Special offer

Paperless Office

By
Industry Observer with Retired

Paperless Office

Recently our office, RE/MAX Associates went intirely paperless including the File Brokerage. The company that was hired to set up the paperless system was SkySlope. While it does have a slight learning curve, after the first transaction, the system is not only easy but it also helps to prevent incomplete files. 

From the setup of a listing or a sales transaction, the electronic forms signed through DocuSign or e-Signature are uploaded into the system. The documents are reviewed for completeness by the person designated within the brokerage. Should anything be incomplete or signatures or initials missed, the file coordinator tags the item and explains the error and within the system you can upload a corrected document or a single page as the case may be.

In California, I was a certified trainer for the RELAY Electronic Office provided by the California Association of REALTORS® which is similar in functionality but I am also impressed with the new SkySlope System.

Not having paper files is a true savings of not only paper but of the printing ink and time to process. At the end of the transaction, a CD is produced , a copy of which will go to the client the agent and 2 copies stored as required by law. 

If your office has not already gone paperless, I suspect that in all eventuality, it will be. The paperwork processing and storage as required by law has just become a management nightmare and the new electronic systems are real time savers and way more convenient for the client as well. They don't have to store a whole bunch of file papers and can easily store a simple CD. Should it misplaced, a duplicate is easy to produce.

 

 

 

Posted by

Click On Photo Below If You Enjoy My Blog

 Thank You !

http://activerain.com/social/subscribe/8657

 

 

Comments(25)

Tammy Lankford,
Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA
Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville

I am curious what paperless offices do if the client requests a paper copy at the time of signature? in my state they certainly are entitled to do so by law.

May 01, 2015 12:16 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi William Feela , Since I don't run the brokerage, I would say that a full paper back up is also a good idea. 

May 01, 2015 12:18 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi Jerry Lucas , While the idea of a paperless office is where the industry as a whole is heading however, I agree that there does need to be cyber security training for everyone in the industry. It has to be a concern that needs a full airing and training to protect as much as possible.

May 01, 2015 12:21 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi Myrl Jeffcoat , I can actually see how that would have happened and most likely a true paperless office only works if every person is ready and trained to embrace it. 

May 01, 2015 12:23 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi Myrl Jeffcoat , Thank you so much, that is very cool to be featured in this group.

May 01, 2015 12:23 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL ,I would have to agree with William, he has a very good point.

May 01, 2015 12:24 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi Tammy, On my first full electronic transaction I have been printing the fully signed paper documents for the Seller because he has no printer.

May 01, 2015 12:26 PM
Bob Crane
Woodland Management Service / Woodland Real Estate, KW Diversified - Stevens Point, WI
Forestland Experts! 715-204-9671

Sounds like a very efficient system, William.  It is much easier to store the CD's than all that paper.  It is unfortunate a few trees may be put out of business.

May 01, 2015 12:44 PM
Frank Rubi
Frank Rubi Real Estate, LLC - Metairie, LA
FrankRubiRealEstate.com

William we have gone paperless with little trouble.The learning curve is just executing the trend to still have paper back up. 

May 01, 2015 12:49 PM
Hannah Williams
HomeStarr Realty - Philadelphia, PA
Expertise NE Philadelphia & Bucks 215-820-3376

William Johnson  I don't know guess I am old fashioned hard to get used to and older people do not like it

May 01, 2015 01:15 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi Bob Crane , As I survey the comments here, I am getting the clear message that an ALL paperless office is not all the popular. I guess there will continue to be lots of trees and paper used in our business. 

May 01, 2015 01:50 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi Frank Rubi, MBA , As I look through the full document list, the disclosure documents have to be filled out by the Seller and they are not digitized to be able to fill them out on line. So for at least a while, at best, the full paperless office still has some paper involved if only initially.

May 01, 2015 01:54 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi Hannah Williams , Well, NAR is pushing for younger and younger people to get into this buisness as a career and I see younger people embracing not only the industry but the highest level of technolgy. Guess us older ones will eventually not be a contender. But while many agents want to resist, the Brokerages like the ease and speed of brokering the files using online access. I suspect the Brokerages will win out , eventually. 

May 01, 2015 02:07 PM
Joan Whitebook
BHG The Masiello Group - Nashua, NH
Consumer Focused Real Estate Services

We are semi - paperless.  The system you are using sounds really good and it is nice to save all that paper.

May 01, 2015 05:00 PM
Michael Jacobs
Pasadena, CA
Pasadena And Southern California 818.516.4393

Hi William -- very interesting.  Our broker files are suppose to be paperless - at this point - it's more theory  than practice.   It's a process and sooner or later(hopefully sooner, everyone will be on board).

The issue I have with the concept is the client-agent relationship when reviewing the documents for signature.   

May 02, 2015 12:31 PM
Nancy Laswick
United Real Estate - Phoenix, AZ
Your REALTOR® For The Valley Of The Sun

Good Evening William Johnson I'm definitely a fan of a paperless process and have worked hard to convert to a paperless office, I'm probably about half way there. The problem I see is in archiving. CDs and DVDs that are produced on a computer are not archival. They aren't pressed like mass produced media. We found this out the hard way when we found that more than 1000 gold CD's that we had stored about 25,000 stock photos on ended up with media errors in a few years. Fortunately we had backed up to portable hard drives. These days people talk about redundant backups to the "cloud", but that's a RAID server somewhere that someone else controls. I'd love to find an affordable and truly archival answer.

May 02, 2015 05:30 PM
Dorie Dillard Austin TX
Coldwell Banker Realty ~ 512.750.6899 - Austin, TX
NW Austin ~ Canyon Creek and Spicewood/Balcones

Good morning William,

We are utilizing Sky Slope also in our offices and it is easy once you get use to it (I have to admit my assistant handles this but she likes it). I still have a paper files during the process..not ready to give it up!

May 04, 2015 10:17 PM
Debbie Reynolds, C21 Platinum Properties
Platinum Properties- (931)771-9070 - Clarksville, TN
The Dedicated Clarksville TN Realtor-(931)320-6730

Good for you office and your progressive broker. I don't see that coming for years to my office.

May 06, 2015 11:39 AM
Silvia Dukes PA, Broker Associate, CRS, CIPS, SRES
Tropic Shores Realty - Ich spreche Deutsch! - Spring Hill, FL
Florida Waterfront and Country Club Living

Hi William, congratulations on going paperless.  I imagine it's going to be a bit of a learning curve not only for agents but also for customers.  

May 10, 2015 12:14 AM
Cheryl Ritchie
RE/MAX Leading Edge www.GoldenResults.com - Huntingtown, MD
Southern Maryland 301-980-7566

Looks like a lot of RE/MAX offices are going with Skyslope. The learning carve has been tough but I can see a huge benefit. 

Jul 02, 2015 09:57 AM