An article in Estate Agent Today ( read here ) caught my attention. It reported that Propertymark is urging sellers to provide maximum upfront information to help reduce fall-throughs, including gathering key documents before marketing and making use of Propertymark's own Property Information Questionnaire.
On the surface, few people in the property industry would argue with the principle. Of course information should be gathered earlier. Of course sellers should be better prepared. Of course buyers should have more confidence before they commit emotionally and financially to a purchase. Of course agents, conveyancers, brokers and everyone else involved in the transaction would benefit from fewer surprises, fewer delays and fewer collapsed sales.
But that is not the real issue.
The real issue is who is controlling the solution, who benefits from it, and whether the answer being promoted genuinely serves estate agents and their clients, or whether it simply strengthens another organisation's own position, services and membership value.
Because agents have seen this pattern before.
A problem is identified. The industry is told it needs to change. A tool, form, membership route, compliance badge, guidance note or paid service is then positioned as the answer. The professional on the ground is left carrying the pressure, while someone else owns the framework, the narrative and the commercial advantage.
That is what worries us.
At WiggyWam, we absolutely agree that upfront information matters. In fact, we have been saying for a long time that the current property transaction is broken partly because too much information is gathered too late. Sellers go to market before the right documents are ready. Buyers make offers before they fully understand what they are buying. Conveyancers are instructed after momentum has already built. Agents are left chasing missing information they often do not control. Brokers are waiting for clarity. Buyers and sellers are left anxious, confused and exposed.
That part is not in dispute.
But upfront information must not become another industry slogan used to sell forms, promote memberships or create another closed route that agents feel pressured to follow.
Estate agents do not need another organisation telling them they should gather more information while quietly pointing them towards its own tools and its own member network. They need practical, open, affordable and flexible systems that help them do the job properly, without forcing them deeper into someone else's ecosystem.
That distinction matters.
Because agents are already under enormous pressure. Portal fees keep rising. Compliance expectations keep increasing. Sellers expect more. Buyers expect more. Fall-throughs damage reputations, pipelines and mental health. Conveyancers are under pressure. Brokers are under pressure. Chains are fragile. Everyone is chasing everyone, and the agent is too often left standing in the middle, absorbing the frustration from all sides.
So when a trade body says sellers should use maximum upfront information, agents are entitled to ask a few honest questions.
Is this truly about helping agents reduce fall-throughs, or is it also about promoting a particular organisation's own questionnaire?
Is it truly about empowering the whole industry, or about encouraging consumers to select a certain type of agent?
Is it truly about open collaboration, or about positioning one membership body as the gatekeeper of "best practice"?
Is the solution built around the realities of how agents, conveyancers, brokers, sellers and buyers actually work together, or is it another form-led answer to a much deeper transaction problem?
These questions matter because upfront information on its own is not enough.
A questionnaire does not fix fragmentation. A document list does not create communication. A form does not automatically build trust. A seller being told to gather information does not solve the fact that everyone involved in the transaction is still often working in different systems, chasing different emails, storing documents in different places and relying on different people to pass information along at the right time.
The problem is bigger than missing paperwork.
The problem is that the transaction itself is disconnected.
That is why so many moves become stressful. Not simply because one certificate is missing or one question has not been answered, but because there is no single, joined-up environment where the property, the seller, the buyer, the agent, the conveyancers, the broker, the lender, the search provider and other professionals can all work around the same journey.
Everyone talks about preparation. Far fewer people talk about collaboration.
Everyone talks about more information. Far fewer people talk about how that information is shared, updated, verified, understood and used by the people who actually need it.
Everyone talks about reducing fall-throughs. Far fewer people talk about the emotional and financial damage being caused because the system itself is still built on disconnected processes, duplicated work and reactive communication.
This is where the conversation needs to change.
Yes, sellers should be sale-ready. But the agent should not simply be told to push another questionnaire. The agent should be supported with a proper digital environment that helps bring the whole transaction together from the beginning.
Yes, buyers should have more confidence. But that confidence should come from meaningful information, visible progress, better communication and a clearer understanding of the property journey, not just another document buried in the process.
Yes, conveyancers need better information earlier. But they also need a way to work more effectively with agents, sellers, buyers and other professionals, without being bombarded by fragmented emails and repeated update requests.
Yes, the industry needs higher standards. But higher standards should be built around transparency, service, accountability and collaboration, not just membership labels.
At WiggyWam, we believe this is exactly why the Maverick Movement is needed.
Because the best estate agents do not need to be told that upfront information matters. They already know. They are the ones dealing with the fallout when it is missing. They are the ones trying to hold chains together. They are the ones calling sellers, calming buyers, chasing solicitors, speaking to brokers and trying to keep everyone aligned while the system works against them.
The Mavericks are the agents who understand that the future is not about doing the bare minimum. It is about being ahead of the game. It is about preparing sellers properly. It is about giving buyers confidence. It is about working with conveyancers and brokers earlier. It is about using better tools, better communication and better collaboration to protect the transaction before it starts to unravel.
But they should not have to depend on closed systems, referral arrangements, paid lead machines or membership-driven solutions to do that.
They need a better route.
That is what WiggyWam is building.
WiggyWam's approach is not about pushing a single questionnaire as the answer to a complex problem. It is about creating a more connected property ecosystem where professionals can be found, trusted, reviewed and supported by tools that help them work more transparently and effectively.
The Moving Hub is part of that wider picture. It can support sellers packs, documents, communication, transaction activity, property workspaces and a clearer journey for all parties involved. But the point is not simply to gather information. The point is to make that information useful, visible and part of a joined-up process.
That is the difference.
Because upfront information should not become another tick-box exercise. It should not be reduced to "complete this form and hope for the best". It should be the beginning of a better transaction, not another layer of paperwork.
Agents need tools that genuinely help them reduce fall-throughs, not tools that make them feel as though they are being pushed towards someone else's brand, badge or membership agenda.
They need solutions that help them protect their pipeline, improve communication, prove their value and give sellers and buyers a better experience.
They need technology that supports the agent, not technology that quietly shifts more responsibility onto them while someone else takes credit for the solution.
This is important because the language around upfront information can sound very helpful, but agents should always ask: who carries the workload, and who gets the benefit?
If sellers are told to choose an "appropriately experienced" member agent, is that genuinely about consumer protection, or is it also a recruitment and retention message for the membership body?
If a specific questionnaire is promoted as part of the answer, is that because it is the best possible tool for the whole market, or because it is the tool owned by the organisation speaking?
If agents are expected to do more at the front end, will they be properly supported and rewarded for that work, or will it simply become another unpaid expectation placed on them?
These are not cynical questions. They are fair questions.
Because agents have carried the burden of a broken system for too long.
They are blamed when sales fall through. They are blamed when buyers walk away. They are blamed when sellers are unprepared. They are blamed when conveyancers are slow. They are blamed when chains collapse. They are blamed when communication fails, even when the failure sits inside a process that no single agent can fully control.
So yes, let us talk about upfront information.
But let us not pretend the answer is simply more guidance from a body promoting its own tools.
Let us talk about giving agents control.
Let us talk about giving sellers a proper way to prepare.
Let us talk about giving buyers confidence before they waste money and months of their life.
Let us talk about connecting the people in the transaction instead of leaving them scattered across inboxes and disconnected systems.
Let us talk about giving conveyancers better information earlier, but also giving them a better way to interact with the agent, seller, buyer and broker.
Let us talk about technology that genuinely reduces friction, rather than simply branding itself as the solution.
Most of all, let us talk about who the industry is really meant to serve.
It should serve the public.
It should serve the professionals doing the work.
It should serve the agents trying to hold transactions together.
It should serve the conveyancers trying to progress files properly.
It should serve the brokers trying to support buyers with one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives.
It should not become another opportunity for organisations to promote their own products, reinforce their own membership value and position themselves as the answer to a problem the whole industry is suffering from.
At WiggyWam, we believe agents deserve better than that.
They deserve open, practical, affordable and collaborative tools. They deserve a marketplace where they can stand out because of their service and standards. They deserve to work with other professionals who share those standards. They deserve to be part of a movement that values transparency, preparation and real human collaboration, not just paperwork and membership labels.
That is why the Maverick Movement matters.
Because the Mavericks are not waiting for another trade body to tell them upfront information is important. They already know.
They are ready to work differently.
They are ready to prepare sellers properly.
They are ready to give buyers more confidence.
They are ready to use modern tools, not old excuses.
They are ready to raise standards without being trapped inside someone else's commercial agenda.
Fall-throughs will not be solved by slogans.
They will not be solved by forms alone.
They will not be solved by telling agents to do more while giving them another branded pathway to follow.
They will be reduced when the whole transaction becomes more transparent, more connected and more collaborative from the very beginning.
That is the future the industry should be building.
And that is the future WiggyWam is here to help create.
The truth is, the solution is no longer theoretical. It has already been built. WiggyWam has taken the complicated, fragmented and stressful parts of the moving process and simplified them into one connected environment for sellers, buyers, agents, conveyancers, brokers, lenders and other property professionals. It is not another form, another slogan or another branded checklist. It is a practical way to bring information, communication, documents, preparation and collaboration together so everyone can work from the same place, with greater clarity and less chaos.
BUT THE INDUSTRY WILL NOT TALK ABOUT IT - SO ASK YOURSELF WHY