Habito announce the launch of homebuying service Habito Plus

London, 6 March 2020: Habito launches Habito Plus, a new homebuying service bringing mortgage, surveys and legal work together for the first time.

With ‘Habito Plus’, first and next time buyers can now have an expert team on their side to take care of every aspect of homebuying from the point at which an offer on a property is accepted to the point at which they get the keys to their new home. The service includes conducting a survey, all the legal work, including property searches, drawing up the contracts, and transferring the money to the seller, creating a frictionless experience for homebuyers looking to get more certainty throughout the process.

Next time buyers looking to sell and buy simultaneously can also now consolidate both their sale and purchase paperwork and timelines into one place meaning less hassle managing multiple legal teams and minimal time-consuming admin and documentation.

The launch of Habito Plus follows calls from customers for a clearer and smoother homebuying experience. Research¹ carried out by YouGov on behalf of Habito found that two in five homebuyers said they were resigned to a long and drawn-out homebuying process – this equates to around 265,000 of the homes bought in 2019. An additional survey from OnePoll for Habito, found that even once their offer had been accepted, a third (32%) said they still couldn’t relax and over a quarter (28%) said they had anxiety because they couldn’t trust anyone in the process – including the estate agent, seller or surveyor. Fewer than one in 10 buyers claim the process is easy and straightforward.

Daniel Hegarty, founder and CEO of Habito, said:

“Our research tells us that people find the process of financing and buying a home hellish – 62% of people suffered from anxiety when applying for their mortgage. And yet getting the mortgage sorted is only part of it: there’s still a mountain to climb before you get the keys.

“There are 60,000 new homebuyers each month in the UK and we know that conveyancing, searches and surveys are a source of frustration and uncertainty for the majority. Over the past year, we’ve been looking at ways in which Habito can not only continue to reinvent the mortgage process but also dramatically improve the homebuying experience. We’re delighted to be bringing to the market an innovative service that truly puts the buyer first.”

Habito customers will now be able to use the company’s award-winning brokerage for their mortgage application while a dedicated Habito Plus case manager will be a consistent point of contact with full visibility of the whole homebuying process from point of offer. They will coordinate Habito’s network of in-house experts and panel of accredited conveyancing and chartered surveying partners (including specialist law firm Juno and surveying experts White Horse) to deliver all the paperwork and necessary steps up to completion. Moreover, Habito’s deep integrations with its selected partners dramatically reduce the burden of form-filling, meaning less of the customer’s time is spent on duplication and admin.

Unlike the traditional homebuying model, with Habito Plus, there is just one cost, paid in two parts – an initial fee of £999 payable once the mortgage application has been submitted and the remainder paid upon completion. Pricing starts at £2,000 for buying and £2,700 for selling and buying and is fully inclusive of all legal costs and fees, land registry fee, personal local searches and a HomeBuyer Report (HBR). All disbursements are fixed from the outset and should the property purchase fall through, the initial fee paid can be used for the next property.

Habito Plus is available for property purchases in England and Wales only and is currently not available for homebuyers looking to use a government scheme such as Help to Buy or purchase a new build property.

The launch of Habito Plus marks yet another advancement of the business’ expansion beyond its mortgage brokerage. In October 2019, Habito launched Habito Go, a brand new buying-agent service for first-time buyers which uses property price data and home-buying expertise to offer first-time buyers unprecedented negotiating power and everything that’s required to complete the purchase in a timely and stress-free way.

In July 2019, Habito made its lending debut with a range of buy-to-let mortgages for all landlords. Habito’s award-winning brokerage will continue to offer free, independent and whole-of-market mortgage advice built around the customer.

To find out more about Habito Plus, please visit https://www.habito.com/plus.

Kindly shared by Habito