Want to buy and sell a property at the same time? Simultaneous property settlements are here now…
A mid north coast conveyancing practice has made digital history. Taree-based, All About Conveyancing, has seized an Australian online record by finalising settlement with the proceeds from one property sale funding another purchase in close to real-time. Another local firm, On Time Conveyancing, acted for the buyer to the transaction.
So why does this warrant a notch on the digital leader board? Ken Bourke, Principal, All About Conveyancing, explains just how far-reaching going paperless is for simultaneous property transactions. He also credits his colleague Sheridan Jones for her role in bringing the e-Conveyancing settlement to fruition.
Close to real-time lodgement and disbursement of funds
“All About Conveyancing has set a new standard Australia-wide by being the first to successfully process a simultaneous settlement,” he said. “On this occasion Sheridan settled two properties online for a client who wanted to buy and sell a property at the same time. The hi-tech breakthrough is that we didn’t have to leave the office. Plus there’s no juggling cheques or gathering at a particular venue where we meet to shuffle paper. It was close to instant lodgement and disbursement of funds. Our client moved out of one house in the morning and into his new property that same day – excited that his transaction had made history.
Several parties transact online in one virtual meeting place
“If this was undertaken using pen and paper processes it would have taken a lot of organising to bring off settlement – and possibly up to two days of work. The biggest hurdle in the manual or paper world is trying to get all the parties to a property transfer in the one place at the one time. Now we can essentially all transact online in one virtual meeting place, bringing all parties (in this case, ourselves, another conveyancing firm, a law firm, two incoming lenders and two outgoing lenders) together to complete four total transactions that resulted in the settlement of two properties.
“As well as being the first firm to benefit from PEXA’s simultaneous settlement network functionality, All About Conveyancing is proud to be an early adopter of e-Conveyancing. We were on board with PEXA some time ago now and in fact also transacted one of the first 10 PEXA transactions in NSW.
Paper settlements can tie up our people for up to half a day at a time – e-Conveyancing changes that
“I’m thrilled that our firm has made history. But more than that, going online helps our team to focus on the things we’re best qualified to do. We undertake a lot of settlements every month. Currently if we use pen and paper processes we can waste countless hours waiting on hold for the banks to schedule settlement and then one of our people could be tied up for another half a day on the day of settlement. All that time pulls us away from running our business. The lost hours quickly add up. If all of those settlements were completed electronically we could save several hours for each transaction and that translates into hundreds of hours per month.
e-Conveyancing will open up a new market for qualified people
“Another benefit of e-Conveyancing is that it will open up a new market for qualified people. One of the biggest challenges in regional Australia is keeping our trained and qualified staff. e-Conveyancing promotes remote working practices that can help with the retention of our skilled people. They can continue working while managing child care and family responsibilities. Now that’s progress.”
Ready to settle your clients’ properties online but need a bit of help to get started? PEXA has dedicated specialists trained to guide your practice to a digital future. Even better, it’s a free service. Get started by emailing therese.ryan@pexa.com.au
