Why does it take sooooo long to complete on a House Sale?
This is the question so many of us have asked ourselves for so many years.
Whether we are in the industry and reliant on completed transactions to reap the reward, or whether we are desperately willing the sale or purchase to complete to move forwards to our dream home, we ALL ask ourselves the same question…Why does it have to take so long?
The problem is that, conveyancing is actually quite complex.
Years ago you had the stereotypical solicitor, usually male, grey hair, zero personality, taking his time and dragging out the process to stake his importance giving grounds for his astronomical and quite frankly, unjustifiable fee.
Fast forward 20-30 years and conveyancing has moved on with the rest of the world. We have online systems designed to take time out of the process. Boxes that can be ticked instead of paperwork requiring signature and yet we STILL are unable to reduce the time it takes to complete what we all feel should be a simple and straight forward transaction…why?
I can answer that for you…there are two reasons..
Firstly, the licenced conveyancers have inherited the failings of the previous generation I alluded to before. Remember the grey haired, very ‘important’, zero personality types? Yes, those lawyers that completed a transaction on a hand-shake before disappearing off to the Cotswolds for the weekend.
Secondly, the compensation culture we now live in. Make a mistake and there will be a price to pay. So much more care and attention MUST be taken now to protect the client, the practice and the mortgage lender that you simply cannot complete on a transaction by pre-populating information and ticking a few boxes.
So even with all the technology available to us which we have seen evolve into something really quite superior offering complete transparency for all involved, it will STILL not help to reduce the time it takes to complete on that all-important transaction. The necessary checks are indeed that…necessary.
So how do we save time? I have the answer…but you’ll have to wait for the next blog 😉