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Q&A: Owen Rogers, Director of Product at Movemnt

We asked Owen Rogers, our Director of Product, all about what Movemnt offers estate agents, housebuilders, brokers and conveyancers and how your customers can benefit too.

First of all, tell us what Movemnt is?

“Movemnt delivers quick, efficient and stress-free home transactions for all involved.

“We do this by integrating systems from estate agents, housebuilders, conveyancers and mortgage providers, acquiring data at the earliest point possible and then sharing it across the network to reduce duplication and improve efficiency.

“We’re part of the Houseful family, bringing together the data of Hometrack and the lead management and distribution of Alto, Yourkeys and Zoopla Move.”

How was the concept born?

“When a home purchase occurs, you have to align a number of different stakeholders – the lender, broker, conveyancer, seller, buyer and agent.

“It’s a complicated mix of people, all introducing an element of uncertainty to a process that already poses a huge financial risk to individuals.

“We know through our other brands that early access to housing transaction data is the key to a smoother process.

“All parties need access to such data – and often, one milestone will be dependent on getting information from a different organisation, such as is the case with anti-money laundering checks or property searches.

“We securely capture property information early – or even before the process has begun. That data is then instantly put through a trusted framework, reducing that post-instruction data delay.”

What’s the goal?

“Our goal is to support collaboration across the process, acquiring and sharing data at the earliest point to help reduce this risk and get the transaction over the line more quickly and efficiently.

“We recognise that there are a lot of pain points when completing a home transaction. Many organisations have tried to solve the problem but dealing with challenges in isolation with individual parties doesn’t address the issue.

“If you can solve them collaboratively, you get the solution – and that’s why we believe we can revolutionise the home purchasing process, which most will agree is arduous and admin-heavy in its current form.”

Who benefits?

“Everybody benefits, that’s the appeal of Movemnt, thanks in part to the scale of our solution.

  • Home buyers and sellers benefit from a shorter, more stress-free transaction
  • Estate agents and housebuilders can accelerate transactions, reduce admin time, automate communications and boost completion rates by reducing risk and spotting issues earlier
  • Conveyancers and mortgage brokers can reduce their workload and keep transactions on track, without picking up the phone – and market their services for free to agents and their customers, representing over 500,000 annual transactions

“It also means everybody is delivering a better customer experience, which is often remembered in the property market. Remember, most customers will be moving again at some point.

“Every organisation on the platform has completed a detailed vetting process and signed up to our service level agreement to make sure that standards are high.”

Tell us more about the integration of data into the Movemnt platform?

“A key aspect of Movemnt is that once data is inserted into the system, it’s integrated with everybody else through a shared standard.

“The outcomes and actions around taken around this data are also broadcast across the network to trigger onward workflows.”

How else does Movemnt deliver efficiencies?

“Property searches are a good example. This data is typically acquired some time after the point of conveyancer instruction, because transactions currently take time and there is a limit on the time period in which that data can be used, which varies by region.

“This either means the conveyancer will wait to avoid additional charges, or may need to redo searches if the transaction is unexpectedly delayed, resulting in additional costs.

“We remove that problem by gathering searches at the point of instruction, so when the data is needed, Movemnt provides it. And the scale of transactions across our network means we can refresh them as needed, so nobody has to pay twice.”

Are there any further developments planned?

“Like any of the Houseful brands, we’re constantly developing the system to drive improvements for our customers.

“We’ll continue to provide more material, upfront information to support quicker transactions and we’re actively working on advanced buyer qualification to help reduce the risk of fall-throughs.

“Longer term, we also want to reduce cost of acquisition for the lender, using the insights provided by Hometrack and data collaboration tools to better analyse risk to reduce adminstration for both lender and conveyancer.

“We’ll be updating on progress of all product improvements as we progress.”

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