Buying or selling a property can involve a lot of people, paperwork and emails. There are clients to contact, documents to collect, checks to carry out and questions to answer. When everything goes well, the process can feel fairly simple. When one part gets held up, though, it can have a knock-on effect on everything else.
The good news is that improving the process does not always require a major change. Sometimes it is a case of looking at the jobs people deal with every day and finding a less time-consuming way of doing them.
Take client onboarding. Getting the right information at the beginning can save a lot of chasing later. If a form is only partly completed or something important is missing, someone will have to go back to the client before the matter can move on.
A straightforward digital onboarding process can make this easier for everyone. Clients can provide the information they need to provide, while the firm has a clearer record of what has been received. It also cuts down on some of the paperwork and back-and-forth emails that can build up at the start of a case.
Once a transaction is underway, knowing what is happening is just as important. Property deals rarely move at exactly the same pace. One case might be waiting for searches, another for a signed document and another could be close to completion.
When information is spread across emails, notes and different systems, it can take longer than it should to work out where a case stands. QMP includes case tracking, giving conveyancing firms a central place to keep an eye on their transactions and see what needs attention.
Communication is another area where time can disappear. Clients want to know how their purchase or sale is progressing, and estate agents and mortgage brokers often need updates too.
Keeping people informed is important, but sending similar messages over and over can become a job in itself. An email might only take a couple of minutes. Multiply that by a busy caseload and the time soon adds up.
QMP includes automated progress updates, allowing firms to send information to clients, estate agents and mortgage brokers as cases move forward. Staff can still have a conversation when something needs explaining, but routine updates do not always need to be written from scratch.
Documents are worth looking at as well. Conveyancing produces plenty of them, and finding one particular file can be surprisingly frustrating when everything is stored in different places.
Having secure document and data storage in one system gives staff somewhere straightforward to look. It can also avoid the situation where someone spends ten minutes searching through an inbox for a document that was sent several weeks ago.
There are plenty of other routine jobs involved in a property transaction. Identity checks, AML checks and electronic signatures are just a few examples.
If each task involves a different system, staff can end up switching between platforms and moving information around. QMP works with DocuSign for electronic signatures and ICOS for identity and AML checks, helping bring some of these processes into the wider workflow.
It is also worth considering how information moves between the different businesses involved. An estate agent may need to know whether a buyer’s mortgage is progressing. A conveyancer may need information from the agent before something can move forward.
A lot of unnecessary time can be spent simply asking what is happening. Making progress information easier to access can reduce some of those calls and emails.
That does not mean every part of a transaction should be automated. Some situations need a proper conversation. If a search raises a concern or something goes wrong in the chain, people need to discuss it and decide what happens next.
The aim is to take care of the routine work so that there is more time for the things that cannot be dealt with automatically.
This can make a difference to busy conveyancing teams. If staff are spending less time searching for documents, checking basic information and sending the same updates, they have more time for clients and cases that need closer attention.
Estate agents can benefit in much the same way. Less time spent chasing progress leaves more time for buyers and sellers, viewings and new instructions.
There is a benefit for the client too. Buying or selling a home can be stressful, and not knowing what is happening can make it worse. Regular, useful updates can give people a better idea of where things stand without them having to keep asking.
No system is going to make every property transaction run perfectly. There will still be delays, unexpected problems and situations that need to be dealt with individually.
What can be improved is the work around those problems. If the everyday administration is easier to manage, the people involved can spend more of their time dealing with the parts of the transaction that actually need them.
QMP brings several of these areas together, including client onboarding, case tracking, secure document storage and progress updates. Having those functions in one place can make it easier for firms to keep track of their work without constantly moving between different systems.
There is no magic solution to making property transactions completely straightforward. But a collection of small changes can make a noticeable difference.
Better onboarding, clearer case information, easier document access and less repetitive communication can all help take some of the pressure out of the process.
For firms dealing with a large number of transactions, those small savings can add up. The process itself will always involve paperwork, checks and communication, but there is no reason for the administration around it to be harder than it needs to be.
