Property Blog: Good things come to those who are realistic!
Published: 30/04/2014
As the world and his dog talks, debates and argues about the newly implemented Mortgage Market Review (MMR), Lynne McCaffrey has decided to swim against the tide and offer a little bit of respite with this week’s blog.
“Amongst the midst of MMR news articles, blogs, alerts, tweets and infographics I stumbled across some research about the expectations of buyers and sellers surrounding exchange and completion times and it made me smile. Being in the conveyancing business for longer than I care to mention the one thing that remains a constant is the instantaneous results expected by prospective buyers.
“In the world where everything seems to happen in double quick time, where you can be chatting face to face with someone on the other side of the world in a matter of seconds, our need for speed is insatiable.
“But such velocity is not mirrored in conveyancing and nor should it be.
“Let’s take a step back and consider what’s on the line and, more importantly, the cost of what’s at stake. We are not in the market for a to-go latte; we are buying a property, usually for tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds, and working at high speed can quite easily result in a significant and dangerous slip up.
“While there are conveyancers who claim to offer a super quick service, pardon me while I raise a sceptical eyebrow. As I said I’ve been in this game long enough to know how long these things take... at least when they’re done properly.
“Don’t get me wrong we’re certainly not opposed to ‘getting the job done quickly’. In fact we’ve taken numerous steps to modernise conveyancing from our case management system GW Live, to our online messaging service for clients which puts them in direct contact with the team handling their case. We also have a large social media presence and are available to liaise with clients through these channels if they prefer. After all it’s in our interest to get cases completed as soon as possible because a swift completion usually translates to a happy customer! We are just firm believers that you shouldn’t sacrifice quality for speed.
“Moving house is largely recognised as one of the most stressful things we do. I don’t doubt it is but how much of that stress is generated by our own expectations. We have a timeframe in our heads because that’s how long it took The Jones. The thing is The Jones weren’t buying a property in the vicinity of a floodplain, or buying a leasehold property with only 75 years left on the lease. Every conveyancing case is different, just like every home is. Funny that!
“So to save your energy and, let’s face it at times, your sanity, you need to trust your conveyancer. We may be celebrating our 30th year in the industry but buying a house is not easy. It takes time, particularly in light of MMR – ok there I said it!”
Content correct at time of publication