98% of home movers want information up front!

The above statistic comes from readers of The Times newspaper in response to a recent home buying and selling survey. Confirming that providing information up front appears to be all the rage once again.

There are a number of ‘pack’ providers already in existence and more are expected to join the fray over the coming months. The majority, estate agency led. But what is information up front and how can it really help the home buying and selling process?

Well, to my mind, information up front, in its simplest terms, means getting a property lawyer instructed by a property seller the moment a property is first marketed. That minor change in itself would help speed things up when a buyer is found. However, a lot more could be done whilst the property is being marketed. For example:

• ID and AML checks could be carried out
• Production of the EPC should take place
• A copy of the title and plan should be obtained
• Completion of the TA6 (or a suitable alternative) would assist
• Requesting searches: Local, Water and Drainage, Environmental might expedite matters
• Reviewing the documents would help prepare for the receiving of additional enquires
• Correcting errors and/or obtaining missing information of documentation would make sense

Yet, time and time again there is resistance, despite the fact that there is now plenty of evidence proving, beyond doubt, that providing information up front can speed up transaction times, reduce fall through rates and make the home buying and selling experience less stressful.

Bringing property lawyers into the home buying and selling process much earlier can only be good thing, as can preparing a Property Transaction Pack (other names are also being used), before a buyer has been found.

Within the next few months, I will be launching a new website, Bold Legal Move. In short it will be a directory of law firms (around 200 to start with) that will, when requested by estate agents and/or the public produce Property Transaction Packs. How far each individual firm goes and how much they charge, and when, will be entirely up to them.

This isn’t reinventing the wheel, all that is really required is adopting a new way of carrying out existing procedures.

Think of it like this; rather than getting up and immediately going for a run first thing in the morning, get up, stretch and do some warming up exercises first. You are likely to go further, faster, and quicker, safer. Never has the phrase ‘proper preparation prevents poor performance’ ever rung truer.

If you would like to find out more about Bold Legal Move, please email me at: rh@boldgroup.co.uk. It is free to be included in the directory.