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When was the last time you spoke to a mortgage advisor? Maybe you’re lucky enough to be a first-time buyer that’s never gone through the experience before. If so, you probably won’t realise that the process involves booking an appointment, going to the office in person and talking at length with somebody who has manually searched through all the available mortgages and has picked a selection of what they think is best for you. And that’s if they’re independent; some mortgage advisors receive higher commissions for selling certain lenders’ mortgages, resulting in what might not actually be the best deal for you.
Of course, you could choose to avoid mortgage advisors altogether, but then you have to be the person that manually trawls through every available deal, and who wants that? This is where online independent brokers and comparison services come into their own. With everything taking place on their websites, brokers can find you a deal in less time than it takes to eat your lunch.
Most comparison services require you to answer a few simple questions such as whether you’ll be living in the property yourself, if you’re a first-time buyer and what your income is. Brokers often use an online mortgage calculator to show you exactly how much you could borrow based on your answers, before pairing you with your own dedicated, independent advisor.
The speed and simplicity is exactly what modern property buyers crave. Gone are the days of slow-moving office appointments and the feeling of dealing with an industry that seems to be stuck in the past. New PropTech companies are dragging the industry, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century by solving problems that previous generations simply accepted as part of the process of buying property.
Modern consumption patterns and the ever-evolving integration of the digital and real worlds have driven this change and caused modern consumers to question various financial industries: Why does it take 7 days to process a refund when you can send money to your friends instantly? Monzo says it can be done much faster. Why do you need to physically go into a bank and sign reams of paper forms to get a mortgage? Trussle says why not apply for mortgages online; brokers such as this have helped provide first-time buyers and those looking to remortgage alike with everything they need to make an informed decision.
And PropTech isn’t just limited to speeding up processes. Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home are bringing efficiency and convenience to everything from monitoring and controlling your heating to setting your lights to come on automatically. Meanwhile, local authorities are harnessing the power of the internet of things (IoT) to monitor and improve air quality and energy efficiency in socially rented accommodation.
As you’re probably realising, PropTech is a very wide-ranging term that covers a huge variety of different technologies, and PropTech itself is part of an even wider, multi-industry-spanning, fundamental change from analogue to digital. Whilst businesses may be slightly fearful and may try to drag their heels, this transformation can be nothing but long overdue news for consumers. The future is bright.
