Behind a REALTORS® Digital Life: Musings from my Mobile

What REALTOR® wouldn't want to do away with paper?

The beauty of being a real estate professional is engaging with clients. It's personal: you're making their dreams into a reality.

Part of that reality is making sure the process leading up to home ownership is as streamlined as possible.

That's where digital platforms come into play.

Just as caffeine unleashes energy, digital platforms, like DocuSign's Digital Transaction Management (DTM), unleashes pure simplicity. It's only natural: when you dump paper in favor of digitized contracts, you gain speed, efficiency and peace of mind.

I remember when I was an active REALTOR®. Our team of twelve relied on digital platforms, like DocuSign, to help us crack smiles on our clients' faces. If anyone has gone through the traditional process of buying a home, they'll delight in knowing they can DocuSign their way to a dream home within moments, and even on their mobile device if they so choose. Tap, tap, tap...the keys to the house are yours.

Sure, the thought of digitally managing the process might raise a few eyebrows with the older generations, but note to all electronic signature providers: Keep It Simple! I cannot stress this enough in order to welcome all generations to enjoying the digital advantage.

To that point, I once had a client from an older generation who needed to list a property. He was an antiques dealer from Santa Barbara. While he liked the idea of e-signing his property transactions documents, the platform he used threw him for a loop. It just wasn't working. Two weeks later and the transaction was void as key dates had passed.

Another note to all electronic signature providers: Always keep your user demographic top of mind. Many are consumers are still used to physically signing and mailing contracts, so it's a best practice to configure your product from their point of view.

Back to the story: We were up against a deadline to get the property listed per the law. I used DocuSign with prior deals and thought it would work. And work it did!

It must be said that computers and modern technology were not a staple in this client's day-to-day, but using DocuSign's Digital Transaction Management platform was an a-ha! moment. It was just that easy to use: straightforward navigation from the moment he received the emailed transaction all the way to the completion of the signing ceremony.

He didn't have to create an account especially for this transaction. He just had to click his electronic signature blocks to apply them to the digital contract and boom, his property was listed. I saw his completed and signed transaction come through and flash on my screen within seconds.

The moral of the story is to keep digital platforms easy and streamlined. The purpose of going digital is to cut out hassle, so no need to build too much into a product.

Working with this client made me realize how digital platforms make for a memorable and wonderful real estate experience. In parting, here are a few thoughts that came from this experience.

Consider the following:

• We are Mobile: Older generations are tech savvy! They're armed with their tablets and smartphones; so let's have digital platforms with a strong mobile component so they can easily whip through transactions.

• 1-2-3 Click and Done! No matter the generation, digital services should involve as few steps as possible. Again, it shouldn't take as long as snail mailing a contract to work out a digital platform or service.

• Design Tools Like We Use Them: This is directed to software developers, but tools and services should be designed from users' point of view. The product needs to work better than traditional alternatives. True digital disruption in real estate is when the transaction process flashes by without too many round-trips with clients to button up loose ends.

Digital real estate is nearly a unified way of life for REALTORS®, and it's exciting to imagine the gains clients will receive when a REALTOR® goes paperless.

The simplicity and ease of use is an added treat for REALTORS®, too!

What's your take on the digital REALTOR® life? Share away in the comments below.

To view the original article, visit the DocuSign blog.