Improving the homebuying and selling experience

There are a number of angles and ways to look at the homebuying journey. From a potential homebuyers perspective, a number of figures have been bandied around over the years around how long it takes form them to decide if a property is right for them. This can range from 25 seconds though to 26 hours and anywhere in between depending on what study you read.

For housebuilders, some are now using the latest in immersive 3D technology to help house hunters find their perfect new home by exploring plots and housing types before even a single brick has been laid. Estate agents also adopted a more technology driven approach over the pandemic through virtual viewings and walk-through video tours.

The art of collating information remains fundamental in the ongoing evolution of how people can make a more informed decision around their property purchase. Technology continues to play a key role within this education process in many ways, shapes and forms. I say this after spending 20 minutes or so listening to a recent Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast in my car whilst driving home.

In this episode, host Phil Spencer was joined by mortgage broker Tom Jackson, managing director at Cooper Associates, Peter May, sales director at estate agency location, location and Suman Dally, head of conveyancing at law firm Shoosmiths to discuss the homebuying and selling journey.

Included within this discussion were their individual takes on the procedures involved in these journeys, the importance of preparation and education for buyers and sellers, the reliance on government and trade bodies, the impact and limitations of technology, and how to speed up the transition from offer to exchange.

It was interesting to hear the dynamic between these three different parties and, whilst I’m sure they will all have their own ideas around how to make certain parts of the journey quicker, simpler and more efficient, they did all agree on the fact that more needs to be done to improve a customer experience which, at times, is severely lacking.

In March last year, I remember data from Moneybox highlighting the fact that three in 10 new home owners found the homebuying process to be overly complicated, with 32% finding the experience overwhelming. It added that the same proportion (32%) said they should have been better informed during various stages of the arduous process.

I can’t help but wonder if this proportion would be higher or lower if this research was to be revisited today. My heart would love for these numbers to have improved but my head worries that this might not be the case even though, as exhibited in the podcast, all links in the homebuying chain recognise the need to not only improve on an individual basis but also as a collective.

So far, this collective element has proved easier said than done but getting people in the same room to have these discussions does represent a great starting point. Many other similar conversations are going on behind closed doors between many different companies representing many different sectors and these will hopefully start to bear fruit sooner rather than later. After all, the housing and mortgage markets aren’t getting any simpler and the impetus needs to come from within so that the buying and selling experience changes for the better. And the faster this happens, the better for all links in this chain.