Click a mouse to buy a house
Working from my home office in rural El Dorado County has a few advantages made possible by technology. My commuting time is about 10-seconds, starting from the breakfast table to my office desktop computer. There, I start each day writing a daily real estate and financial broadcast that’s mailed simultaneously to over 300 individual subscribers across northern California. By eight o’clock I have responded to all my mail, reviewed digital photos or taken virtual tours of all the new listings in areas of interest and downloaded and sorted the daily interest rates of a dozen different lenders. Last week within 45 minutes, I drafted a counter offer, had it signed by my clients in Roseville, delivered it to the listing agent in Cameron Park, whom had it signed by her clients in Texas who delivered it to the title company in Placerville who then completed the title/escrow information and delivered receipted copies to all parties.
Drafting a real estate contract has come a long way since I first started writing the one-page document back in the 1970’s. After getting the buyers signature I would drive the single page contract over to the listing agent’s office and then both of us would drive to the seller’s home to present the offer. Once signed, we hand-delivered the contract to the lender and the title company. If a client resided out of town, mailings could take longer.
Fax machines speeded up the document signing process in the 1980’s but by then, the one-page purchase agreement had expanded to four, then six (now 8+) and the additional documents and related disclosures made faxing cumbersome. Missing and unreadable pages were common and although every real estate office had a fax machine not every client did. The new generation of scanners and faxes became available in the late 1990’s improving the digital process but the resolution after multiple faxing was still poor.
E-mailing attachments is common. Agents have been using standardized real estate contract drafting software for years and more recently Internet based real estate forms and contract management. Internet based software allows an agent to e-mail a contract to a client, which they can print, sign and fax or mail back. The disadvantage has been in getting a legible and legally signed contract. Not any more.
Now agents and their clients have the availability and speed of the Internet while signing contracts and documents with a click of a mouse. Electronic signatures have been legally compliant since Congress authorized them for commerce seven years ago. It hasn’t been until the last two years that consumer friendly technology has evolved allowing real estate and loan documents to be prepared and signed electronically and then e-mailed any place in the world.
Electronic or E-signature products have gained legitimacy as they have withstood legal challenges. The service is secure and consumer friendly. Clients can sign or initial any contracts or disclosures easier than they can order an ink-jet cartridge on-line. I happen to use an Internet-based service called DocuSign but there are similar companies all quickly gaining in popularity. DocuSign allows agents to post documents on a secure Web site and then send their clients to the site to sign the documents electronically. Clients use a computer mouse to click on a signature line that has already been flagged with computerized yellow sticky notes. A cursive-style imprint of their name then appears on the line. Users can even select their favorite font and lettering.
If a client has some questions about the documents, they can call their agent and both can review the form on-line. Since the form is located on a secure Web site, an agent does not need to be at the office to receive or access the document.
Sometimes speed is important in a real estate transaction where “first in time is first in line” but e-signing has other advantages. Both the agent and client have a permanent digital file of the complete transaction including all disclosures, title reports, escrow instructions and loan documents available on their computer. After the transaction is complete, all the real estate and loan papers can be transferred and stored on a CD. Collecting an E-signature is more environmentally friendly than driving and less invasive for the clients who can review and sign an e-mailed document at their convenience without scheduling a face-to-face appointment.
A few lenders are now using E-signatures for their home equity loans. I have found clients more receptive to the electronic signature process than some agents but soon electronic signing will be as commonplace as e-mail.
Drafting a real estate contract has come a long way since I first started writing the one-page document back in the 1970’s. After getting the buyers signature I would drive the single page contract over to the listing agent’s office and then both of us would drive to the seller’s home to present the offer. Once signed, we hand-delivered the contract to the lender and the title company. If a client resided out of town, mailings could take longer.
Fax machines speeded up the document signing process in the 1980’s but by then, the one-page purchase agreement had expanded to four, then six (now 8+) and the additional documents and related disclosures made faxing cumbersome. Missing and unreadable pages were common and although every real estate office had a fax machine not every client did. The new generation of scanners and faxes became available in the late 1990’s improving the digital process but the resolution after multiple faxing was still poor.
E-mailing attachments is common. Agents have been using standardized real estate contract drafting software for years and more recently Internet based real estate forms and contract management. Internet based software allows an agent to e-mail a contract to a client, which they can print, sign and fax or mail back. The disadvantage has been in getting a legible and legally signed contract. Not any more.
Now agents and their clients have the availability and speed of the Internet while signing contracts and documents with a click of a mouse. Electronic signatures have been legally compliant since Congress authorized them for commerce seven years ago. It hasn’t been until the last two years that consumer friendly technology has evolved allowing real estate and loan documents to be prepared and signed electronically and then e-mailed any place in the world.
Electronic or E-signature products have gained legitimacy as they have withstood legal challenges. The service is secure and consumer friendly. Clients can sign or initial any contracts or disclosures easier than they can order an ink-jet cartridge on-line. I happen to use an Internet-based service called DocuSign but there are similar companies all quickly gaining in popularity. DocuSign allows agents to post documents on a secure Web site and then send their clients to the site to sign the documents electronically. Clients use a computer mouse to click on a signature line that has already been flagged with computerized yellow sticky notes. A cursive-style imprint of their name then appears on the line. Users can even select their favorite font and lettering.
If a client has some questions about the documents, they can call their agent and both can review the form on-line. Since the form is located on a secure Web site, an agent does not need to be at the office to receive or access the document.
Sometimes speed is important in a real estate transaction where “first in time is first in line” but e-signing has other advantages. Both the agent and client have a permanent digital file of the complete transaction including all disclosures, title reports, escrow instructions and loan documents available on their computer. After the transaction is complete, all the real estate and loan papers can be transferred and stored on a CD. Collecting an E-signature is more environmentally friendly than driving and less invasive for the clients who can review and sign an e-mailed document at their convenience without scheduling a face-to-face appointment.
A few lenders are now using E-signatures for their home equity loans. I have found clients more receptive to the electronic signature process than some agents but soon electronic signing will be as commonplace as e-mail.
posted by Ken Calhoon at 9:35 AM
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