Selecting the Right Document and Transaction Management Solution

Realtors no longer have to spend precious time making sure nobody missed a signature or driving across town to send an expensive FedEx package. Instead, significant productivity gains and expense reductions can be achieved by the use of electronic signatures for most transactions. While the benefits of going digital for document and transaction management are indisputable, Realtors need to be selective by asking some of the important questions listed in our Technology Guide before choosing a service provider.

For instance, what security features does the document and transaction management provider offer? E-signature technology allows clients to easily complete purchase, sales, and financial documents from their computer or mobile device, but some companies are vague about exactly who can see or share the documents. Clients share highly sensitive personal and financial information and it is the Realtor's duty to ensure document security. The best electronic document and transaction services employ an encryption technology such as Secure Socket Layers (SSL) to prevent any unauthorized individuals or malicious third party services from accessing the information.

In addition, the document and transaction management service provider should ensure that documents are tamper-proof through signature validation. For real estate transactions, it is important that documents are marked with time-stamped audit trails showing identity of individuals who accessed the documents and which device they used. Some companies also offer two-factor authentication that either probes the client to answer a secret question or texts a code to their mobile phone, which can further safeguard document access. Should an agent ever face a legal question, the proof of access timelines can protect the validity of the signatures.