Stay GREEN as a Real Estate Professional, Minimize the Paper and Impress!

This article comes to us from the Homes.com blog. You can view the original article here.

If you are working in the real estate industry, then you know how real estate professionals are always on the cutting edge of technology. From the fax machine to cell phone, real estate professionals were among the first in line to purchase these items and this trend has continued.

Apple first launched the iPad in 2010, and many real estate professionals jumped on the tablet bandwagon and soon were utilizing this device everyday for business. They may begin to utilize a brand new tool – a program that may forever change the way people sign and share documents including real estate contracts.

It's called Docusign.
Docusign is a company that is changing the way people sign documents. In real estate especially, loads of paperwork are the norm, not only for the real estate professional, but for buyers and sellers too! Many of us and even you may dread this increased amount of paperwork, especially when you have to carry it around everywhere.

The good news is – those days may be numbered, soon! Docusign was founded in 2004, and since then they have accumulated more than 13 million registered users. These users have signed more than 110 million documents. Did you know 99 of the Fortune 100 companies have used Docusign, as well as 300+ credit unions nationwide?

Here's how Docusign works.
Let's say you, a real estate agent or mortgage lender become a registered user of Docusign; you can now upload documents that can be accessed from your mobile device, whether it be a smart phone, iPad, laptop or Mac. Now, you can bring your device to a client's house (or wherever your appointment may be) and access the e-documents from there. The clients can sign their e-signatures and then you can e-mail the documents directly to them later. This saves on a lot of paper and it also makes it easier to keep track of documents. WOW! Time saved, paper saved, impression made to your clients...

Why hasn't this idea caught on sooner? The main reason has been compliance and security. Not all states recognized e-signatures as legally binding until just a few years ago. Also, many people were worried about forgery issues, however Docusign takes great care to ensure the safety and security of e-signatures. There is a verification period to ensure proper security. Docusign claims that 50% of all documents are verified within two hours. Once this trend catches on within the industry, the loads of 'paperwork days' could be over.

It's said that real estate professionals love their technology, so anything that can save time and money is worth pursuing, especially when it comes to a having hectic real estate schedule. E-signing and mobile documents are definitely the future of real estate documents. There's no question about that, in my opinion. The only concern now, is "How long it will take before this concept is accepted by most associations?" We'll have to see, but keep an eye out for this because more and more organizations will begin to use this and you don't want to be the last one, right?