What people hate about moving

For those of us whose line of work is helping people move house, we know all too well how stressful an experience it can be for our customers. So we’ve teamed up with YouGov to identify the UK’s biggest house-buying headaches.

We asked over 1,300 homeowners what factors caused them stress when they last moved house. We also asked them what the estate agent did to make the moving experience more positive. Our aim was to identify what the key challenges are, what agents are doing right, and how the industry can make moving more rewarding for all parties.

What makes moving stressful?

The most common stressor – affecting 34% of respondents – was the paperwork associated with buying a property, including warranties, stamp duty and insurance admin. This was closely followed by the process of moving personal belongings from one property to another – 33% of people cited this as a stressor.

26% of respondents said the costs associated with buying a home added stress to the process. Other headaches included setting up utilities and other services (24%), delays to the move-in date (24%) and cleaning and/or redecorating the new home (24%).

What are estate agents already doing really well?

We asked homeowners what factors contributed to great service from the estate agent handling their most recent property purchase.

28% said friendliness made for a positive experience, while 27% cited ease of contact as a marker of good service.

15% of respondents said they liked the fact that their agent was open and honest with them.

Enhancing the agent-homebuyer relationship

Though homebuyers and estate agents don’t have a typical supplier-client relationship, an increasing number of plug-in services are available to help agents improve the home buying experience.

A whole host of tools, from do-it-yourself portals to concierge services exist for this purpose. But why would agents want to use them?

There are multiple potential benefits. Firstly, today’s buyer is tomorrow’s potential vendor. A 2017 government study found than 9% of vendors chose their estate agent on the sole basis that they’d used them to buy the property they’re selling. 14% chose their agent based on a recommendation, and 53% based their choice on the agent’s reputation.

But there are shorter-term benefits too. With the right tools, agents can speed up the sale, reduce cost and, importantly, introduce new revenue streams. Such is the case with Tili, our free digital home move assistant. Tili dramatically reduces the admin involved in setting up essential home services, like energy and broadband. And when an agent introduces their customers to the service, they can earn commission.

 “Huge opportunity”

Of the survey findings, Ian Crowther, Commercial Director at Tili said: “It’s encouraging to see agents getting the fundamentals of great service right – friendliness, openness and ease of contact. There’s still a huge opportunity to use emerging technologies to go so much further.

"If buyers are finding paperwork a hassle, if they’re struggling with the logistics of moving, or stressed about getting the services up and running in their new home, what strategic relationships can agents forge to ease the burden? The answer is plenty. 

"For example, Tili partners with some of the UK’s leading estate agents to improve the home move experience, and to introduce new revenue streams. Tili helps people moving home set up all their essential services in one go, online, before they move in. And when they use it, their agent earns revenue. This works for both buyers and sellers, so it’s double the opportunity for the agent.”

Become a Tili partner and start earning rewards

If you’re not yet a Tili partner, you’re missing out. Signing up is simple – pop your details in the form below and we’ll get you set up. We’ll then create a unique URL for your buyers and sellers to use when they create their Tili profile. When they use Tili to connect their home services, you’ll earn commission. It’s free for them, free for you and is safe and secure.