My company recently converted our manual document processing system to an electronic system called Dotloop. The new system is pre-populated with all our state and company forms. By starting a new "loop" or transaction file, adding the appropriate documents for a listing, purchase, landlord or tenant, and completing some basic information such client name and address, the forms can be completed very quickly. Once completed, they can be easily sent to clients and signed with a click or touchpad signature. All paperwork can then be downloaded or emailed wherever it needs to go. Voila! No paper! Piece of cake!!!!
Well..... hold your horses Charley!
The above is the goal and perhaps someday the electronic system will work as well as the paper system has worked for years. But there are some snags that need to be resolved first:
Email addresses. Every client or agent or attorney that is going to sign the electronic form must have their own email address. That sounds like a simple thing, but I have found that many couples now share an email address. This process simply doesn't work with a shared email address; every person who needs to sign must have their own which certifies they are the one approving a form. So probably about 25% of the clients I've worked with cannot use the system due to an email address issue.
Internet. Believe it or not, there are still a small percentage of people who don't have Internet access and do not want it. In fact, I had one client with no Internet or cell phone or email or any related options. That small percentage can't be handled electronically either, although I'd bet this portion is somewhere close to 1-2%.
Technological skills. Not everyone can learn new technological programs easily. I had one couple who just could not figure out how both of them could log on and 'sign' forms. It took several days of explanations before they admitted I should just fax or email everything and they'd print them out, sign them, and fax or email back. If they lived closer I would have just dropped them off, but due to distance we had to choose another option. I think this category of non-electronic user is about 15-20%.
The above would indicate that perhaps 50% of clients can use an electronic document service, but that ignores the fact that there are definitely a portion of agents that aren't technologically skilled either. So while I do think eventually being paperless is going to be great, at the moment we're probably only doing about 15-20% of our files electronically and the other 80% on paper. Sometimes progress comes at a snail's pace.
For now, paper continues to rule.
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