WHEN IT COMES to buying and selling a house, there’s always potential for the process to be daunting and frustrating for all involved – whether you’re the buyer, the vendor or the estate agent.
Offers by Daft is a new platform that lets the buyer place and track offers on properties that appear directly on the listing. This creates a fair and transparent process, so the potential buyer can see who they are bidding against, and the vendor, as well as the estate agent, can see the offers come in – all in real time.
You would think that anything that alleviates some of the stress, by offering more clarity along the way, would be met with open arms. Yet, as is often the case with any new process, a degree of skepticism is inevitable.
Kathy Moran of AMOVE, an estate agent in Kildare Town, doesn’t deny that she had her doubts at first. “I was nervous that we would lose that vendor and buyer engagement, which can be crucial to getting sales across the line,” she says of Offers by Daft. “Even if someone who is bidding on one house, is unsuccessful, we usually end up selling them another property down the line, and it’s about building trust.”
A few months on, Moran, who is now a seasoned user of Offers by Daft realises that she had nothing to worry about. “I still make a conscious effort to touch base with people,” she says and the proof is in the recent sale of Moore Abbey, this three bed family home in Monasterevin that went ‘sale agreed’ with the help of Offers by Daft.
Another concern may involve time wasters or illegitimate offers, but with the right criteria in place, this can all be avoided, says Moran. “They have to view the property, firstly, and then send us proof of funds and ID. When they are approved, they can make an offer,” adds Moran who sees being able to receive offers 24/7, as well as provide a great customer experience, as huge benefits.
Closing quickly while remaining compliant are also top priorities for any estate agent, and the stats show that enabling Offers by Daft gets a property seven times more views, so deals are guaranteed to close faster. But as well as that, a fully compliant audit trail generates in an instant leaving a lot less admin for the agent to do.
This home, which is set on almost .4 of an acre and sits about three kilometres from the town, went on the market with an asking price of €300,000 and sold for €352,000.
For the buyer of Moore Abbey, the process was very different to what they have been used to. “I was a bit daunted by it, at first, but it was such a fair and transparent process,” says the buyer.
Any buyer, who buys a house with Offers by Daft, is sure to appreciate the instant updates of all offers placed and the great security in knowing that all of the bidders were genuine seeing as they were all agent approved beforehand..
For someone selling their home, seeing the bids come in in real time can only be a thrilling experience. “It was a brilliant process – much quicker than a traditional sale” says the vendor who says that the maximum transparency made them feel more included in the whole process.
For both the vendor and the buyer, being able to see how things were progressing without needing to call the agent for an update could only be a plus.
The vendor could also put herself in the buyer’s shoes: “I wish the house I bought offered the same process. I didn’t trust the process I went through as much,” she says.
It’s clear that for everyone involved, enabling Offers by Daft has only seen positive outcomes – more transparency, less paperwork and a quicker sale are all sure to take some of the stress out of the whole experience.
“Everybody was happy. The buyer loves the property, just like the vendor has for all of these years,” says Moran.
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