Technology tools I can't live without..

THAT'S IT...   I CANNOT BE WITHOUT MY ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE SOFTWARE !!  This tool has made the biggest leap forward in my business.  Background:  We live and work in Lake Tahoe.  Most of the sellers and buyers live elsewhere.  As the years have come and gone it became easier to do business.  First we hand wrote the one page contract, and three or four other disclosures then faxed them from the office to the parties.  Most of us did not have a fax machine at home and besides, they where about as big as a desk.

The pages came back too light, too dark, smeared, with strips down the full page, blurred.  On and on this went.  Every year they improved the quality.  Units got smaller and the prices came down.  Finally there were enough of the old big things that we could buy used ones pretty cheaply and have one at home.  A bit cumbersome with the telephone lines and all.  But it was a big step forward.  Then, the offer and disclosures all became online and electronic.  Another huge step forward.  We could fill in the blanks, print it out and fax it................wow..  What a time saving change this was.

Then, then we could fill in the blanks, save a copy on our computer and send it to someone as a pdf, which could be pirinted, signed and faxed back.  Another step saver..  Still labor intense but clearly improving.  We also added tools to take these PDFs, re-arrange the pages, split groups of pages to be individual, make our own documents and much more.  Wow, how cool is that?

We began to hear about electronic signatures, but there were apparently legal issues.  We had just had the state legislature pass into law, a facsimile was legal.  Now someone is trying to set up a signature that is not really a signature.  How is that going to work?  The answer?  Very well thank you.

Today:  So about 2 years ago we signed up and started using electronic signature programs.  Fantastic !!  Now we go through many of the same steps, but much faster, more professionally and we love it.  What was once more than two hours to prepare and fax to someone far away, is now about 45 minutes tops.  Travel time to the office, missing the PGA tournaments and baseball is now something we do from the couch while watching sports, movies etc.

We can even be on a trip anywhere in the world, and no one knows the difference.  We type in the answers to the blanks on the various forms, mark them where initials or signatures are required, hit send and away it goes.  On the other end, the person simply opens an email, reads and clicks where needed, hits sent and boom, its back to us.  We have even had people ask us, do you use electronic signature software?  When we say yes, they are extremely pleased. 

How much cleaner, simpler and faster can it be??   Well, I figure something must be out there, but I am perfectly happy now.