So, you've found the perfect buyer for a property in your portfolio, but the seller wants to sell their house fast. Having a long, drawn-out conveyancing process could cost you a sale, so how do estate agents ensure a smooth sales process once an offer has been placed?
For estate agents, conveyancing can bring up a host of issues that can complicate, delay or even lose property sales. It's in the interests of both conveyancing lawyers and agents to bring around the completion date of a sale as soon as possible.
Conveyancing is a crucial legal process in any property sale transaction, so understanding how to optimise this process is key for estate agents to maximise their productivity build sales pipelines. It is important for conveyancers and agents to work together to ensure clear communication and avoid any delays in the selling and conveyancing process.
It's no secret that both estate agents and conveyancers have incredibly busy schedules and handle multiple property deals at once. Delays in the conveyancing can occur for any number of reasons from out of sync communications between all parties (vendors, buyers, solicitors and agents), hold-ups getting documentation or even manual paperwork processing.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves, let's break it down:
What is conveyancing?
Conveyancing is defined as the legal exchange of property from one person to another. Licensed conveyancing lawyers specialise in property law and specifically the legal process of selling a property.
The conveyancing process requires a lot of administrative work and can take on average 18 weeks as of November 2021, which can be problematic for those who want to sell their house fast. Often, a buyer's mortgage offer will expire during the conveyancing process and cause delays and logistical issues.
Due to the amount of paperwork, including anti-money laundering (AML) checks, property checks with local authorities and mortgage checks, conveyancing can incur high fees for buyers and sellers.
The conveyancing process can be long, complicated and overwhelming for many buyers and sellers, so agents should have an understanding of the process to reassure their clients that they are in safe hands.
As each property sale is different, the circumstances of surrounding different buyers, sellers, mortgages and lenders will vary on a case-by-case basis. Because of this, the conveyancing process isn't always as simple as following a step-by-step guide.
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The conveyancing process will follow something like:
Enquiring about the details of the sale: conveyancers get their hands on contracts, deeds from the Land Registry and the legal title of a property and dig into the details of the sale to ensure everything is good to go.
Locking in the mortgage: this step isn't an issue for cash buyers thankfully! Mortgage lenders undertake a separate property valuation and have the licensed conveyancer give them advice on the specifics of the sale.
Signing and exchanging contracts: Buyers and sellers will have to sign (what seems like) seems of paperwork, including property information forms and title deeds. When all legal questions about the property are resolved, contracts will be exchanged.
Completion day: All parties are happy, money is transferred, title deeds are signed, stamp duty is paid, and everyone celebrates the completion date with a drink!
When is the best time to get conveyancers involved?
When is the best time to get conveyancers involved?
Most selling processes only involve conveyancers once an offer has been accepted on the property. For estate agents to ensure a smooth sales process, it's better to involve conveyancers earlier to get paperwork in order before the sale starts.
For buyers: once a buyer decides to look for a property, estate agents should refer them to a licensed conveyancer to get their paperwork in order before they engage in a sales process. This is particularly key for buyers with a mortgage offer to ensure their mortgage does not expire whilst a sale is going through.
For sellers: agents should refer sellers to conveyancers at the point of marketing the property to have the paperwork in order and the transaction contract ready before an offer is placed or accepted from a potential buyer.
A good tip for estate agents is to refer every single client in their agency to conveyancers at the start of their customer journey. Referrals to conveyancing solicitors at this point will not only help the sales progression, but make sure that everyone has the information and paperwork required for the transaction.
Benefits of offering recommended conveyancing lawyers
Many buyers, particularly first time buyers, worry that using an estate agency's recommended conveyancing lawyer does not act in their interests as agents may just sell conveyancing services to gain an add-on fee.
It's the agent's job to reassure your clients that choosing integrated or recommended conveyancing lawyers benefits them throughout the property transaction.
Relationship building
Offering your clients recommendations for conveyancing lawyers at different stages of the selling process is a great way to build rapport and elevate the level of service you provide. For buyers and sellers, using recommended conveyancers will generate a sense of trust from a positive selling process.
Efficient selling
Estate agents can ensure that clients sell their property as quickly as possible through integrated conveyancing lawyers. External conveyancing can cause delays in the sales process and costly fees from inefficient communications and tied-up paperwork.
Agents can stress the importance of selling a house fast, including the time-sensitive nature of mortgage offers, particularly in the case of buyers re-mortgaging for a new property.
Cost effective
Though it's true that agents gain revenue via referral fees from offering conveyancing recommendations; the delays, fees and complications that external licensed conveyancers incur can add up when selling a property.
Estate agents can instil trust in their clients by explaining conveyancing quotes in depth so that clients understand the fees properly.
Integrating the conveyancing process with the sales process
For estate agents, integrating the conveyancing process into the sales process is key to a smooth sale. No one wants to delay the completion date of a sale. For estate agents, conveyancers and, of course, the clients, the sooner a property is sold the better.
Providing your clients with a list of recommended conveyancing lawyers or integrating conveyancing into your estate agent software/CRM is a key means for estate agents to provide efficient service and offer smooth conveyancing services.
Estate agents can create close, mutually beneficial partnerships with trusted conveyancers to ensure smooth sales processes, generate secondary revenue streams and provide clients with as much of a stress-free experience as possible when selling their home.
How best to recommend conveyancing services
Integrating conveyancing lawyer recommendations into your estate agency's CRM systems enables estate agents to provide an efficient service and benefit from seamless workflows.
Using Dezrez's industry-leading, cloud-based estate agent software, Rezi, estate agents can benefit from a truly seamless conveyancing services integration with DezrezLegal.
There are a range of benefits for agents to use conveyancing services which are integrated into their estate agency software.
Centralised information for both parties
The Dezrezlegal conveyancing integration enables all parties to access client and property information, from valuations to mortgage lenders from one tidy, centralised CRM, Rezi.
The timeline function in the CRM shows all parties all of the information regarding the sale, from buyers contact details to which forms have been submitted, including time stamps to keep all parties up-to-date.
Seamless communication in the selling process
As all of the information regarding the selling process is centrally accessible, estate agents and solicitors don't waste any time on communicating to check on what documents have been submitted.
These communication dashboards are particularly useful for multi-branch estate agencies as there may not be direct communication established between agents and conveyancers.
Automatic alerts for conveyancing solicitors to contact clients
Dezrezlegal conveyancers are notified to contact buyers at key points in the selling process to recommend their services. This can be from the start of the selling process with sellers following the valuation of their property, and with buyers once they register as a client of an agency.
The Rezi and Dezrezlegal integration call these key selling points 'trigger points' as conveyancing lawyers are notified from within the estate agent software to contact clients.
Increased conversion on conveyancing recommendations
As communication is more directed with buyers and sellers in the most crucial points of the sale, the conversion rate for conveyancing services increases.
Increased conversion is beneficial for both estate agents and conveyancers, as conveyancing firms benefit from inbound clients and agents gain referral fees, creating an alternate revenue stream for agencies.
Integrating conveyancing services into your estate agency software is the best way for estate agents to support their clients from end-to-end in the conveyancing process and ensure a smooth selling process.
Connecting your estate agency with our Dezrezlegal conveyancing firm through our Rezi CRM is a key way to streamline your business processes and sell properties effectively.
To discover other areas of your agency's workflows which can be streamlined and integrated into your CRM, from automated property reports including EPC certificates to What3Words locations, take a look at our Partners and Integrations.
