And a big step it is.
I picked up a tablet computer a few years ago. Seduced by the cool marketing and all of the smurfy cool junk I would be able to do, I plunked down enough money to buy a decent parts car for a little silver swiveling box. So, I got it home and figured out I had a good laptop with some extra functionality... but couldn't do all of the cool junk I saw on the commercials. What's worse is that I couldn't do the main thing I wanted to do... sign the stupid forms on the computer.
So, I started on my little quest. I found a few windmills to tilt at, and asked people... a lot of people... people that worked for "paperless companies" how I could have a client sign a contract on the screen of my tablet computer. I was told that I needed to have the document printed out (like that is paperless) and they could sign it, and I could then scan it into a PDF, and boom... I would have it all...
Well, isn't the point of a paperless transaction to NOT MAKE ALL OF THE STUPID PAPER? Seriously, I have had deals where I had 10 different copies of the same contract with different combinations of signatures, as well as in different levels of clarity from the repeated scanning and faxing and printing. The client had a few... the other agent had some more... and their client had a couple, too. So, basically we killed a small tree to sell the house. Even the paperless solutions weren't so paperless.
There had to be a better way.
So, off the the Atlanta Board of REALTORS(R)/FMLS Showcase Expo... no luck. I was told that if I bought a signature pad, they had a software package... blah, blah, blah... monthly fee of <eyes have glazed over... I have a tablet. I can write on the stupid screen>. So, let's try the NAR Convention and Expo. There were 8.2 million exhibitors... and again I was told that the way to go paperless was to print the document and sign it, and then scan it back in. Or, I could use a digital signature... ok, I called a couple of clients... they want to have their fancy handwriting on the document, not an asterisk that says they "signed it... really, it was them". I was told it was good enough for the Post Office... heck, they won't admit to being government employees, even while paying into a government pension system.
Back in Atlanta... Where oh where can my solution be? In my bookmarks. I found it three years ago, but didn't realize it. PDF Annotator had the capability (they didn't then, but when I looked back today, they did). So, I now can stick my tablet/laptop convertible computer with a PDF in front of someone and they can sign it right there... in blue "ink". I can then "melt" it into the page, and it can't be stripped off. I'm going to talk with a few closing attorneys about the technology to make sure there won't be any problems at closing, but I think I have found the grail.
Adding OneNote, PDF Annotator, and the tablet together, I am moving towards a slightly less paper cluttered workspace. Maybe now my wife will let me get the film scanner so that I can get all of those cool... I mean cluttersome... negatives and slides scanned in.
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