Q&A - how can agents and conveyancers work better together?

In this Q&A, I catch up with Jesper With-Fogstrup, chief executive officer of Smoove (formerly ULS Technology until a very recent rebrand), for his thoughts on what disrupts transactions, how agents and conveyancers can collaborate better and whether the recent rebrand has led to any loss of jobs.

It would be good to know, what are the biggest holdups in a transaction?  

“The biggest challenges for homemovers, aside from the stress that comes with making such a big investment and commitment, is the fragmented process of the home buying journey and overseeing each part of this over a long period of time. 

“To start with, the financial cost involved with moving home is immense. Ranging from stamp duty, deposits, commission fees and much more – all with no guarantee you will complete until the exchange of contracts takes place. Several complex and lengthy forms are required to be filled out, submitted, and checked by multiple parties before phases can be completed. 

“Lastly, communication speed between parties isn’t known for being efficient – homemovers often feel disheartened, stressed, and impatient waiting for local authority property and other searches, mortgage applications, information forms, property title deeds, certifications, and surveys to all come through and be checked and approved by the conveyancing firm too. Conveyancing is not well understood by consumers and often valued poorly, and we want to change this perception. Buyers want to know when they can expect to move in, and transparency within the process will help to answer that at the same time as removing stress and anxiety.

“The homebuying process continues to be one of the more stressful things people go through in their lifetime. Smoove offers a dynamic and holistic platform to drive real customer change and a repositioning of the overall brand ambition to make home-moving and ownership better for everyone involved.” 

How can agents and conveyancers work closer and better together?

“There is a clear need for agents and conveyancers to identify opportunities to collaborate better. We believe the answer lies in technology investment to help make the whole home-moving journey a singular, streamlined process. 

“The role of technology as a standardised tool in the property process must connect platforms and services used in the market to make it easier for individuals moving homes by helping them find, use, and share information with relevant parties. Smoove’s platform will provide more proactive and transparent communications across parties primarily through a consumer lens – one which helps home-movers regardless of the stage, challenge, experience, or nuances of their journey. 

“Now is the right time to start delivering experiences against our ambitions in making real change to home moving and the broader end-to-end experience.”

How are your tools saving agents time?

“At Smoove, we understand how the housing market works and we have at our disposal a huge range of data, insight and technology to help us achieve this aim. Over the last three years, our platform has saved around 1,360 days’ worth of onboarding and admin time.

“We are at the early stages of our ambitions and are building on our early success with DigitalMove, where more than 75,000 conveyancing cases have been handled. The next step is to bring estate agents ‘into the tent’, which we are doing with our new estate agent proposition currently in pilot. 

“Our rebrand is a new platform to show all the great work we do across consumers, conveyancers, mortgage brokers, lenders, estate agents and more. We want to continue to add real value across to all stakeholders across the home moving and owning experience.”

Will the rebrand mean any job losses, what differences will agents see?

“There are no job losses. Smoove’s products, services and experiences will help estate agents source conveyancer recommendations more easily and will provide a platform to help inform and expedite transactions. For example, TA6 and other forms will be made digital on the platform. This will provide transaction visibility and reduce uncertainty around completion. Smoove is disrupting an old, tired way of buying and selling houses by bringing the process into the digital age, to the benefit of all parties.”