Property purchasers should be made to provide similar levels of upfront information to sellers, according to Gazeal.
PropTech platform argues that greater levels of buyer transparency is needed to ensure more transactions are completed.
“We’ve seen a lot of focus on sellers providing info, and understandably so, because this is vitally important,” Bryan Mansell, CEO of Gazeal, commented. “But we also feel that buyers should be obliged to do the same so it really is a two-way street.”
He continued: “When it comes to upfront information, the more the better, and it needs to be from both sides to ensure the full picture is there for everyone involved before a transaction progresses any further.
“Buyers need to state, sign and submit their offer in writing, outlining their position, the state of their finances, timescales and offer details. This not only provides a huge deal more information, it also protects agents from having to deal with tiresome he said/she said arguments later during the sale.”
From the end of next month, all property listings must include greater levels of material information after a joint announcement by the government and Trading Standards.
As a result of the changes, a property’s council tax band or rate (for lettings and sales) and the property price and tenure information (for sales) must be included on all property listings by the end of May.
The major portals have started to include data fields for these particulars ahead of the deadline. This is the first phase of a three-phase plan to increase the amount of upfront information provided on listings.
Mansell added: “As we said before, we fully welcome this change and it will make a big difference, but the focus shouldn’t just narrowly be on sellers – or agents on their behalf – providing more information, but buyers too. It’s just as integral that prospective purchasers get used to offering up more information as they start their home-buying journey.
“When submitting their offer, there is a host of useful information that buyers should have prepared or be prepared to submit alongside it, to show sellers and agents they are serious, motivated buyers. For ultimate transparency in the sales process – and that should be the end goal to prevent or lessen fall-throughs – we need all sides to play ball.”
Mansell says there are too often issues with unserious or time-wasting buyers, which in turn slows the whole transaction process down.
He went on: “Of course, many buyers are committed and fully motivated, but by compelling buyers to put more effort in when it comes to submitting an offer, we hopefully managed to cut out those who aren’t really that interested in a property.
“Fortunately, providing this upfront information needn’t be labour-intensive or time-consuming with the right tech and processes in place.
“The necessity is absolutely there for sellers to improve the upfront information they provide, but this shouldn’t negate the need for buyers to do the same. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. For a better property market all round, and greater levels of transparency, more material information from buyers should be just as prioritised. We need to change the agent’s mindset, too, so that they get into the same space with buyers as they are with tenants in terms of gathering all that crucial information.”
I totally agree with Bryan, but I think client transparency needs to happen much further upriver and not at point of sale or transaction, I can can not understand why for example, the portals do not pre-quailify every applicant prior to passing them on to their agent members. With software that is out there there are a number of proptech SME’s who could do this, and then agencies could focus on the target market they want to.
By having data sets of different types of applicants – life could be so much easier for agents. In 2000 being passed a ‘lead’ which is an email and not much more was a benefit. In 2023, it is possible with open banking and all the big data that is out there to forensically delve into the DNA of an applicant – better UX for them – better UX for the agent.
Legacy agency dictates that agent needs to speak to ‘clients’ to work out what services they can ‘sell’ to that client, clearly though Amazon does not follow this sales process, it ‘reads the mind of the client’ and facilitates solutions, usually turning up in a smiling cardboard box. This is the type of service that smartphone 35 year old and under runs their life by, why does the property industry still lag so far behind?
Upfront information is becoming an increasingly loud noise in the property space, it needs to be a universal truth that will aid all of the stakeholders to do business more quickly.
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As a buyer, I am totally against sharing banking and other personal information with Rightmove and other third-parties. My business is with the homeowner and their agent, not with the marketing portals.
As an agent, I do not want or need portals to filter my leads, nor do I want them putting off prospective buyers from registering their interest in a property because they have to fill in a lengthy questionnaire and divulge personal information.
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