Going Paperless: Digital Forms and E-signatures Set to Revolutionize the Real Estate Industry
Everywhere we look today, businesses are going “paperless,” and with good reason: the reduction of time, costs, and our impact on the environment makes the switch over to paperless forms pay for itself and then some.
The real estate industry in particular is set to benefit from this transition; known for being a “paperwork heavy” business, the switch to paperless forms is going to make the lives of landlords, tenants, and homeowners much easier and more streamlined.
How it Works
If you’re not a particularly “tech savvy” person, going completely electronic may feel daunting to you, but it’s actually quite easy. You begin by converting your cumbersome paper forms into PDFs (an easily readable, easily printable document format that displays beautifully on all devices). There’s no tricky conversation process here—just scan them and upload them to a professional paperless form company, such as Signtech, and they’ll do all the work of conversion for you. When you get your PDFs back, they will look exactly like your paper forms.
Once you have your PDFs back, just save them on your mobile devices, and all the business forms you need to conduct your real estate business (such as lease agreements) can be carried with you on your tablet and/or smartphone, so you can access them as easily as pulling your phone out of your pocket.
At this point you may be asking, “But what about signatures? People can’t grab a pen and sign a form on my phone’s screen!” Wrong—once again, modern technology has you covered, thanks to the advent of “e-signatures”. Paperless business forms can be fully completed right on the mobile device they are stored on, and they can also be made legally binding through a digital signature that is signed right on the device’s screen (via one’s finger or a tablet pen). All you need is a simple “e-signature” app, and you’re set. Once these digital forms are completed and signed, you can simply email them back to your office for immediate processing—no more need to wait until you get back to the office carrying the physical papers. Likewise, no more lost papers, disorganized papers, papers getting spilled on or damaged, or any of the other hassles so endemic to working with paper. Just type, e-sign, email, and go!
Not only are paperless forms incredibly convenient to use, imagine all the money you’ll save on paper, printers, and printer ink over the years—these kind of “small costs” that add up can seriously impact a small business over time. If you are in the real estate industry, the benefits of going digital vastly outweigh the small setup costs involved and the minor adjustment of getting used to the new medium.
Read more about the benefits SignTech can offer your agency and become the most professional estate agent in your area today!