EXPERT: Poor seller preparation by estate agents ‘killing completions’

Estate agents have been warned that they risk fall-throughs by failing to prep vendors properly about gathering conveyancing information.

Estate agents have been warned that too many transactions fall apart not because buyers walk away, but because sellers are not properly prepared for the conveyancing process.

The warning comes in a podcast by Dan Hamilton-Charlton (pictured), CEO and founder of Property Searches Direct.

He believes the industry’s focus on agreeing and celebrating deals too often distracts from the work that determines whether a transaction will actually complete.

Estate agents love the glory of agreeing a sale.”

“Estate agents love the glory of agreeing a sale,” he says. “The celebrations, the social media posts, the chest-beating about how many sales they’ve secured. But a sale agreed is not someone moving home.”

Drawing on more than 30 years’ experience across estate agency and conveyancing, Hamilton-Charlton says problems typically surface later, when progress slows, and buyers begin to lose confidence.

He adds: “The real issue is that the seller was never properly advised on how to prepare for the legal process of selling a home.”

He points to persistent miscommunication at the very start of transactions. “More often than not, the first time a conveyancer hears about a sale is when a memorandum of sale lands in their inbox,” he says. In some cases, firms are chased for updates before they are properly instructed, before basic information is available, or before they even know they are acting.

Hamilton-Charlton warns that the marketing period is routinely wasted. “Estate agents often spend weeks, sometimes months, marketing a property,” he says. “That is valuable time. Time that could be used to help sellers get ready before a sale is agreed. In many cases, nothing is done at all.”

With the buying and selling process under Government review and greater upfront preparation likely to be required, Hamilton-Charlton says agents who drive readiness earlier will be better placed to keep transactions together and reduce avoidable fall-throughs.

You can access the full podcast by clicking on this link.