How can you make it easier to move house? (easier2move.co.uk)

Member Name: LegendaryMrDude

Product:	easier2move.co.uk
Date:	02/03/03 (827 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, SMS & Email updates, Constant Communication

Disadvantages: none

Towards the end of 2002, and after 6 months of looking, the girlf and I finally found a house that we wanted to buy. Not having bought a house before we were somewhat unsure of what to do next. After all, it's not as if there are any "Dummies guide to buying a house" books around or anything. So I did what I always do and resorted to the Internet to offer me some advice.

Trawling through reviews on DooYoo I picked up on a general trend... nobody involved in the house buying/selling industry seemed to be any good. Positive reviews are few and far between for estate agents, mortgage lenders and solicitors. Oh dear.

Slightly concerned, I decided to rely on word of mouth to find myself a solicitor. At this point, those of you who have been through the process will probably not be too surprised to find out that hardly anyone had anything positivie to say about the solicitors that dealt with their last move. The plot thickened. In fact it was only by chance, and out of sheer frustration, that I stumbled across an on-line Conveyancing firm in the form of easier2move.co.uk. Being a long-term supporter of e-commerce and not having any better options, I decided to give them a go.

The website is clean and simple. Clearly labelled drop-down menus give you access to all you need to know. There's even a fairly comprehensive beginners guide to the stages involved in buying a new house. And what's more, you can generate a quote and issue instructions over the Internet. Within 5 minutes, I had obtained a quote (which worked out significantly cheaper than some 'real' solicitors!) and instructed them to act on my behalf. Five minutes later, I received an email and a text message confirming that they had received my instructions! Things were off to a promising start.

The next day an email arrived containing a username and password that I could use to log in to their website and check the status of my case followed (in s

nail-mail) by a letter asking for some money to cover search fees etc. It was at this point that I noticed, with great interest, that I had been appointed a solicitor from a local firm. Not that I had a problem with that, but it highlighted the point that easier2move is more like a network of participating practices than a company in it's own right. I posted a cheque that weekend and sure enough, first thing the following Monday, I received a text message and an e-mail confirming that the cheque had been received. I logged on to the website and was pleased to see that two of the eleven tick-boxes between "Initial Instructions" and "Completion agreed" had been filled. At this rate we could complete the purchase in record time!

But it was here that things started to go wrong. The next tick-box we were waiting for was "Contract received from Seller's solicitors"... and we ended up waiting on this for quite some time. In fact, despite our offer being accepted in mid-November the initial contract wasn't actually received until mid-January. I emphasise that this was no fault of easier2move, but yet another problem with a 'real' solicitor. All the while we were waiting, the folks at easier2move were chasing both the estate agents and the sellers solicitor for the contract. They also provided regular emails and phone calls to let me know that things were still happening. When the contract finally arrived, I received a barrage of emails and text messages informing me that the contract had been received and the search applied for.

Once we were back on track, things rolled along smoothly, taking less than a month from recepit of the contract to moving in, with text messages and emails being the order of the day. Questions were answered promptly and in plain english. I have to admit at being slightly surprised at finding a solicitor that was willing to carry out business using email and I will also say th
at th
ey didn't appear to have fully grasped the 'netiquette' around writing email, but this should not detract from their speed, flexibility and responsiveness.

All in all, the service was impeccable. Not counting the delay induced by the sellers solicitors, we went from offer to completion in under a month. We were kept informed and involved every step of the way. Questions were answered quickly, efficiently and in language that I could understand. And to top it all off, they worked out the cheapest of everyone I called. So cheap in fact, that I even got a cheque refunding £35 once everything was finished!

In summary then, as you can tell from the rating, I have no hesitation in recommending them. Comparing notes with people at work who are buying houses, our purchase went so smoothly it's amazing. When it comes time to move again, I certainly hope that they will still be around as I would certainly use them again.

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