How to speed up the buying and selling process
Michael Blowers, Head of Residential Property at Mogers Drewett explains how to speed up the buying and selling process
Over the last year, we have seen a steady volume of transactions in the residential property department with the property market only slightly drawing breath in the lead up to the General Election. Now the election has passed there is renewed optimism in the market, and with a background of continuing economic growth and interest rates likely to stay low, there is good reason to expect another good year.
The one unfortunate trend that has been seen is the time between a sale being agreed and completion has got longer. The extended time can in many cases add to the stress of moving home. In today’s high tech world that should really not be the case. However, greater volumes have meant that conveyancers are under greater pressure and turn round times are slower, more conveyancing searches are needed and are taking longer, and mortgage offers can often take weeks if not months.
So, what can be done to speed up the process? If you are selling, instruct your solicitor at the same time as you instruct your estate agent to market your property. They will then be able to prepare a lot of the legal documents in readiness for a sale, saving at least a couple of weeks if you otherwise wait until a sale is agreed. Also consider asking your solicitor to obtain a Local Search on your property which you can then sell to your buyer. At present any searches in the Mendip area are taking anything between five and seven weeks to process.
If you are buying get your mortgage finance agreed in principle well before you agree a purchase and make sure that you have all your financial information ready to provide to your proposed lender. Above all, make sure that your solicitor understands your requirements and timescales and they will communicate with you regularly.
Various schemes are in place to hopefully speed up the process and also make the whole process more transparent. If they come about all will benefit, but it will take time to work through.
At Mogers Drewett we do all we can to ensure that we understand our clients’ needs and timescales and aim to help them be achieved. We seek to deal with each matter on a personal basis, use the latest technology to produce documents, communicate with others, and above all be proactive and personable. Whilst not all delays can be eradicated, knowing what is happening makes an enormous difference.