Business Takes Off When Paper Weight Is Gone
By Jessica Swesey, Inman News
Maggie Simon has operated longer as a "paperless" Realtor than she has the "old-fashioned" way of lugging piles of paper around, spending large amounts of time and money faxing documents to clients.
The Realtor, who's an agent with Tierra Verde Realty, located on the island of Tierra Verde, Fla., said her use of technology that enables her to cut paper from real estate deals has also helped her triple her sales volume since she started selling real estate two years ago.
Simon uses Stewart Realty Solutions' SureClose transaction management system to manage all her real estate deals. The Web-based platform enables all the parties of her transactions -- including home buyers, sellers and vendors – to log onto the Internet and view the transaction, update files and communicate with each other.
"I had a few earlier deals where I used paper and spent a lot of time and money faxing documents," she said. "I started using this and my customers really liked it because it gives them a much higher level of communication."
The digital or "paperless" real estate transaction is catching on. Big companies, trade groups and entrepreneurs are investing in technology platforms, back-end systems and software to automate the real estate transaction, and are digging deeper for change to revolutionize the closing process.
Simon estimates she saves at least 10 hours per week in time she'd have to spend faxing documents and organizing a typical home sale. And she estimates the cost savings stemming from her paperless practice are about $500 per transaction when considering the costs of paper, phone bills, and faxing services, for example.
"I was in a hotel one time and it cost me $80 to fax a document to a client," she noted as an example of how much faxing can add to an agent's costs.
The SureClose transaction platform enables Simon to fax or scan files and documents into her secure transaction Web site, where files are then available 24/7 for review and management by all parties.
SureClose provides Simon and her customers with a CD with all the files of transaction on it at the close of every deal at no extra charge. The CDs also have made her job easier, she said.
"With the click of a button, I can look up files I've had for the last few years," she said.
Having the transaction information online also has been a blessing for Simon, whose office is located in a flood zone that was hit by the hurricanes in 2004. She said she would be out of business had she not been able to access her transactions remotely.
The SureClose system also gives Simon more accountability in a transaction, she said, because every correspondence in the deal is date and time stamped. For instance, she pointed to a transaction in which she sent an e-mail to her client saying she highly recommended a home inspection before closing the deal. The client declined, and after closing, some pricey electrical problems surfaced and the client came back to complain.
Simon went into the transaction file and pulled up the previous e-mails, which were saved automatically, as a reminder of what she had advised the client prior to closing. "That was the end of that – and since then, she's hired me four more times to help her with home sales," she said.
The SureClose system keeps paper out of the actual transaction, and Simon goes a step further by using a tablet PC for writing contracts and making listing presentations. Her clients can digitally sign contracts on the tablet PC, eliminating the need for her to carry blank contracts around in her car.
Being paperless "really does allow me to list more and sell more," Simon said. "I'm not stuck in the office – I didn't take this job to be a paper pusher."
The freedom of not being stuck in an office also is what Jim Myrick likes the most about not relying so much on paper. Myrick, an agent and broker with Realty World in San Jose, Calif., said he's not completely paperless, but manages his office mostly through the Internet and wireless devices.
"When my agents record a sale, I have them send it to a fax number that converts into e-mail," said Myrick, who also is the president of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors. "I don't want any paper in my hand because it stacks up on my desk."
Myrick maintains his transactions on separate CDs so they are easier to access than paper files, but aren't stored on the Internet.
He uses a RedTablet PC with wireless capabilities, enabling him to receive documents anywhere with e-mail access, digitally sign them directly on the tablet, and send them back to wherever they need to go almost instantly.
"No matter where I am, my business is always running," he said. "Everyone's into the 'paperless' label but I think it's more about the freedom from being stuck at a desk, or the freedom to access something from anywhere you want."
Having transaction documents available through the Web enables Myrick's whole team to work on them at the same time, a process he equates to the pit stops in Indie car races. "Think about what the pit would be like if only one person was able to do their job at a time," he said.
The cost savings in being "paperless" don't come from the actual cost of paper, Myrick said. "The material cost savings are not that much – it's the efficiency of everyone working on the same thing at the same time. That's where the savings are."
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