Is the buying and selling process fit for purpose?

Thought not……so what can be done to improve it.

Unacceptably it’s now taking more than twice as long to buy a property as it did when I started as an agent in 1979 – which is absurd.

Fact is there are lots of things that make it better but you never hear about them – why?

You, the Silversurfers readership, are the prime movers in the UK property market as you own the best part of it. What would you say to your agent if you knew that, if you wanted, you could see a property whenever you wanted, you could communicate with your agent [or solicitor and mortgage broker] whenever you wanted, and get full information on a property before you actually commit your precious time going to see it.

Trouble, of course, is that estate agents want to meet you at a property, at a time to suit them of course, so that they can try and sell you more services and check out where you live – so they can help you sell that. This is all well and good and there’s no reason agents shouldn’t try and maximise your value to them. But a survey carried out by outsourced viewings company Viewber showed clearly that 97% of people would benefit from seeing a property at a weekend, 81% would be happy being shown around by someone who wasn’t trying to sell them something and 61% felt they’d missed an opportunity by not being shown around at weekends.

The other ‘tech’ mentioned above might also persuade you NOT to go and see a property, which is not what the agent wants. Have you noticed how property particulars are getting briefer and briefer, often with just some pics and the word “freehold” or “leasehold”? Of course the less they tell you the more likely you are to see it, often to be disappointed or angry when it’s clear there were issues that would have stopped you wasting hours going to see something patently unsuitable.

If these tech companies had £millions to advertise on the TV, like Purplebricks, then the next time you’re refused a viewing you might say to your agent – “Why don’t you use Viewber?” If enough say it, they will. Problem is most tech companies can only market to agents, hence why you don’t hear about them – many agents don’t seem to have an interest in changing what they do. It’s no coincidence that Purplebricks have gone from zero to the biggest agency in the UK in five years – the public now knows there’s another way.

That’s why the process hasn’t changed and is getting worse as a result. There’s clearly a lot more to it than just that, electronic conveyancing would change things, but would put many solicitors out of business, and getting your finance sorted in a day of two still seems well beyond the ken of mortgage companies.

Brits aren’t good at complaining, but perhaps if you were more demanding when looking for a property, things might start to get better.