Digital Signatures Reach Tipping Point in Real Estate

By instanet • December 7th, 2009

We are currently witnessing the ‘mainstreaming’ of digital signatures in real estate and we believe that 2010 will be the tipping point for this technology in our industry. We are seeing signs of interest and usage growth all over the country. As a company, we are continuing to see a rapidly growing interest in Authentisign, our own digital signing solution.

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!



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