Today’s estate agent in SA is fast becoming more aware of the need for systems in their business. The relative complexity of selling and managing multiple properties is administratively intensive and poor controls can lead to loss of sales and loss of income. Transfer attorneys have become accustomed to using software to manage their processes and this reality is now a major focus point for any professional property broker. The next step in this evolution is the connectedness of attorney and agent software, enabling better flow of information and more efficient processing of sales as they spill out of the agents office.
Better system integration ensures a better quality of relationship between attorney and agent as one cannot survive without the other. The unfortunate truth of this relationship however, is that the attorney relies on the agencies to feed them business so the onus is most often on the attorney to adapt where possible to maintain a consistent flow of business through the door.
A new innovation from software company, Howzitt, is a web-based sales management solution for estate agents that integrates with the Law Active Transfer solution enabling direct system-to-system communication on all new matters. The sales management product, called Inview, is part of a new breed of web-based applications that combines a high quality user interface that focuses on managing the key ‘post-signature’ requirements of an estate agency. New deals are captured using an integrated deeds office search and instructions, complete with attached documentation and critical deal information, are sent as a digital deal pack to the selected transfer attorney. Attorneys can now be assured they are receiving a much higher quality of information on new instructions as a result.
A big benefit of the collaboration between Inview and Law Transfers is that the systems talk to each other, providing the agents office with a real-time, automated feed of the transfer status as it moves through the various stages. As a product, Inview now gives agency principals and agents more visibility over their cash-flow and puts their office into the digital space where all sorts of benefits can be extracted. Importantly, since launch, Inview has seen in excess of one hundred new agency offices sign up in 48 hours, clearly showing that agencies are desperate for a simple, elegant solution to their administrative processes.
The resulting impact of this is that users of Inview are putting pressure on their attorneys to adopt the software on their side so they can realize the full benefit of the product. Attorneys need to think carefully about the software they choose as none of them want to see their business pipeline dry up when South Africa’s estate agents adopt a product that clearly remedies a major, long-standing headache.
Why would a Transfer Attorney benefit from Inview, when it’s software that estate agents use to manage their sales?
- Inview delivers clean data to the attorney as it requires a SearchWorks Deeds Office search for the property description, reducing costly administrative hours.
- Paralegals are freed up from agent calls as they now receive an automatic status feed in their own system.
- A digital instruction, complete with supporting documentation and accurate deal info speeds up the transfer process.
- Inview forces checks and balances at the agent’s office before instructions can be sent to the attorney.
- Current user and early adopters of the Law Transfers solution will benefit from the fast uptake of Inview within the agency space.
- Communication between agent and paralegal can be done securely through the system, time-stamping an audit trail of all communication ensuring a tracked process.
Contributed by:
Howzitt
