Just sign here....

In real estate that's the goal. Whether the signing occurs at the beginning of a new deal when you're representing the sale of your client's home or the end of a culmination of work with your buyer as they make an offer on the home they're purchasing, getting the best terms in place and obtaining signatures on a contract is a key business goal.

It's also very exciting. The circumstances' surrounding a sale or purchase of a home is usually the result of a life change for your client. Sometimes it's the result of loss, but usually it's because you're representing someone who's reached a new stage in their life. However, getting those all important signatures can prove to be a challenge in and of its self, and quite often, very inefficient.

Technology certainly has helped. Initially the fax machine made a huge step forward. We could send and receive contracts over the phone, obtain signatures and move onto the next stage. However, it also created several problems. Machines would be busy or out of paper; pages would go missing or get jammed and need to be resent; the same document would be sent so many times it would be come illegible and a new set would have to be signed at closing. Then came scanning, a huge step forward. But your clients needed the capability to receive, print, rescan and return. Plus you often wound up with lengthy contracts having to be printed several times over as each party would prepare sign and resend. In either case, it can be very easy for missed signatures or initials to occur requiring a re-routing of the necessary pages.

Finally a technical solution is available making it easy to receive and send signatures from any number of signers and multiple locations. DocuSign, an electronic signature system, provides a web based program that should be in every Realtors tool chest. Any document can be sent securely to one or more people - an e-mail account is required - who can open, read and then click to assign initials, dates and signature where required. Once completed a pdf copy of the form is saved and the originator is notified signing has been completed. You can even predetermine the order in which signatures are obtained when more than one party is involved.

Most importantly, signatures obtained using DocuSign's are fully compliant with federal e-sign regulations and are 100% legally binding. Of course, many banks are still operating in 1950's mentality when it comes to technology and will require a "wet" signature on contracts. Let's face it, the banking industry has certainly proven they know best when it comes to legal compliance!

Seriously, the final benefit of using DocuSign is the environmental savings. These days you can easily have 20-40 pages or more in a purchase contract. Even if you scan documents, the simplest of deals could result in a minimum of 3 sets printed out. Now apply that across the number of sales that occur (we'll ignore those that don't make it to escrow) and your easily talking about hundreds of thousands of pages each year.

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Now for a personal note. This weekend my family will be gathering together to celebrate my father's 85th birthday (he was 50 when I was born - amazing!!) Reaching 85 is certainly momentous, but during that time my Father earned a Masters when few did; raised 7 children during the 50's, 60's, 70's AND 80's, including 5 girls who never believed they couldn't (or shouldn't) excel in any and all subjects; impacted space exploration from the Apollo Space Program to the Hubble telescope; and is now in the 60th year of one of the strongest marriages I will ever witness. And the most imprtant thing he'll want you to know is he couldn't have done any of this without my Mother.

My father taught me my love for the Olympics, red wine, dark chocolate, mince meat pie, dry wit and my desire to be able to speak knowledgeably about anything I find interesting (okay, he may have overdone that one!)

So Happy 85th Birthday Daddy!! I love you very much!!