Electronic Signatures

[metaylor9]

Just wondering if anyone else is using e-signatures. I use them all the time and love them, but every agent I deal with seems so amazed by this.

[TrimarkProperties]

You mean in emails to your clients?

We use them, but we don't use the imbedded an image in it.

[loudog]

I think signatures are a great tool for real estate agents. I train my agents to use them as a method of response to an otherwise daunting task of replying to large volumes of website leads (thanks to REW).

Our email system (Outlook on an in-house Exchange server) has the capability of creating several signatures per email account. With this feature we have our agents create several signatures with canned response content based on the most common requests for information we recieve via the website. That way if a website request on land comes in, the agent has a canned response for land he or she can use to reply to it. The same could be done with condos, single family, etc. What makes this great is that you can take your time and come up with a very well written response uniquely qualifying you as an expert in the individual areas of land, condos, single families, etc. Using this as a start you can create dozens of signatures as you go in response to more nich markets; i.e equestrian properties, first time home buyers . . . sky is the limit. To make it even better add a couple of sentences selling yourself in general making you the agent of choice.

One other little tip: When creating these canned responses, leave room for a little customization to add some un iqueness to it, refer to a peice of information in the customer's request like "I am moving from California" . . . mention California or some sort of personalized information in the opening paragraph to avoid a completely "canned response. This will hopefully entice the customer to continue reading and you will be in compliance with the Anti-spam act.

Here is an example of one that I use to first respond to a web inquiry

************************************************** *******

Dear <<customer name >>

Thank you for your email, I too have lived in Phoenix and prefer Upstate New York. You will find the market to be a little different here and would love to talk more about it when you have a chance.

The link below will lead you to a very detailed information sheet on the property you requested information on. If you are interested in this or any property in Ulster County I can be of great help. I am an Ulster County Top producer 2007 and provide stellar service for buyers looking for homes in the Hudson Valley.

Click Here to View Listings

If you are very serious about locating a specific property and have a time frame, I can actively search for you. This being the case, it would be a good idea that you and I chat about exactly what you are looking for.

Contact me at any time using the information below and I can answer any question you may have or show you any property.

I look forward to working with you and as always, my buyer services to you are free.



Best Regards,

- Lou Lynch
Associate Broker / Technology Director
Prudential Nutshell Realty Inc.
Mobile: 845-857-1279
Office: 845-687-2200 ext.108

The best compliment you can give me is to refer your friends.

[NealRM]

by E-signature are you refering to a method of digitally signing a form or are you refering to a templete? Adobe has a method of signing PDF's that using 64 bit encription that is secure, but I don't know if is legally binding.

[metaylor9]

Yes, I am referring to have clients digitally sign contracts, addendums, etc. I use a third party vendor which allows the clients to log on their server and sign the documents. I love it...it saves time, paper, and it comes back perfect looking. Not like it has been faxed back and forth 10 times. It is legally binding, they passed a law several years ago if I remember.

[BrandonSternfield]

The way you get it signed has to meet certain standards if I remember correctly, so I don't think digitally signing the adobe pdf by using 7.0 or later will work legally

[TrimarkProperties]

oh! In that case, no. We don't use electronic signatures.

I'm not actually in the real estate sales side of the industry. My company does development and property management, so our decision not to use electronic signatures was based solely on the section of the UCC code which covers real estate rentals. We own 12 apartment complexes and do quite a bit of leasing to people who aren't in town. Last year, we took a serious look at implementing electronic lease signatures because it would be quicker, easier and faster than overnighting lease documents.

After lots of research and discussion with our real estate attorneys (as well as discussion with rental companies that do in fact use the electronic signatures on leases), we decided not to implement them.

Here's why we don't use them:
1) All of the large REITs we spoke to that use the 3rd party electronic signature companies for rentals have the people sign a copy of the original document in person, too, in addition to the digital signature, before taking possession of the unit.
2) Their own attorneys told the REITs that they would have a difficult time pursuing lost monies if the person did not take possession of the rental unit (a harder time than they would have in a standard signed document). Our attorneys told us the same.
3) There is some question in regards to the use of digital signatures within the UCC code (there is some conflict in the language within the code, particularly as it applies to rentals).
4) There's not a lot of experience trying cases with just an electronic signature, with values over $X (I think it's something like $40,000) within lease contracts.

Basically, it would have been a huge cost/time savings, but would have opened us up to some risk which the lawyers deemed was unneccessary.

[metaylor9]

Wow...you really did your research. My local board endorses the company the company I use and they into great detail about the legality of it so I just started using it, but now I am starting to think I should speak to my lawyer about this.

[TrimarkProperties]

Well, I report directly to the partners that own the company, and they are fairly risk averse (and like really high prices). They look at the big picture.

Here's the issue for us, boiled down:
* We have rented out 100% of our available rental units, for 100% of the possible rentable days (not counting turn) for the past 3 years.
* We have never had any trouble in court establishing the legality of our paper (signed in person) contracts, leases or addendums.
* The cost of overnighting paperwork is not unduly high and certainly FAR lower than the cost of defending the legality of a lease in court.

We asked ourselves: since we can neither raise the gross revenue (increase price) by using electronic contracts NOR increase the number of units sold/rented, what do we actually gain by offering electronic contracts?

We could make gains on efficiency and slightly decrease costs (because the cost of the 3rd party verifiers basically were the same as overnighting paperwork), but was that gain in efficiency worth the risk?

For us, it was not.

But that's just me.

[BrandonSternfield]

My firm uses overnights too. Then again.. we work with people that want to sign up for the investments, not a renter that might not take over. Most of our clients have been with us for years Half of them just say 'send me the contracts and I'll sign them' when we start telling them of our new project (which by the way.. is awesome when a client trusts you that much...).

But a 30-50 overnight fee is worth it if you have to go to court arguing over the legality of the contract. Never had that yet