Homebuyers Will Pay More for Faster Services

When buying your first home or indeed any home you will inevitably need a reliable solicitor, it is after all a daunting prospect and for most people the house is the biggest commitment and most expensive asset.

You will want your Solicitor to guide you through the process step by step, and to provide a friendly cost effective service.  However, it is not just these factors that are important; it would seem that one of the most important factors to homebuyers is speed.  So the service needs to be good and the Solicitor must perform somewhat faster than at a glacial pace.

According to a recent survey of 4,5000 people by the Property Academy in partnership with the TM Group, one in four are willing to pay more for a faster service and only 13% of home owners choose the cheapest Conveyancer/Solicitor.  Many buyers indicated they would pay more for a fast track service.

It appears that 25% of people surveyed require a swifter conveyancing service and this is echoed by the comments of Elliot Vigor, the Chief Executive of Veyo the Conveyancing Portal, which goes live in March who has commented that the three months average for a Conveyancing transaction is not going to cut it.

Conveyancing is more complex than ever before and clients now want the best service and fast which can cost more.  One of the reasons why conveyancing is more complex than ever before is that Lenders have become much more risk adverse post the crash in 2007/08.

Because of this, the processes undertaken by Conveyancers/Solicitors has become much more lengthy which often presents a challenge as the client wants to be in the new property as quickly as possible.

Trying to explain to a client (who in their mind has already got their soft furnishings for their new home all picked out) that the bank need to review a certain aspect of the transaction is no mean feat. Many a client has said to me “it doesn’t bother me and the bank don’t live there - why do they care?”

However, Lenders are asking Solicitors and Conveyancers to make enquiries which they wouldn’t haven’t necessarily raised before the crash and the client would have simply taken a view on the same but this is now a thing of the past.

The survey also found that 42% of Conveyancing clients would be prepared to recommend their Conveyancer/Solicitor compared to 50% that would recommend their estate agent if asked. Therefore this bodes well to make an impression with a fast effective service in order that client retention is optimised.