As you know, real estate agents get buried in an ocean of documents.
From buyer agent agreement to addendums, seller disclosures, home inspection reports, escrow instructions, and all the transaction documents through closing. Keeping all these documents safe and organized can be a time-consuming process.
Moreover, we're in a paperless world and most of your customers are tech-savvy millennials who expect more from their agents than sloppy printouts and paper folders full of copies. That said, managing your files and real estate transactions is critical to the success of your business. Here's a guide to help you easily manage your real estate transactions.
Use Automated Checklists to Track Files Easily
A single real estate transaction involves a lot of tasks-creating documents, signing, reviewing, collecting, etc. These tasks change from one sale to another, depending on the nature, location, and type of property.
That said, working with a paper or no checklists at all is likely to lead to flaws that may lead to delays or even break the deal. Successful real estate agents use software to manage real estate transactions that allows for the creation of automated checklists.
Such programs allow you to set up checklists that contain exactly the documents you need based on the property type, location, and documents required by the brokerage. This way, you're able to track which contracts are incomplete or missing important documents.
Use Tools that Fit your Agents' Workflow
The fluidity of a real estate transaction to a large extent depends on the nature of the tools you and your agents use to streamline workflow. To better manage your projects, it's best to have a robust CRM in place.
The best CRM will make the onboarding of new customers effortless. Better still, a real estate CRM will allow your agents to create and send custom forms, contracts, invoices, and other documents with less hassle, thanks to the in-built library of templates. Some CRMs, such as the Shape CRM, even come with built-in e-signature solutions to make document signing fast and secure.
Digitally and Physically Store the Documents
Most if not all real estate transactions will involve physical and original copies of documents. For example, the original sales and purchase agreements hand signed by the buyer and the seller.
As a real estate agent, you'll need cloud-based document storage to digitally store all the documents. Not only will going digital save you time and paper; you'll be able to access your files from anywhere.
Why not just scan and save the files to your computer?
Well, cloud storage is more accessible from multiple devices, including on mobile. Moreover, you get back up and additional protection. The latest home invasion statistics show that there were 1.23 million burglaries in the US in 2018 alone. Opting for cloud storage means you won't lose your entire business in the event your laptop is stolen or compromised.
Manage Permissions
Storing documents in the cloud will require you to grant access permissions to some authorized personnel to view and do edits.
Managing permissions is critical for security purposes. For example, access to the sales and purchase agreement should be granted to multiple parties-the buyer, the seller, the buyer agent, and the escrow officer among others. However, access to documents, especially those that contain clients' personal or financial data should be granted to only a few people who're directly related to those transactions.
