Property knowledge can deliver for both agents and their clients – it’s time to make better use of it!

A recent announcement by National Trading Standards confirmed all property listings will need to contain the property’s council tax band and rate, property price, and tenure information as part of the sales process by the end of May 2022.  

At Information Works, we provide this information and much more property knowledge at our client’s fingertips, helping our agents to already benefit from its use before the new rules on upfront information are introduced.    

Better use of property knowledge means more better informed customers 

The Levelling Up White Paper also reinforced the idea of ensuring vital information that buyers need is available digitally wherever possible from trusted and authenticated sources.  

In order to prepare, agents should gain access to trustworthy and secure property data, ensuring that they are ahead when changes by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) and the government are implemented.    

“Waiting until the last minute to aquire access to sufficient property data is not necessary. Information Works already provide 24/7 instant access to an extremely accurate source of this information and more at granular level for over 28 million UK residential properties to clients using our online portal, meaning information can be both accessed instantly and used to target potential new customers in a range of ways,” Nigel Ross, Information Works managing director, said.   

“This information and much more property knowledge is readily available and can be freely accessed as part of our service, the real obstacle is agents need to ensure they are using the data to its full potential, from Council Tax Bands, Tenure, Sales and Lettings history, Planning, Curtilage dimensions and Mapping. Huge amounts of knowledge is available to our agents within our software. It is the sharing that needs to be done.”  

“One stop” knowledge can assist in new customer acquisition to prevent fall-throughs and increase speed  

Information Works argues that agents should use the in-depth information available to them to assist in the process from aquistion through to sale and to assist prospective buyers in speeding up future processes and preventing fall-throughs.   

Supplying prospects, sellers and buyers with only basic information regarding the property of interest will only result in a less positive relationship throughout.  

“Instead, as the leading providers of online direct marketing and property Data Services, we advise that expectations can be met throughout, and trust can be gained with accurate and transparent data,” Ross said.  

“Better use of property data will prevent misinformation, misunderstandings, and uncertainty throughout all processes. As a result, transaction from acquisition to completion will be more fluid with fall-throughs likely to be reduced through a better understanding of what’s on offer from the start.  

He added: “Making use of the vast amount of granular data that is available keeps agents, buyers and sellers informed and this allows them to make better decisions right at the beginning of their journey - overall, lowering the possibility of transactions falling through.”  

Making use of important data that is often overlooked and sharing it with targeted neighbourhoods and individuals will also humanise sales and as the industry continues to get more competitive over time, the use of property knowledge will continue to improve results through the better flow of knowledge, Ross insists. 

“Take, for example, our “Recent Success” Mailing Facility. This allows our clients to mail homeowners around properties recently Sold or Let immediately after a sale has taken place (within 24 hours). The original version of this tried and tested campaign has been used over many years by the industry, the difference is speed and knowledge combined with technology, making our new iteration of this facility much more successful.”  

There’s also speed, Ross adds. “We email our clients reminding them of their success within 24 hours of going sold STC and when recorded on Land Registry as a sale. 

In addition, Information Works provides property knowledge and relevance – ‘we automatically only select homeowners of properties relevant to the sale in terms of value type, etc. for targetting’ – and state-of-the-art tech.  

“Mailer templates are automatically populated with figures, images, etc, ready to approve and mail,” Ross says. “Manual searches, spreadsheets and generic information should be a thing of the past. Comprehensive access to property information is available now from Information Works and can take your businesses to new heights by providing access to meaningful property data.”