Selling a house in Iowa City, Coralville or anywhere else for that matter is a stressful time. I've done it more than a few times myself and it's not a lot of fun.
Getting an offer is the best part, but figuring out how to get the documents back to the agent turns what is an exciting time into a nerve wracking ordeal... Enter electronic signatures - A game changer in a real estate transaction.
It wasn't that long ago that our best option was to scan and email documents to clients. Buyers and sellers then printed them off, signed them and hopefully had a scanner to scan them back into their computer to then send them to us. If they didn't have a scanner they needed to run out to a copy shop and find a fax machine. All of this was time consuming, paper wasting and often stressful. (You know how technology never works when you need it and apparently scanners are the worst when it comes to that).
eSigning makes life so much easier. I create the documents on my computer and upload them directly to the docusign eSigning service. They get sent to your email address and a couple of clicks later you're done signing. That's it. That's all there is to it. If you do your taxes online you probably understand the concept. It's pretty straightforward. The best part is that it's totally mobile. You don't need to sit around waiting to print off documents, you can get on with whatever else you had planned for the day. You can eSign anywhere, anytime, on whatever device you have that forwards your email to you. Smartphone, tablet, laptop, the choice is yours. As long as you can access your email account you're in business.
My motivation for getting on the eSigning bandwagon was twofold. To save trees and to save time.
A pet peeve of mine in the scenario with all the scanning going on was the amount of paper that got trashed AND the amount of time spent creating that trash. I'm all for efficiency and that just wasn't efficient. This year most of the sellers I helped sell their homes in Iowa City and Coralville relocated out of state. Every one of them commented on how much of a benefit they found eSigning to be. I'd call that a ringing endorsement for electronic signatures!
eSigning is just one of the services I offer to relocating sellers. I'll also "keep an eye" on the house and be your eyes and ears on the ground. If anything needs taking care of I'll co-ordinate that. In short, the chances of you needing to come back to Iowa City either to take care of the house or to sign documents are slim to none. (Unless of course you want to).
Paperless transactions are not quite here yet though, you will need to sign the documents to transfer the property "in person" and overnight them back to me. eSigning does have it's limitations, especially when documents need to be notarized. But $20 for overnight mailing beats buying an air ticket, right?
Orginally posted @ Cardinal Realty Iowa City
Comments(6)