Why Are Estate Agents Risking £3,500 for a £300 Referral Fee?

Why does it now take around 20 weeks to exchange contracts when it used to take six to eight?

Estate agents blame conveyancers. Conveyancers blame agents. Everyone chases everyone else, the client is left wondering what on earth is happening, and when the sale collapses, nobody gets paid.

In this episode, I’m joined by Silas Lees, CEO of WiggyWam and founder of The Maverick Movement, for a frank conversation about why Britain’s home-moving process has become so painfully slow.

Silas argues that estate agents must accept their share of the responsibility. Too many properties reach the market without the material information needed to complete the transaction, while referral fees have helped turn conveyancing into an unprofitable, high-volume race to the bottom.

We discuss why agents may be sacrificing a £3,500 sales fee for a £300 referral payment, how better upfront information could dramatically reduce fall-throughs and transaction times, and why sales progression should not require endless phone calls simply to discover whether anything has happened.

We also explore whether AI will genuinely improve the home-moving experience or merely allow overstretched professionals to handle even more cases while delivering even less value.

Silas certainly doesn’t pull his punches. But if estate agents want faster transactions, fewer fall-throughs and better fees, perhaps it is time to stop pointing fingers and start changing the part of the process they can control.

Find out more about WiggyWam and The Maverick Movement.

This episode is sponsored by Alto, the all-in-one CRM helping estate agents manage their business, properties and customers more effectively. Find out more at altosoftware.co.uk.