Contrary to popular belief, estate agents are more instrumental to property completions than it may appear and their efforts are often undervalued and misunderstood. Their job is not only to market a property, deal with viewings, enquiries and negotiations but also to prepare their clients for completion. Nevertheless, agents are often the last to get paid, so is there any way they can influence the speed of property completions once the offer is accepted?
Prepare the Vendor by Helping Them to Get Legal Ready
Estate agents can help the vendors get ready for completion from the moment they are instructed. One of the most overlooked yet highly effective tactics for speeding up completions is instructing a conveyancer as soon as the property goes on the market. Estate agents, especially those who use WeCOMPLETE, the digital end-to-end conveyancing platform, can generate comprehensive conveyancing comparison quotes, so the sellers can instruct their legal teams even before they accept the offer and without upfront legal fees.
Collate the Data to Help Conveyancers Onboard Faster
By instructing the conveyancer early, estate agents and vendors get an opportunity to check all the property information, such as title plan and title number, UPRN, and additional information, including flood risk and plot size, and send it to the buyer’s solicitor the moment an offer is accepted. To make this process even more effective, estate agents turn to technology that enables them to populate this data automatically.
Real-time Progression Tracking and Milestone Updates
With the introduction of a digital conveyancing platform such as WeCOMPLETE, the work of estate agents and conveyancers has been streamlined thanks to real-time updates, a unique sales progression calendar tracking, which can be viewed by all parties, which takes us to the next point…
Communication and Collaboration
Establishing a strong relationship with solicitors progressing clients’ cases can go a long way when it comes to managing clients’ expectations and speeding up completions. It’s worth considering using the platform for individual and group communication, which will help all parties communicate directly with each other. And for the extra layer of transparency, every interaction should be logged and recorded. This, of course, doesn’t have to be done manually. With WeCOMPLETE, every activity is logged automatically.
Don’t Be Afraid to Switch Up!
It’s becoming increasingly important to not just offer a single recommendation but to also promote choice through comparison. This is yet another instance where technology can help. For example, WeCOMPLETE provides a comparison quote from an agent’s hand-picked tech-enabled legal teams, with the tools to significantly speed up onboarding, document uploads, filing and electronic signatures, search ordering and returns, anti-money laundering checks, and much more, whilst notifying estate agents as the case progresses.