High street agents are being urged not to chase up conveyancers on the phone but to put more reliance on the latest technology – as online firms sell more homes.
Sohail Rashid, CEO of View My Chain, said that 10% of property chains will soon have online agents in them – and “their communication failings post-offer are well documented”.
Rashid said: “Our whole of market view of new instructions shows online market share increasing from 4.7% to 5.7% in the last 12 months and we think this will continue to grow at least by 25% next year.
“We are in the unique position of digitally tracking thousands of chains which means we have visibility of how agents are connected.
“Currently out of every 100 chains at least six include an online listing. As online agents start to sell more houses they will appear in more chains which may create challenges for good agents trying to proactively progress a sale to completion.”
Rashid was responding to an article in EYE last week by Ed Mead, following a round table where DCLG was trying to gather views on the place of technology in the house buying and selling process.
Mead argued that “using a strange thing called a telephone to speed things up are still at the heart of getting deals done”. He said that while technology could help, it still required human interaction to get deals done.
Rashid attended the same round table, and yesterday said he did not disagree with Mead’s comments but that agents need to embrace change in response to changing market conditions and consumer demand.
He told EYE: “My ears pricked when Ed (quite rightly) suggested that good quality communications are still at the heart of getting things done.
“However, I would argue that utilising technology to reduce the amount of communication required is a necessity to meet the expectations of home-movers, and to free up time for agents.
“There is a misconception from agents that a good relationship with the conveyancer is to call them every day, but from my experience, this takes conveyancers away from case work and takes agency staff away from other important tasks (sales, negotiations, complex enquiries). Technology that offers transparency between conveyancers and agents is crucial.”
He went on: “Furthermore, Ed is quite right in alluding to the fact that for the time being, high-end property sales with private client solicitors are rarely impacted or improved by technology: those transactions are the embodiment of old-fashioned estate agency work.
“What that ignores is that the average property chain is 3.4 properties, meaning that the majority of agents are constantly dealing with multiple solicitors, agents and brokers. To convolute the process further, soon 10% of chains will include an online agent, and their communication failings post-offer are well documented.
“Ed is correct in asserting that ‘the main way tech can help the buying and selling process is better communication and access to data’; however, he is incorrect in his belief that it needs to be people-driven.
“Companies such as my own offer transparent and up-to-date chain links, title document requests, searches ordered, searches delivered and the application of mortgages, all with minimum requirement for human interaction.
“Consumers now use technology in almost every aspect of their lives and have come to expect quick and seamless transactions.
“Relationships are still important, but so is meeting consumer expectations with regards to instant access and gratification. Also, let’s not forget that the next generation of estate agents will have no experience with life that doesn’t utilise technology. Technology is key to remain relevant to both consumers and new hires.”
Rashid warned: “With the continued downward pressure on fees, strict data protection regulations and the need to sell houses faster and cheaper than before, agents that don’t evolve and embrace technology will struggle, regardless of the quality of their telephone manner.”
Comments (17)
Some of the slowest conveyancers have some of the the best IT and case tracking update software. In fact most I would wager.
Those tick box ‘tell ’em nothing’ case tracking software systems are also so pointless, and so misleading by weeks. We had the chance, though the guy selling it said ‘now you don’t have to talk to clients’. We showed him the door, as that is why conveyancers do what we do – we like to help clients achieve a fast purchase/sale, but ….without legal errors. It is the latter part that so many estate agents don’t get. How easily a lawyer can make an eye watering large legal mistake costing £000s to fix, and a conveyancer facing the loss of their job. Every sale and purchase has at least 100 things a lawyer can get sued on.
Solution? Be on the ball at every step. So….no paralegals, no conveyor belt of multiple people looking after a single file, and certainly no poorly trained staff. That pyramid model is archaic, which we never followed, and certainly has no place in 2018. Instead, we pay higher salaries, as we demand expert conveyancers, with law degrees and/or serious experience who can make instant decisions, never having to wait for the only solicitor in the organisation to come past once a week to check if the file is right or wrong and sign it off. No daft enquiries to drag the deal into the mud. That sort of service will not do. If an estate agent calls, or a client, or mortgage adviser, our conveyancers know the file, as it is their file, and they tell in detail how it is, and what needs to be done.
We know not all conveyancers like facing our pace, but frankly, be prompt and expert, and you’ll understand why we enjoy our jobs, and why clients rate us as highly as they do. It has worked incredibly well for us in the last 10 years, year on year in fact. 2017/2018 will be the best yet for us. 2018/2019 …we can’t wait.
I still don’t understand how this speeds things up. A grotty solicitor or useless agent will still ignore a request for an update, even more so from some piece of software.
We spend half our time chasing solicitors who are not bothering to answer enquiries, confirm instruction, send out DC’s.
Todays beauty, a solicitor told me he will reply to enquiries when he is “good and ready, I’m in no rush” yet his client is (pregnant), the buyer and chain are. It’s a fact that some sales fall through because of a solicitor sitting on things and believing they are above everyone else.
Skilled agents who are used to chasing these things in the right manner will always get a far better result in my opinion.
Ah yes, the old “good and ready” argument.
It’s actually IMPOSSIBLE to argue against this because it’s totally unquantifiable, which is frankly, pure genius on the lawyer’s side.
As it’s nearly Christmas, we should start a competition; what is the most banal excuse you’ve received from a lawyer as to why they’ve not dealt with an issue …
I had that once when I told a conveyancer that the sale would collapse unless it exchanged contracts that day and other solicitors were telling me all the balls were in his court.
His verbatim response was ‘Well if it falls through dear boy, it falls through’.
I immediately told his client who promptly turned up unannounced at his office 10 minutes later. It exchanged that afternoon.
Telling a client that they are on the verge of losing their dream is an effective persuader in my opinion.
Legal disclaimer: Other alternative approaches are available, threats of death or mutilation are not considered acceptable but more modest forms of threat could be deemed appropriate with ‘stress’ being the default defence.
Nothing beats speaking to a human being.
Absolutely on the money Dkennedy35.
It seems that people are just waking up to the key problem in conveyancing is not whether someone’s ordered a search or sent out a contract pack, but whether they have enough time to actually look at the documents that they have received.
Sadly, whilst this advertorial (totally agree J1) makes valid points that improved communication will help, until people understand that the reason that communication is poor is due to high caseloads and lack of a structured approach to enquiries, then the heart of the problem will not be solved.
I have several colleagues who came from panel managed law firms (being paid between £200 and £300 per case and hence had to run 80-100 cases each) who tell me that the main problem they suffered was the telephone ringing constantly. But it rang, they said, because they didn’t have enough time to proactively deal with the case. They have found that the difference at my company is the telephones don’t ring very much at all (due to lower caseloads) and so they can progress deals.
Looks like we’re trying to solve the wrong problem …
Peter
We are customers of this tool and it’s great at providing a good visual of the key milestones leading up to exchange, yes I still need to speak to the conveyancer about the enquiries on my sale but I don’t need to waste time chasing other agents and conveyancers in the chain to check how they are progressing with contracts, searches and mortgages.
Online agents in a chain are a nightmare, you can’t speak to them, the consumer or the conveyancer so anything that helps with this is a good thing.
And no wonder “Proper Agents” are rearing their hair out even more as their chains become impossible to verify and progress because the onlinerskeft the building the day the6 list ed the property ,
More software is a nonsense, as getting conveyancers to let alone email another conveyancer in less than 10 days a time, if at all is worse than it has ever been….and if an estate agent uses electronic means to communicate, 99.9% of the time all they ask is ‘please update me’. We delete those, as they bring nothing to the table.
For the present model advertorial, it will fail.
Using their own numbers, 6 out of every 100 chains contains a listing from an online agent which equates to 1.76% market share of properties under offer. However, their market share of listings from online agents is 4.7% which suggests that online agents are only converting 30% of their listings to sale agreed.
After fall throughs, the figure for completions will be even lower.
This is an advert – plain and simple
It is missing so many vital elements it’s hardly worth the read
This whole article frustrates me. For so many reasons.
Rashid. Yes I agree, we live in a tech world. However…
I disagree that your software will offer a solution. It’s an aid, but as with anything that aids a service, it requires humans to operate it, which means even the youngest of my clients will ask further questions that the software just won’t be able to answer. Which means we still need our amazing ability to communicate with people using our ears, mouths, eyes and body language.
You’re welcome.
No Mark, the software will contact the solicitors to chase up enquiries that the vendors solicitor hasn’t answered, and then chase the buyers solicitor when the vendors solicitor say they have answered them! It will also chase the mortgage broker who is faffing about swapping mortgage lenders rather than admitting the client cant get a mortgage.
If it is true that at some point in the random distant future that call centre agents become involved in more sales, then this tech becomes even less useful, as CC agents sales are put together on a wing and a prayer, most never get to the conveyancing stage.
Good morning Mark, thanks for the comment.
View My Chain would agree you still need great people with all the skills mentioned to be involved in the process and technology isn’t a replacement. The customer feedback we have is that it makes the conversations with conveyancers and agents more worthwhile, rather than just chain chasing, and the benefit to the customer is that they don’t have to wait for call backs to get an update.
We need local conveyancers for local people so that the doclaments can be quickly dealt with. Then we need to find the key to be under the mat. ‘You’re my house now Daaaaave….’
#leagueofgentleman (utterly brilliant!)
How big is the fighting chest for funds Sohail? Has everyone forgotten Land Registry’s failed attempt with Chain Matrix after a £4.6m test trial that failed to get any traction!