ViewMyChain helps you verify chain information at the point in which the offer is received. We provide insight on all the properties involved, details of the selling agents, and updates on all the key sales progression milestones.
The Process - How to do it
To verify chain information or the position of your prospective buyer, follow these simple steps:
Step 1 – Add your offer in Reapit in the usual way (all offer information will immediately pull through to ViewMyChain), click 'Chain', select 'ViewMyChain' not 'Agency Cloud' and click 'Accept’.
Step 2 - Whether your vendor has an onwards purchase, your buyer is selling a property or is ‘chain free’, it’s always advisable to check their chain. VMC will automatically build the chain, provide progress updates on properties involved and contact information.
This is your 'link'. If your buyer is selling a property, select the ‘Add’ option below your listing:
2 (a) - Enter the postcode of the prospective buyer’s property, click ‘Search’ and select the correct address from the drop-down menu to verify it with OS/Land registry data.
2 (b) - Select the correct selling agent (VMC will display every agent who is currently marketing the property). Note: If your buyer’s property is not on the market, no agent will display – you can always add the agent manually.
ViewMyChain will provide comprehensive chain information relating to your buyer's property and vendors onward purchase (if applicable) including any associated chain links, details of the selling agent and progress updates for each property in the chain if they have been proceeding.
Note that it is not uncommon to see no progress (white boxes) at this stage as often solicitors, brokers etc would not have been instructed to proceed until the chain is complete. There also may also be chain links that do not display due to the selling agent not marking the property as ‘Sold’ yet.
With the information ViewMyChain has provided, you can now better qualify and understand the position of the potential buyer before making any recommendations to your client.
Repeat from Step 1 if you have multiple offers for your property.
Updating Offer Statuses
Step 1 - Update the offer status in Reapit to accepted or rejected (the updated status will automatically pull through to ViewMyChain).
Reapit
Step 2 - 'Accepted' offers will display in ViewMyChain as 'Sold STC'.
ViewMyChain
Note: If you have more than one offer marked as 'Accepted' in Reapit, ViewMyChain will not update the status to 'Sold STC' as we are unable to determine which one is the correct buyer – you should reject the non-proceeding offer in Reapit, then manually update the offer status in VMC from 'accepted' to 'Sold STC'. Milestone, search and funding information will only be updated when the status is Sold STC.
Closing the Top and Bottom of a Chain
To confirm a chain is 'closed' select the ‘Close Bottom of Chain' and 'Close Top of Chain' button.
This step is important so that you can differentiate between chains that are open (1) or closed (2).
You can then use the 'advanced search' to filter open or closed chains accordingly.
Searching Open and Closed Chains
- Select 'My Properties’.
- Select 'Advanced search’.
- From the ‘Chain Status' drop-down, select ‘Open Chain’ or ‘Chain Complete’.
Handling Fall-throughs & Switching Buyers
Changes to instruction status made in Reapit will not automatically update in VMC. Any updates must be entered manually in VMC. This is to ensure that the sales progressor can still access any necessary information before the chain breaks and remain fully in control.
If the deal falls through whilst the property is SSTC, follow these steps before you can remarket the property and/or add another buyer/chain.
- Navigate to ‘Offers’ then ‘Sales Progress’ from the instruction in Reapit.
- To update the property listing status in VMC, select the ‘Mark as For Sale’ button - this will break the existing chain. A pop-up will appear prompting you to confirm the break.
If another buyer has been selected, you will need to update the offer status in VMC...
- Navigate to the ‘Offers’ area from the relevant listing.
- Select the buyer from the ‘Status’ drop-down.
- Update the status to ‘Sold STC’.
VMC will begin populating milestone and chain information and the sales progressor can begin progressing the sale.
Things to look out for
Changing Owning Office
If you need to move the property to a different office, please ensure you do this prior to marking the property as 'For Sale - Available' in your Reapit platform. This is because once a property has been mapped within ViewMyChain, it cannot be reassigned to a new branch.
If you need to move the property to a different office after this stage, please contact our Support Team who can fix this for you.
Fall-through Alerts - Notifications
ViewMyChain will notify you if we detect a potential break in the chain. You will receive an email notification, the property record in ViewMyChain will display a red house icon along with a note a shown below:
Email Notification:
Alert icon:
Property Message:
We will also display a note in your Reapit offer activity feed.
Verifying Fall-throughs
- A message is displayed within the property record for you either ‘confirm’ or ‘discard’ the fall-through.
- If you confirm the fall through, the property status will update to ‘For Sale’, VMC will remove all previous buyers details and the chain will break. If you discard, the chain will remain intact and the property status unchanged.
Searching Possible Fall-throughs
- Select 'My Properties'.
- Select 'Advanced'.
- Select 'Possible Fall through' from the 'Status' drop-down.
Locked Properties
If we have been unable to verify an address, it will appear as a locked property.
Every property has a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN), each property address in ViewMyChain must match the exact address registered with Ordinance Survey. If not, it will show as a ‘locked property’.
You can identify a 'Locked Property' by the padlock icon.
How to Unlock a Property
- Select the property that you wish to unlock, enter the postcode and select 'Search'.
- Choose the address that best matches your property from the drop-down list.
- Select 'Verify' and this will unlock the property. Any chain information or milestone updates will update overnight and be available to view the following morning.
Unverified Chain Links
Unverified chain links are created when SSTC properties cannot be fully identified as being sold. The address may have matched but the SSTC date is unavailable.
These are displayed in ViewMyChain with a grey background – see image 1. To verify the chain link:
- Select the listing - a pop-up will appear prompting you to verify the unqualified chain link.
- Select 'Verify' to confirm or 'Remove' to remove the link.
What if I don’t have the full address information?
If you do not have the complete address for a property, don’t worry, you can add the partial information by selecting the ‘Unknown address’ option.
Note that if you choose this option, ViewMyChain will not automatically populate any milestone or chain information until the address is verified.
We would always recommend obtaining the full address so that you can benefit from ViewMyChains automatic chain building and key milestone updates.
How to Handle a Rex Box
Chain links outlined by a red box indicate that either part of the address was entered using the 'Unknown Address' option, part of the address was entered in Agency Cloud therefore only part of the address was pulled (so VMC couldn’t match it with OS data) or the selling agent hasn't been selected.
To fix this, simply click the chain link outlined in red, complete the full address, and choose the correct selling agent from the list provided by VMC.
ViewMyChain will not update any milestone or chain information until the address is verified. We recommend always entering the full address to benefit from ViewMyChain’s automatic chain building and milestone updates.
This completes the end-to-end process for using ViewMyChain. We are excited for you to experience how ViewMyChain will revolutionise your transactions, allowing you to put your focus back into servicing your clients.
For any 'how do I?' questions you might have with regards to specific VMC features, please refer to our 'How to' articles, or contact our support team.