Cheap Faxes and Unreadable Contracts

Jeff, this problem would be eliminated if we all use electronic signatures AND the banks accept the electronic signatures.  In my state, there is an electronic signature service that is offered to the realtors for FREE so there should be no excuse not to use it if the banks will just accept those signatures.

I am all about going digital. Using an online transaction management system keeps everything running smoothly. Faxes are obsolete, it's either digital or in person for me!

sloppy, just sloppy.

I tell anyone in the transaction that if they don't have a high-resolution scanner so they can send the contract back as a relatively clean  PDF file, let's just get hardcopy.  Even after a couple of scans the quality is so low you can't read anything.

My sellers won't look at offers that can't be read. if the buyer doesn't have access to a scanner then they need to go to kinkos. In this day and age there is no escuse for unreadable paperwork.

Better yet, please scan a copy, turn it into a pdf and then attach it to an e-mail. This can be accomplished at Kinkos, Staples, Office Max or any other copy and/or office supply store for less than $10 Bucks. If you can not spend the $10 bucks for your buyer than what the ehck are you doing here?

PDF is my favorite because it is also a win for the client. They are able to save it in their e-mail, to their computer, print a copy for their records, and you are able to send a repeat copy if needed.

Why fax?

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jeff! One of my biggest pet peeves. The fact that some agents send pencil-signed contracts over the fax baffles me.

If it's illegible, I send it back.  How could anyone enforce a contract that can't be read??

Amazes me how illegible some of the contracts are that come across my desk.  The loan officer needs to be able to read it, the appraiser needs to be able to read it...and guess what, the underwriter needs to be able to read it.  No fun waiting a week to get a legible copy of the contract.

Thank you for the post.

We have a system called transaction desk where we can share our documents with the other agent, lenders, appraisers, etc. It sure cuts down on all the faxing back and forth. I have also started using Google docs giving agents, lenders, clients and appraisers access to the documents. This sure is a lot easier than trying to decipher bad fax copies.

I, too, have had my fair share of the fax, of the fax, of the fax.  I refused to have my clients sign off on something (forgot what it was, now) because it was so illegible from the listing agent.  LEGIBLE documents!  Geez, it's not a hard concept to grasp. 

Jeff, 

As a lender I cant tell you how many times I have had to track down a legible contract, when I work with customers I make them scan/email or go to a store to fax me a "legible copy".

An unreadable offer is not a valid offer in my hardly ever humble opinion. We're having the same trouble with a couple of different agents from a local 'hi tech' company.

One of them scanned a 5 page offer one page at a time and sent 5 separate emails with the attachment in JPG format. Fun to work with stuff like that.

I see those types of contracts all of the time.  What I really hate is when one of the agents doesn't sign it.  Are they too busy?

Waddya mean you want to READ it BEFORE you sign it!!

Scan2Fax (for incoming faxes to PDF files) and  docusign work wonders!

Since the company I work for switched to online faxing (I’ve included an explanatory link in case someone wants to know what it is), I haven’t had this problem.  My company just emails the documents to clients, they email it back to us and we fax it through email to its final destination.  Since it’s only printed and scanned once (if the clients can’t sign it electronically, that is), the clarity is maintained.  The best thing about online fax is that you can fax without a fax machine, ridding you of all the problems it causes.  Problem solved!