer best advice to a client but we have all had clients that don’t want to accept that advice and agents also have an obligation to follow the client’s instructions (unless instructed to do something illegal, of course). In this case, where PB have effectively given control over pricing to the client via the client’s ability to access PB’s systems, it is possible that PB weren’t aware of the bu99ering around until too late. Whether PB care about the bu99ering around is another matter.
If an agent really disagrees with the client’s instructions and the client is adamant on a course of action that is against the agent’s advice, the agent’s only sanction is to terminate their instructions but would you choose to do so over these changes to the price – I am not sure I would although the changes that have gone on with this one might well be a strong indication that this client is not going to be your easiest!
“If an agent really disagrees with the client’s instructions and the client is adamant on a course of action that is against the agent’s advice, the agent’s only sanction is to terminate their instructions but would you choose to do so over these changes to the price…”
Yes, I would – and have done so in the past.
Fair enough – respect to you for doing so
R’and’r In all my years in Agency I never once ‘listed’ a property that I didn’t have 100% intention of selling. I have lost count of the number of potential listings I have passed up – and the unique reasons for each.
There are Agents that exist of the low-percentage sales they achieve from high-volume listings. I guess I may have helped in a small way to keep a few of them afloat over the years that being the case.
I was, in that respect, a poor lister, as I wouldn’t subscribe to the ‘numbers game’ mentality.
But if a vendor wanted 100% commitment that, in the vast majority of instances delivered results, then I was there for them.
I can’t say I have ever taken on a property that I didn’t 100% intend to sell, or use my best efforts to do so, but I have come back with what I was confident was a sure fire seller, only to have it hang around with little or no interest. I have also come back with my tail slightly between my legs, worrying that I had accepted an instruction on a “dog”, only to find it fly out of the door.
That said, I have passed by plenty of instructions where I thought another agent’s appraisal figure was ridiculous, unachievable and given only to win the client’s instructions.
I would concur with you wholeheartedly that if there is one thing that is 100% predictable it is the unpredictability of homeselling!
It does sometimes leave you scratching your head as to why something didn’t – or even did – sell, but I think you will agree that in the main our gut feelings as to when to hold or when to fold or walk away are on point.
Overvalued listings are best left to those that did the overvaluing. In order to sell those properties you first have to sell the right price to the owners – who are the people that don’t want to face that reality.
Michelle, you always come across as hard and angry. I suppose working for Purplebricks will do that to you…
I hope you are just as straight with your potential ‘victims’ when you’re sitting in front of them, whilst trying to push your product.
Not exactly Pulitzer winning journalism ROSALIND RENSHAW. How is it a mystery if you already have the answer? Send me your email address and I’ll give you something newsworthy to publish.
Mystery: noun: something not understood or beyond understanding
Try looking in the “Contact us” section at the top of the page.
“Some people are born hard of thinking… some spend years practicing it to achieve chuffin’ perfection”. (modern [March 2020 to be precise] Geordie proverb)
“Leave ‘er PeeBee. She ain’t wurf it!…”
Looks like she’s pulling an all-nighter.