The letter states  “…that FHA will accept electronic signatures on third party documents included in the case binder for mortgage insurance endorsement…Third party documents are those that are originated and signed outside of the mortgagee’s control, such as a sales contract.” The FHA letter can be found here: http://nhl.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/letters/mortgagee/files/10-14ml.pdf

Are you considering using an electronic signature solution? If so, here are a few important facts about Authentisign to consider:

• Authentisign is ESIGN compliant.
• Authentisign is our own application. We built it and we own it.
• Authentisign is integrated with  the entire suite of online software  your members, subscribers and associates use – InstanetForms, Forms Online Gold, DocBox and TransactionDesk Pro and TransactionDesk Lite.
• Authentisign is approximately half the cost of DocuSign.
• Authentisign is the first and only e-signature solution to be chosen as a member benefit by any REALTOR® organization. The Montana Association of REALTORS® has chosen Authentisign as their signing solution and will provide it along with TransactionDesk as a member benefit in the very near future.

If you would like to get more information on Authentisign, visit the Authentisign website at www.authentisign.com .

Go Green, Go Paperless!

Find out how much you can save by going paperless using our paperless savings calculator. You can also call us at (800) 668-8768 or email us for more information about TransactionDesk, InstanetForms, DocBox2Go, DocBox, InstanetFax and Authentisign.

• Logged in a million more times.
• Created over a million more electronic forms and contracts
• Faxed over a million more pages through TransactionDesk and InstanetFax
• Loaded a million more pages of documents into TransactionDesk and DocBox

Here are those raw numbers:

• 2.8 million logins
• 2.8 million forms created
• Nearly 1.5 million pages faxed
• 1.6 million document pages added to the system (forms and documents are counted separately and do not overlap)

Also, over 400,000 transactions were created in 2009 by our Florida users. That represents a 113% increase over 2008.

Here is the 2009 TransactionDesk usage report for Florida.

Go Green, Go Paperless!

Find out how much you can save by going paperless using our paperless savings calculator. You can also call us at (800) 668-8768 or email us for more information about TransactionDesk, InstanetForms, DocBox2Go, DocBox, InstanetFax and Authentisign.

A few highlights from the post about how we, as an industry, can help:

 “Protecting America’s Waters – there is one simple, but unexpected way we can help clean up America’s waters. STOP using paper. By using electronic forms, faxing, and document management, we can help eliminate millions of gallons of wastewater generated by paper production. The production of just one piece of paper produces 13 ounces of wastewater. To produce the paper needed to process real estate transactions created more than 1.8 billion gallons of wastewater. We can eliminate this impact to the environment while saving money in our business by eliminating the cost of paper, printing, faxes, storage and retrieval costs. If you’re interested in just how much money you can save by eliminating paper go the Instanet website and check out their Paperless Savings Calculator.

“There are simple, every day steps each of us can take to save money and go green. We need to think about how to bake it into our every day operations. There are simple things you can do every day to green your business. If you want to learn more about a brokerage can go green, you can download our free paper Make More Green by Going Green. ”

Go Green, Go Paperless!

Find out how much you can save by going paperless using our paperless savings calculator. You can also call us at (800) 668-8768 or email us for more information about DocBox2Go and DocBox.

However, new online services, such as DocBox2Go, are coming to market that allow real estate agents and brokers to access their files from their Smartphones and PDAs – provided they have digitized all their listing, sales and lease files.

Being able to access listing, sale and lease files, as well as other business documents creates a truly mobile real estate office.  Agents and brokers can now access their files from virtually anywhere in the world and don’t even need a computer to do it.

Here is how it works.  We’ll use DocBox and DocBox2Go, for our example.  DocBox is an online document management solution for real estate.   It allows agents and brokers to take their real estate offices paperless and store all their real estate files online.  They can access those files from virtually any internet connected computer.  They can also provide secure, selective access to their assistants, partners, managers, clients, service providers (e.g.  – title, mortgage officers), etc.  Their broker can also access the transaction files.

Once they’ve moved from paper to online files (click here for a few tips on how to do that), using DocBox, they can then use the mobile version, DocBox2Go, to access those files from virtually any phone with a mobile browser.  So, for example, an agent is out of the office and a client calls and tells the agent he needs a copy of the sale contract and the property survey, the agent can securely accesses that sale file at www.docbox2go.com from her phone.  Once the agent is in the online file, she can select the documents in question and email or fax the documents to the client from the phone.  It’s that simple.

Go Green, Go Paperless!

Find out how much you can save by going paperless using our paperless savings calculator.  You can also call us at (800) 668-8768 or email us for more information about DocBox2Go and DocBox.

Though we’ve known that digital signatures have been used in  a small percentage of real estate transactions, we’ve also known that usage would continue to grow (it has) and that at some point usage would start escalating much faster than before (it has). This rapid increase in the adoption of Authentisign in 2009 is just one reason we think 2010 will be the year that digital signatures really start to be a mainstream tool in real estate. A variety of signs tell us we’re on our way:

• Inquiries for individual Authentisign® accounts are soaring.
• Someone asks us about our digital signature solution in almost every demo and webinar we hold on our other services – DocBox, InstanetForms and TransactionDesk.
• We saw several new digital signature vendors at the 2009 NAR show (we’ll see how many are still around next year…).
• NAR bought a stake in a generic, digital signature vendor, DocuSign.
• We are getting more inquiries from REALTOR® organizations, MLSs and brokerages about buying an enterprise licenses for all their members/agents.
• As we expected, the number of REALTORS® visiting our Go Green Go Paperless booth at NAR and asking about our digital signature solution was incredible.
• Most importantly, again, actual sales of Authentisign subscriptions are rising exponentially.

We think this is happening for a variety of reasons:

• Real estate agents and brokers are doing more and more business when they are not sitting with a client and are conducting more and more business with clients when they are not in an office at a location where no printer is available (think coffee…).
• As real estate professionals  have increased their use of Internet faxing services, such as those found in InstanetFax and DocBox, in an effort to go paperless, more are wanting to take the next logical step and go totally paperless. While Internet faxing services and fax to PDF services certainly help streamline the work required to gather signatures during a transaction, digital signature services can help even more.
• Technology use is seeing a natural progression.
• Fear and uncertainty over the legality and use of digital signatures is decreasing, largely due to the use in other areas of our lives (outside of the real estate industry).
• Agents see others using Authentisign and other digital signature tools, creating a ‘snowball effect’.

And, there are other reasons. Good digital signature services such as Authentisign are easy to use, efficient and inexpensive. They save everyone time and save REALTORS® money. They reduce the consumption of paper and toner since documents don’t need to be printed or faxed.

They also save gas as parties do not have to drive to meet in person. They also reduce the need for using mail or courier services for the delivery of ‘wet ink’ signatures. This saves more time, paper, toner and gas.

For all these reasons we expect to see 2010 as the tipping point for digital signatures in the real estate industry. The dramatic uptake of Authentisign, a digital signature tool we have offered for nearly five years, is a clear sign.

Find out how much you can save by going paperless using our paperless savings calculator and you can watch a training webinar on Authentisign. You can also call us at (800) 668-8768 or email us for more information about Authentisign.

Go Green, Go Paperless!

Most brokers that have used the paperless savings calculator have found , based on the calculator’s estimates, that the cost of paperless systems will easily be paid for with the savings on paper, toner, labor and other costs they incur today.

The paperless savings calculator is also a tool MLS and REALTOR® Association executives can use to demonstrate to their member offices the value of tools they provide as a member benefit. The Boards of Directors of these organizations can also use the tool when evaluating whether or not to deploy paperless technologies for real estate as a member benefit for their members.

Plug in your own numbers into the paperless savings calculator and see the saving for yourself.

We would like to thank Greg Roberston from vendoralley.com for selecting Instanet Solutions as the best booth at the 2009 show (“Best Booth at CMLS is ‘Green’) as we were giving away live blue spruce tree seedlings to promote the use of our Green paperless technologies while reducing our overall carbon footprint at the show.

Joe Kazzoun, Instanet Solutions’ VP of Product and Business Development demonstrated a Paperless MLS calculator created for the Green discussion at CMLS. The calculator was used to show that through the use of paperless document technologies an MLS of 3000 could save approximately $27,000/year by adopting paperless technologies to replace internal existing practices.

You can check out the MLS paperless calculator here, we also have a paperless calculator to help Brokers see how much they can save here.

We look forward to CMLS 2010 and thanks again to all involved.

“Over the past year, many of the world’s best-known luxury labels have started to introduce ecofriendly products, snap up brands that tout their social responsibility and weave environmental themes into their advertising and marketing.”

One has to think, why they are doing this?

How does this apply to the real estate market?

The real estate market would be keen to follow their example for a number of very import reasons.

These companies are the ones who get consumers to spend thousands of dollars on a handbag, they are some of the best marketers and brand managers on earth. They did not attain their success by chance and they are taking the green movement very seriously.

The new idea of “Green” products and services will be common place in a couple of years. These companies are joining the green wave before it is no longer new and has lost it’s cachet.

A new idea or movement that affects every aspect of how we live comes around maybe once in a lifetime. The green movement has been around for a while but over the last couple of years it has gained enough momentum that it is not going away and due to the economic hardships and current recession in North America it will be relied upon to help get us out of recession and back on our feet.

Here lies the key. In this economic down turn, smart companies are taking advantage of going green to not only save money internally (which is a complete other topic for another time) but also to add extra marketing punch to their services showing that they are indeed good corporate citizens providing green services as part of their overall service offerings.

One of the most compelling parts of the WSJ article and the part that should be a wakeup call to the real estate industry is displayed through the following graph:

34% of consumers now are more likely to buy “green” products and services over other products. Who is this 34 %? A good majority of them are younger consumers, the same people who will be the first time home buyers of today and the near future. “In a recent survey, the Luxury Institute, a New York research firm, found that younger and more-affluent consumers seek information about corporate social responsibility more actively than their older and less well-off counterparts. ‘Young consumers believe that caring about the environment is how you create a meaningful life,’ said Milton Pedraza, the firm’s CEO.”

You can find plenty of reasons for going green but one very important reason not often considered is that by doing so you will provide legitimate reasons for the consumers of today and more importantly the consumers of tomorrow to embrace and use the services of REALTORS® now and in the future.

Why not take advantage of this once in a life time opportunity to go green, save money and promote yourself whether you are an MLS, real estate board, brokerage or individual as being a good corporate entity that is leading edge with a social conscience.

Luxuary product makers have invested in this, why shouldn’t you?

• Saves paper, which saves trees.
• Reduces use of toner cartridges, which decreases landfill waste.
• Reduces use of gasoline, which has many benefits.

Just as important, going paperless can save brokerages and individual producers money and improve their profit in many ways, as will be described later in this paper. Consumers also expect efficient industries that deliver a high level of service around the clock. Today’s consumers expect access to information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Consumers have been able to get the status of their overnight package, or their bank balance, online for years.

The ability to do these things, and so many others, online, has been the norm for nearly a decade now ‐ yet we as an industry are just getting started taking the core of real estate transaction documentation (e.g. ‐ contracts, disclosures, inspection reports, title and mortgage documents, etc) online.

Agents and brokerages that use document management systems, which include customer service portals, can provide a new service their clients have come to expect in many other facets of their lives – access to information online. We’ve been delivering listing information online for years. However, in most cases, once a sales or lease agreement is written, everything moves right back offline.

Learn more about using DocBox and going paperless by visiting our website or by watching one of our free webinars.

Find out how much you can save by going paperless using our paperless savings calculator.

You can also call us at (800) 668-8768 or email us with your contact information.

Going Paperless and Go Green to Create New Marketing Opportunities

Use paperless solutions such as document management, transaction management and on line forms to take your business paperless and give your organization an opportunity to tout your support of the environment, within your community and market area. For example, you can use our ‘green logo’ in your advertising, marketing material and listing material to highlight what you’re doing.

Positioning yourself as a green business also gives you the opportunity to talk about the advanced technology you are using to go green and serve your clients. Our solutions gives you the ability to provide your clients with on line, secure access to their listing, sale and lease documents on line 24 hours a day, something your competitors may not offer. You can also easily create a CD of all the transaction documents for your client at closing.

Today’s Consumers Expect Businesses to Go Green

Have you noticed more and more companies are talking about going ‘green’? They are doing it for several reasons – to save money, to help the environment, for marketing reasons, etc. However, they are also doing so because their clients expect them to do their part to help the environment and this includes you. Going paperless is a great way for you to let your clients know you are doing your part to help the environment

Lower Brick and Mortar Costs

Our platform gives you, your staff and your agents the ability to access and work on listing, sale and lease files from any Internet connected computer, anytime, anywhere. This gives you the ability to have more people efficiently work from home, rather than using costly office space.

Lower Telecommunication Costs

Our DocBox solution includes unlimited toll free faxing inbound and outbound, within the continental US and Canada, saving you money on telecommunications charges.

Lower Consumable Costs

Every inbound fax uses paper and toner. Every document that needs to be printed uses paper and toner. Every copy that is made uses paper and toner. By using our on line platform to manage and distribute documents on-line, via email and via the included on-line, toll-free faxing you can save a significant amount of money on paper, toner, printer drums, fax machine and printer maintenance, etc.

Replaces your Existing Standalone Internet Faxing Solution

Because our system includes unlimited faxing inbound and outbound faxing, toll free within the continental US and Canada, you may be able to cancel other Internet faxing solutions. And, our internet faxing system, InstanetFax,  is branded with your brokerage branding.

Reduced Storage Costs

Storing all of your transaction files, and other business documents, on-line allows you to lower your on-site and off-site storage costs. Imagine being able to access a two year old file in seconds, rather than driving across town and rummaging through stored files or paying a storage company to retrieve the file for you. Reducing your on-site, in-office storage space allows you to reduce the office space you need or to replace your filing cabinets with productive desk space.

Increased Compliance and Reduced Legal Exposure

Our system automatically creates an audit trail for each listing, sale and lease file whenever someone accesses and manages a file, when faxes and emails are sent or received, etc. A record of all transaction documents and information is kept on-line for the legal retention period in your state. You can also have the system generate a single, indexed PDF file containing all information pertaining to a file for use offline, archiving to your network, your computer, a CD, etc.

Make Your Company More Efficient

Working with paper files is simply less effective and less efficient. Finding paper files in filing cabinets and paper files is more time consuming and has a serious limitation. You can only access them at the office. Taking your business paperless means fast access to files from virtually any computer anywhere.

Savings in Staffing Labor

Files and documents are located, accessed and distributed faster. Anyone with the right permissions can access any file from anywhere. Faxes can be sent right from the computer – no more watching the fax machine and waiting for a sent receipt. No more sorting of inbound faxes as they are automatically routed to the right person. All this saves time and allows your staff to focus on more productive activities.

Save Gas and Travel Time

Less gas and time is wasted driving home or to the office to get paper documents. On-line file storage allows you, your staff and agents to access files from virtually any Internet connected computer. Review files in the evening from home. Access transaction files from where ever you are in urgent situations, rather than driving to where your paper files are, as you do today.

Better Organization

Working with on-line files is simply easier. Get rid of the paper clutter and be able to find files and documents easier every day. You also reduce the chance of a document getting lost or slipping into another file or stack of papers. Know where everything is and access it fast.

Learn more about using DocBox and going paperless by visiting our website or by watching one of our free webinars.

Find out how much you can save by going paperless using our paperless savings calculator.

You can also call us at (800) 668-8768 or email us with your contact information.

Go Green, Go Paperless!