Say goodbye to paper documents
Essay: Digital tech will save trees in real estate deals
By Inman News, Wednesday, December 17, 2008.
Editor's note: The following essay is a response by a real estate brokerage office owner to the question: "What technology trends will change the industry in the future?" Inman News posed this question and others as a part of the Inman News Roadmap to Recovery project. Click here to find out how you can participate.
By KEVIN KRAVCAK
In the near future, 100 percent of all documentation needed to purchase or sell a home will be filled out online using electronic-signature capabilities. Everything -- including your mortgage application, mortgage commitments, promissory notes, mortgages, deeds, title commitments, title insurance, agreements of sale, HUD-1 forms, etc., will be paperless.
The demand for this will increase as the world goes "green" and consumers better understand how going paperless will help our environment and cut operational costs. It's comparable to clean energy, in the fact it is currently more expensive to initially implement but over the long term it will save you money and help protect our environment. Every party involved, from the buyer and seller to the businesses who provide real estate services, will expect this paperless technology as the norm.
Being paperless will also make it easier to access and share the files with every party involved, virtually eliminating fraud, lost paperwork, or untimely settlement mishaps because everyone will have access to and can follow the process.
Line newspaper ads and print real estate magazines will no longer be necessary. The numbers already show they do not provide a better return on investment than online advertising. If it does not attract buyers, then it is worthless.
If your argument is that agents will still use print publications for name-brand recognition and to appease sellers, I have a newsflash: There are also more effective and efficient ways of accomplishing those goals.
Sellers are quickly coming to realize that print ads do not help them sell their house any more than an open house does. They don't look for their new house in print ads themselves, so why would they expect a potential buyer for their house to do so? This trend will only grow stronger as future generations become cradle-to-grave technology "junkies."
The consumer of the future will not look for a home in print ads, will not have landline phones, and will not want to waste their valuable time driving from house to house or spend hours upon hours in an office filling out various forms of confusing paperwork. They will get their news and information via RSS or live video streaming on their mini mobile computers (imagine the iPhone on steroids). They will demand seamless, paperless and more interactive technology-based services that they can monitor with the click of a button.
I haven't had a landline phone or a newspaper subscription in over five years; I guess that makes me a tech junkie. Soon we will all be technology junkies, and I say, "The sooner the better!"
Kevin Kravcak is owner of Envirian of Bucks County, a brokerage in Langhorne, Pa.
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Submitted by William Metzker on December 17, 2008 - 8:03am.
I couldn't agree more. First American Title is already getting into paperless transactions and online document storage. Earnest money deposits via Paypal or credit card are likewise just around the corner.
Submitted by Doug Wolfe on December 17, 2008 - 9:12am.
The need is great and electronic signature legislation in various forms has been around for ten years or longer. Just a quick internet search for "electronic signature law" finds some eye-opening articles on the lack of consensus in the security of the technology.
Maybe the problem is not in the technology, but in the belief that it must be foolproof to be useful. A person intent on lying and cheating will do so whether their signature is high-tech or low-tech ("Hey, I never signed that.")
Let's hope the long-promised "paperless office" will soon be a reality.
Doug Wolfe, GRI
Long and Foster Real Estate, Inc
Phoenix, MD
410-667-1900
www.dougwolfe.com
Submitted by Richard Fisher - Morro Bay Realty on December 17, 2008 - 9:08pm.
THINK GREEN - GO PAPERLESS
Our offices have been offering Paperless Transcations since 2003 and our offices went completely Paperless in January 2007. No more boxes to search through or shred and all parties have 24/7/365 access to all their files and documents from any computer in the World. We have been using ZipformOnline/WinformOnline, Docusign and Fidelity's TransactionPoint. For those clients who want paper copies with hard signatures, these are scanned and the papers given back. Over the last 6 years there have been fewer clients wanting paper and more wanting electronic signatures. Our clients around the world love this as we create the documents on our time and they review/sign the documents on their time and if they have any questions they have access in DocuSign and TransactionPoint 24/7/365 for 7 year to all their documents. Our strongest resistance to paperless comes from the managers and owners of real estate offices, escrow officers and lenders but times are changing as more people accept esignatures as being secure. If you go paperless, advertise it and let the clients drive the process.
In the future as real estate, lenders and escrow/title develop their software to communicate with each other it should only take an hour or so to complete a sale and electronically record all documents, provided all disclosures are completed at the time of the listing. I would compare this to purchasing a car today, except there is a lot more involved.
I have been an invited speaker to the last 2 Inman San Francisco Connects on this topic and a number of other meeting involving DocuSign and Firelity's TransactionPoint.
Richard Fisher
Designated Broker
Western Heritage Enterprises
RFisher@MorroBayRealty.com
Submitted by Sam Benson on December 31, 2008 - 7:46am.
Sam Benson
Alain Pinel Realtors
1646 N. California Blvd.
Plaze Level
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Note to self: Use DocuSign for all transactions in 2009.
Submitted by Carl Espy on January 5, 2009 - 6:31am.
I believe it is also worth noting that, while it is hard for most brokerages in these difficult times to consider an investment of their money and resources to install such new technology, a "pause" in the market is the perfect time to make the needed organizational and infrastructural changes. Companies that make the decision to adopt paperless-enabling technologies will be in a much stronger position when the market upturn occurs with not only much improved operational efficienciens but with a seriously enhanced capability to improve the real estate transaction experience for all concerned, especially for the consumer.
Carl Espy
PropertyInfo Corporation
cespy@stewart.com