Read more in The Independent here
We recently conducted research into the experience of homebuyers across the UK and the results reveal some worrying trends in the property market. Almost three quarters of people who bought a house in the last 10 years say the process took longer than expected. In 21% of cases, this even led to homebuyers temporarily not having a roof over their head- an unacceptable outcome for a process that happens over 1.3 million times a year.
The most common reason for people being left temporarily homeless is that the buying chain is delayed by admin, as many of the steps still rely on paper-based processes and manual updates. To add to the situation, in many cases, rental contracts expire before tenants can get the keys to their new homes, leaving them without permanent accommodation.
These problems are exacerbated by the lack of communication between parties involved. 58% of people said they found the home buying process stressful, feeling in the dark during the whole experience.
“Evidently, there is a significant need for the property industry to bring itself up to speed, not just when agreeing the sale of a home but the lengthy steps that follow to seal the deal. That’s why we created When You Move, launching in September, connecting estate agents, brokers, conveyancers and homebuyers to improve communication and streamline processes, so that everyone benefits from working better together.” says Simon Bath, When You Move’s chief executive.
Nearly three quarters of people say that the home buying process took longer than originally anticipated – an average of 7 weeks longer, and 10% of all homebuyers say the process takes 10 weeks longer than expected. This demonstrates not only the need for processes to be more efficient, but also for transparency around the timescale should the projected completion date become unachievable.
Delays in the property chain have become commonplace, and the differences in timescales between buying and selling has seen homebuyers bearing the brunt with 27% (4.31 million people) forced to stay with friends and family or rented accommodation while they waited to get the keys for their new home following completion.
We believe that these delays, which have such a massive impact on peoples’ lives, are avoidable and would be significantly reduced with the right technology to connect all parties, and that’s exactly what the When You Move platform will do with:
- Case-tracking for progress updates.
- Business intelligence and forecasting through our dashboard.
- Easy integration with your current systems.
- Access to rated conveyancers based on location, price and availability.
- Referral fees paid automatically.
You can read more about the results of our research in The Independent.
