Transaction Checklists: The Magic Pill for Compliance

"Plan your work and work your plan," is a phrase we hear around the RE Technology offices a lot. It's a sage reminder that setting up processes and following set tasks is the most effective way to handle large projects.

It's advice that can greatly simplify real estate transactions for agents, too, and keep brokers in compliance. Having a predetermined set of steps that agents can follow for each of their listings can greatly speed up a transaction's timeline by preventing missed documents and deadlines. This can also boost a brokerage's bottom line. If a transaction closes in 60 days instead of 90, that's 30 extra days of capital in your bank account.

One way that real estate professionals are planning their work and working their plan is via transaction checklists. You may have seen similar checklists for marketing listings in your CRM, but transaction checklists are focused specifically on the steps and documents needed to keep transactions on deadline and compliant.

"With transaction checklists, brokers and administrators can sleep well at night and make sure they have all the needed files, so if something happens, they know they're safe," says Andrew Chishchevoy, founder of Brokermint, a back office and transaction management solution that offers built-in checklists. "That's exactly what brokers say when they talk to us. 'I'm really worried about my business, I have 15 agents, and I want to make sure everything is structured, safe and secure.'"

So what exactly should brokers include in the transaction checklists they build for their firms? Brokermint offered us insight into the items they include in their customizable checklists. Here's an overview.

Listing Checklist

"The listing checklist is the first step to ensuring that your agents don't miss any important details," says Chishchevoy. Brokermint's checklist lays out all the important steps agents need to take in after securing a listing. The first week includes obtaining important documents--like the listing agreement, property disclosure statement, agency disclosures, estimate of seller's costs, and lockbox authorization--as well as ordering photos, property measurements, yard signs, and commencing marketing activities.

Part of keeping sellers happy is making sure they're aware of all the marketing activity an agent is executing on their behalf. That's why Brokermint recommends including a task for agents to provide their sellers with weekly marketing reports. If a property isn't generating enough interest, a monthly task to speak to sellers about reducing the listing price is necessary.

Tip: If your brokerage or MLS provides agents a showing solution, you can use it to solicit feedback from buyers who have toured the home. This is a great way to understand why a listing isn't selling and make appropriate adjustments.

Closing Checklist

"Closing checklists help agents comply with all contractual obligations," Chishchevoy explains. "They help keep everything on track down to the smallest detail, so important items aren't missed or delayed, resulting in a transaction extension or cancellation."

Closing checklists are typically much more task-intensive than listing checklists--and rightfully so. This stage of the transaction requires a multitude of steps and documents that are easy for agents to miss without a method to keep them on track. Your closing checklist should include every task and document that needs to obtained--no matter how small! This includes tasks for escrow documents, inspections, disclosures, reviewing the title report, scheduling the walk-through, uploading the sold MLS sheet, and more.

Download a Free Sample Checklist

If you'd like to see a sample checklist, Brokermint is offering RE Technology readers a FREE listing and closing checklist that they can download and customize.

Brokermint has both checklists, and many more, built-in to their system so brokers don't have to build their own from scratch. Brokers can set up checklist rules to automatically pre-populate task due dates. When any due date is changed, all dependent items are updated automatically. Additionally, the Brokermint system keeps your agents aware of task deadlines via daily email notifications that list overdue items and tasks that are due that day.

Want to try Brokermint for yourself and check out their checklists? They offer a free 30-day trial for brokers (and 10% off subscription costs for RE Technology readers) that doesn't require credit card information. You can sign up here.