Aside from meeting clients and conducting home viewing, real estate professionals deal with paperwork constantly. As real estate transactions are time-sensitive, every process needs to be hassle-free, particularly in the eyes of clients. Completing and signing legal contracts for validation require them to manage transactions efficiently. Otherwise, they risk losing clients.

Today, many professionals across the world, in various industries, utilize electronic signature solutions to provide convenience and security to clients. E-signature solutions simplify and fast-track processes and secure transactions.

In real estate, electronic signature solutions offer superior benefits and add value to professionals and their clients. If you are a real estate professional, you can upgrade your work style by integrating e-signature solutions into your workflows.

Legally binding transactions

Through enacted laws on electronic signatures, electronic signatures now have the same legal status as traditional wet-ink signatures. 

The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (ESIGN) Act of 2000 and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) of 1999 are two of several laws that set the legal landscape for the use of electronic signatures in the United States.

The ESIGN Act is a federal act, adopted by all 50 states. The UETA is accepted only in 47 states and U.S. territories such as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; Illinois, New York, and Washington have their own laws on the use of electronic signatures.

Preparation of documents

Electronic signature solutions provide an online editor that lets you complete legal documents and contracts fast. You can finish your paperwork in minutes. Moreover, electronic signature platforms offer thousands of fillable real estate letters, forms, and contracts, eliminating the time-consuming duty of creating documents from scratch.

Use the comprehensive online editor to add your and your clients’ information. Aside from adding texts to documents, you can edit and customize them depending on needs. When you have completed and affixed your signature to documents, the next step is to send the documents to clients to request for their signatures. Sending documents only takes a few seconds.

Accessible and efficient solution

Employing an electronic signature application streamlines signature workflows by eliminating the use of papers.

Doing paperwork manually takes time due to the documentation process involving tedious steps, from preparing letters and contracts to printing and transmitting them. These steps could take days. Electronic signature applications shorten the documentation process to just a few minutes or hours. 

Real estate professionals can concurrently manage multiple documents and clients, resulting in faster turnaround. Such an advantage is useful in situations that are time-sensitive. Electronic signature solutions are online and available at any time, no matter where the users are. Therefore, users can complete documents regardless of the time and their location, enabling them to attend and accommodate the needs of their clients to receive documents immediately. Gone are the days when delays caused by sending documents by hand are likely to occur.

The efficiency of electronic signature solutions enables real estate professionals to focus better on closing deals instead of consuming extended hours just finishing paperwork.

Secure transactions

Real estate documents should be private and secure, as they contain the personal information of clients. Real estate professionals need to protect their clients’ personal and financial data to avoid unlawful activities from happening

While physical documents are prone to get stolen, lost, or misplaced, electronic documents completed and sent using an electronic signature application are secure, as they are stored in the cloud. Authorized people are the only ones who can access the documents. Moreover, when documents are accessed or changed and updated, all activities are recorded in a digital log and their owners receive notifications. Unauthorized parties will not be able to open the documents.

For additional security, some electronic signature software uses Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology to enhance access restrictions.

Cost-saving operations

Going paperless results in a reduction in operating costs; paper-based processes entail costs that add up.

Aside from being inefficient, the traditional way of handling paperwork requires spending money, from using pens and papers to sending documents via couriers. These costs accumulate over time. 

Moreover, manual paperwork can lead to errors. Errors in documents look unprofessional. Hence, instead of just erasing typographical errors or signatures that are incorrectly positioned, we resort to creating entirely new documents — and doing so can be expensive.

The use of electronic signature applications can prevent human errors and minimize, if not entirely eliminate, the cost of paperwork. By adopting digital solutions to upgrade the way you manage documents and clients, you do not only save time but also money.

Electronic signature solutions empower real estate professionals to gain control over their work, equipping them with the right tools to improve their productivity and to accommodate more clients.