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Phillip Irving

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About Me

my expertise in the industry

Phillip's Recent Activity

Lets stop mucking about and re-introduce Home Information Packs with an upfront condition report then we will really be in the business of speeding up the process.

From: Phillip Irving 08 February 2024 12:38 PM

So the £1 offer wasn't enough then?

From: Phillip Irving 01 March 2023 12:02 PM

I am surprised that Lifetime Legal, who has built its business providing an excellent range of products & services to independent estate agents, wants anything to do with a tarnished corporate brand such as Purple Bricks.

From: Phillip Irving 08 February 2023 09:22 AM

Well done guys. Exciting times.

From: Phillip Irving 23 January 2023 11:37 AM

As Princess Dianna once famously said "there are three of us in this marriage". Home moving is essentially the same; the client, the agent and the conveyancer. For this marriage to succeed there are three essential requirements - communication, communication and communication. The clients agent and conveyancer have to work together to achieve a successful outcome for the client. Communication has never been easier, telephone, email, digital portals, text messaging and of course the good old solicitors letter. There will always be the odd egregious mistake like the one highlighted by Matt, however, the biggest issue for most clients is the failure of estate agent and conveyancer to communicate each with the other but also for the conveyancer to effectively communicate with the client. Agents are by their very nature communicators and are always the first port of call by an anxious client usually because their offices are in the same location as the home they are selling. When I was a conveyancer in the 70's and early 80's I never saw anyone without an appointment and was always able to hind behind my receptionist or secretary. When I moved into estate agency I realised there was no place to hide - I was in the bloody front window! There is no doubt that the major communication failure lies with the conveyancer and in this modern digital age I am afraid there is absolutely no excuse for this. Conveyancers need to get into the 21st century and adopt all of the means of pro active communication available to them many of which can be automated by linking with their case management systems.

From: Phillip Irving 13 January 2023 10:42 AM

Starmer specifically references Mortgage Guarantees which existed when I bought my first home in 1971 and enabled me as a first-time buyer to borrower 95% of the property value by taking out a mortgage guarantee policy on payment of a one-off premium to secure the amount borrowed above the first 80% of value. This fixed the lenders risk at no more than 80% in the event of me defaulting and the property being sold for less than 95% of its value on purchase. These policies were very common at the time but when the double miras relief was abolished in 1987 with 6 months' notice this precipitated an unparalleled boom in house prices followed by a big bust. The insurance companies took a bit of a haircut and the scheme fell into disuse. It was however an essential vehicle at the time to enable large loan to value mortgages to be made available with minimal risk.le

From: Phillip Irving 27 September 2022 17:34 PM

Kirsty Allsop talks b******s all of the time.

From: Phillip Irving 07 February 2022 09:47 AM

Spot on again Iain. The good independent agents we work including many Guild agents are flying and the fear of PB and their ilk as market disrupters has diminished to almost zero.

From: Phillip Irving 22 April 2021 08:37 AM

It should really be the only Portal for agents as they own a majority share and therefore have control.

From: Phillip Irving 16 April 2021 12:09 PM

Kristjan is right. Our membership organisation is in crisis and the members are entitled to know what is going on. Straightforward honest answers need to be given ASAP.

From: Phillip Irving 17 February 2021 13:00 PM

I have met and like Kevin on a personal level but his views on child poverty and hunger are to say the least unfortunate. The comments so far on this post are equally unfortunate. He and they do not reflect well on our profession which is a shame.

From: Phillip Irving 07 September 2020 16:43 PM

Manadatory HIP's, regulated by legislation, and including a Home Buyers Report are and always have been the answer to our ancient and sclerotic home moving process. All salient information required by a willing and able buyer provided up front at the cost of the seller who employs a qualified licensed estate agent to source and provide the HIP as part of the marketing process. The agent is and can remain in total control of the process right up to the point of exchange of contracts when a Notary is instructed to complete the legal property transfer and mortgage formalities. HIP's only provided to properly qualified buyers with conditional mtge offers and complete chains behind them. Whilst HIP's existed it was proved that they could be provided at relatively cheap cost and in the case of my own company on a no sale no fee basis with no caveats. The industry was not brave enough or far sighted enough to embrace the opportunity to put themselves in the driving seat and are now suffering the consequences.

From: Phillip Irving 16 May 2019 10:38 AM

It really is easy to blame "incompetent solicitors" for the ills of the conveyancing process. Had we agents embraced the potential offered by HIP's for agents to take control of the process ourselves perhaps the industry would not now be suffering the worst service delivery I can remember in my 50 years in the business. How many agents lazily accept the clients choice of conveyancer rather than pro actively recommending the services of one that the agent knows from experience will deliver the service required? Good conveyancers are out there they just need agents to recognise their commitment to service delivery and whole heartedly support them.

From: Phillip Irving 11 March 2019 11:15 AM

What constitutes a fall through? An initial sale can fall through and perhaps even its replacement but if the third sale completes then the property has successfully sold despite two earlier fall throughs and the agent gets paid.

From: Phillip Irving 10 April 2018 10:32 AM

HIP's haven't been abolished just "suspended". It was the vested interests of the Law Society, RICS and the NAEA, the latter led by the nose by Nick Salmon, who frustrated the introduction of HIPs at every turn. For HIP's to work they need to be compulsory so all properties in a chain have one, and to be created and made available at first point of marketing. Estate Agents working with independent HIP providers were placed in control of the process. If HIP's are re-introduced under the influence and control of conveyancers god help us all.

From: Phillip Irving 07 December 2016 10:06 AM

Hip's ill-fated? They worked and clearly the vested interests including the conveyancing lobby are now realising that the alternative - unnecessary delay and obfuscation - is not a sensible way forward. All vendors with the assistance of their estate agent should be required to make themselves "seller prepared". It takes only a few days to put a basic HIP together and at very little cost - a few hundred pounds - compared to the overall expense of moving home.

From: Phillip Irving 14 November 2016 10:34 AM

We must be nearing the Tipping Point?

From: Phillip Irving 31 August 2016 10:15 AM

Conveyancers are from Mars and estate agents are from Venus. I have been in this business for 50 years and have lived on both planets. Agents who do not carefully select the conveyancers used by their sellers particularly are asking for trouble. There are good lawyers out there and it is the agents duty to their client, their own staff and to whoever looks after their bank balances to ensure their clients, the seller, use a conveyancer of the agents choice not the man in the pub who their client spoke to last night or the cheap and miserable lot available on-line. The CA initiative is well intentioned but the best training I have ever delivered in this field involves the active participation of both planets. Lets better understand each others needs and how we can work together in the spirit of partnership to provide the home mover with the service they deserve and think they are paying for. Finally lets remember that conveyancers are judged by all others involved in the transaction by three criteria, communication, communication and communication.

From: Phillip Irving 24 February 2016 12:05 PM

Bring back HIP's including the Home Condition Report.

From: Phillip Irving 03 September 2015 10:22 AM

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday Armageddon for OTM - today the Competition and Markets Authority has confirmed that it will not be pursuing a complaint against OnTheMarket. Do some of you who posted so vociferously yesterday feel just a little bit silly today?

From: Phillip Irving 05 June 2015 12:07 PM

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