It’s good to talk!

They say it’s good to talk and the old adage certainly applies to the property market. Good communication should be at the heart of every aspect of property market activity but unfortunately it’s not always the case.

As reported by The Negotiator, Coadjute research confirmed what most people in the industry would have privately conceded – better communication and cooperation is needed between estate agents and conveyancers to secure better outcomes all round. Our ‘Working Better Together’ report reveals both estate agents (36 per cent) and conveyancers (27 per cent) believe improving how they communicate, and working together is a top priority to improving the homebuying process.

Bridging the gap

Home-buying remains a singularly opaque and protracted process which is compounding matters. It can be difficult to navigate a way through a property transaction because it requires professionals from many different fields to work closely together to achieve one thing – to help clients secure their dream homes.

We need to act, as a matter of urgency before things get even worse.

When I left estate agency four years ago, despite many attempts to improve collaboration and information-sharing across the property market, the average completion time was around 12 weeks. It is now around 18 weeks, so we need to act as a matter of urgency before things get even worse.

And having worked as an estate agent, I have first-hand, frontline knowledge of those frustrations hampering people across the industry who want nothing more than to do the job to the best of their ability and help people move homes.

Transparency

Both estate agents and conveyancers lament the lack of transparency – neither party knowing exactly what each other are doing – which leads some to make presumptions. I have seen a tendency for some to operate in their own bubbles – through no fault of their own – and they need a helping hand to work better together with greater transparency.

An appetite for change

Thankfully, there is a common appetite to make some changes, with our findings showing both sides are optimistic relationships can be improved and working better together is key to a brighter future. Building positive and long-lasting client relationships remains the overriding focus for estate agents and conveyancers alike and there is a sense we are all connecting the dots in understanding good client relationships can become exemplar if we all work better together.

One perhaps surprising result came around the hope for the future. We found 72% of those with 15-plus years of experience are most optimistic about the future of the relationship, compared with only a quarter of those with less than five years’ experience. It is comforting to see the stalwarts remain committed and positive, but perhaps we need to be thinking about the new generation and how we can empower them to lead the change that’s needed.

A role for technology

Where does technology fit in supporting this change?

We can all see the property market is undergoing significant change and our research tells us that new technology is already starting to strengthen ties, with almost three quarters of estate agents and conveyancers saying technology has had a positive impact on their working relationship.

This is why Coadjute offers a solution to a seemingly eternal problem, relieving the constant chasing for information, unnecessary admin and security risk of linking emails to files.

There is clearly plenty of work to do but healthy attitudes towards change combined with the utmost professionalism, show the property market is moving in the right direction.

You can read our report here…

Michael Booth is Senior Business Development Manager at Coadjute.