The Digital Deal – Are You Signing Your Real Estate Documents Electronically Yet?

Electronic documents are now here and many real estate sales professionals have begun integrating this capability into their workflows.

When you think of electronic document signing the first immediate thought is that it makes going through the offer and sale process so much easier! This is true – however, stop for a moment to think about all the other forms and paperwork that flies around on a given real estate transaction between:

• You and your client
• You and the other party’s representative
• You and the other party if you are representing both buyer and seller
• You and the lawyer
• You and the property investigator, etc…

Aside from the Agreement of Purchase and Sale there are also:

• Amendment to Buyer Representation Agreement (OREA Form 305)
• Amendment to Listing Agreement (OREA Form 240)
• Assignment of Buyer Representation Agreement (OREA Form 302)
• Buyer Customer Service Agreement (OREA Form 310)
• Buyer Representation Agreement (OREA Form 300)
• Cancellation of Buyer Representation Agreement (OREA Form 301)
• Cancellation of Listing Agreement (OREA Form 242)
• Corporation/Entity Identification Information Record (OREA Form 631)
• Individual Identification Information Record (OREA Form 630)
• Listing Agreement (OREA Form 200)
• Listing Agreement (Lease) (OREA Form 210)
• Mortgage Verification (OREA Form 261)
• Receipt of Funds Record (OREA Form 635)
• Risk Assessment (OREA Form 639)
• Schedule to Buyer Representation Agreement (OREA Form 303)
• Schedule to Listing Agreement (OREA Form 203)
• Seller Customer Service Agreement (OREA Form 201)
• Seller’s Direction re: Property/Offers (OREA Form 244)
• Working with a REALTOR (OREA Form 810)

Signing, organizing and storing your forms electronically will make you more organized and will make it much easier for you to complete tasks. It is going to be very important to look at taking advantage of electronic document signing because your competitors are. You want to make sure, when you are with a client, especially one that has been shopping real estate sales professionals, that you look current by using the latest technology.

From image to efficiency – electronic document signing just presents pluses, pluses and more pluses.

How to sign your electronic documents will depend on what tool you are using. Because we are the proud papa of ViMO, an iPad app tailored to real estate sales professionals, we can run you through how to sign your forms electronically using ViMO.

For more about how to use ViMO to sign your documents electronically, check out our how-to guide and to become more competitive all around, please visit www.myvimo.ca. 

Real Estate Sales Professional A.K.A. Environmentalists – 5 Tips to Go Paperless

Going paperless just makes sense on so many levels – efficiency, space, time, office expenses and the environment. While going paperless makes sense – doing it on the other hand requires some planning if you want to take a less turbulent leap.

Here are our top 5 tips for going paperless:

1.       Equipment – Before going paperless we recommend you have the following equipment: smartphone, tablet, laptop and scanner. Choosing the same manufacturer of as many as possible will improve connectivity. For example, if you have an iPhone and then buy an iPad tablet, you can sync the 2, meaning that all devices can share the same information.

2.       Organization – Going paperless means that you will want to look at how you will organize all the documents that you would otherwise have in your office in files. On doing so you will want to think through a system for file hierarchy and naming system for different documents.

3.       Document storing – Next you are going to want to look at cloud document storage. At the same time you should have in mind the fact that sometimes you need to send large files when going back and forth on an offer. By investigating document storage that enables you to also transmit large files and for others to transmit large files to you, this will alleviate the need to have a second app for sending/receiving large files. Dropbox is a very popular tool that does all of the above.

4.       Sharing documents – Speaking of sending/receiving large files, if you decide that you are going to store documents locally and not go with a cloud storage solution, apps like We Transfer and Hightail enable you to send and receive large files to one another. Even more exciting is that now that real estate documents in Ontario can be signed electronically, many real estate sales professionals use ViMO, which is a mobile app for real estate that is capable of facilitating the preparation of real estate documents and signing them electronically. It also enables you to share and collaborate with the other real estate sales professionals working on a deal.

5.       Administration – One of the hardest ways to do away with paper is in the arena of note taking! Here is the solution: apps by Evernote like Penultimate - when used with a stylus-style tablet-pen, enable you to take hands-free notes right on your tablet. You can also drop images into your notepads and make notation right on images.

The initial 5 measures above will help you lay the groundwork/foundation to go paperless. Once you have this organized you can dive even deeper into real estate specific apps and other apps that you can integrate into your workflow.

For more about these apps and others that let you go paperless please visit www.myvimo.ca. 

Are You Ready for the Spring Real Estate Boom?

Spring has sprung and like many real estate sales professionals you must be happy to be coming into what should be one of the busier seasons of the year. Many people wait out the winter and list their homes for sale in spring so things definitely pick up during the spring months. The real estate industry can be feast or famine with ebbs and flows, and while things can slow down in the winter, this is often offset by a strong spring season.

Priming up to be ready for those primo spring months can mean that you will maximize your potential for profitability during this time. This means a strong plan for marketing and also to process the business you land quickly.

The beauty of mobile apps and mobile technology is that they have made real estate sales professionals far more agile and able to do much more on the go. Simply looking at apps that help you reach more prospects and also work while out on the road can significantly increase your efficiency and profitability.

Now, no one wants to clutter up their smartphones with too many apps so it pays to spend some time to ensure that you are adding apps that enable you to do the most. Here is a list of the key apps that you would need:

Communication apps – so that you can see what is happening in your social networks as not to miss out on opportunity and also that connect you to suppliers, colleagues and other professionals you do business with.

Prospecting apps – apps that enable you to prospect properties for your clients, access information about a particular neighbourhood, etc…

Back office apps – apps that enable you to prepare and electronically sign documents and research other information.

•  ViMO is an example of a real estate specific app that you may use to connect with other colleagues who use ViMO, promote listings, manage and market to contact bases, research properties and neighbourhoods, source listings, prepare and sign documents, etc. all from an iPad.

• What’sApp – this is a great app for marketing. You can actually use this app to send out broadcast messages of listings, for free, to anyone you are connected to: http://www.wikihow.com/Send-a-Broadcast-Message-on-WhatsApp.

• Facebook Page Manager App is an app that anyone with an active Facebook business page will find adds significant value by immediately making you aware of comments, reviews, messages and other activity on your Facebook page.

Investigating and looking at apps now will mean that you are ready and waiting for the next burst of business to really do more with far less!

For more about the best real estate apps that let you do more, including ViMO, please visit www.myvimo.ca. 

Spring Property Staging Tip

Property staging has become commonplace in real estate, and for good reason. A property that presents well, both in photos and in person, attracts more visitors and interest than one that is not – it’s just that simple. This is in addition to the fact that some have argued that, post-staging, a home may be able to be sold for slightly more than initially thought.

There are many great property staging tips online so we have picked out some of our favourites.

CityLine released a blog and video which groups how you should tackle home staging into 4 categories: sight, smell, sound and touch http://www.cityline.ca/2014/06/fool-proof-home-staging-tips-to-sell-your-home/. Interesting because if you look at many of the tips offered in popular home staging blogs, each tip fits neatly into the categories listed above.

Top Home Staging Tips released by CanadianLiving.com: aside from de-cluttering, which is a common theme amongst home staging blogs, this blog places a high emphasis on cleanliness. Many of the tips deal with replacing linens, towels, giving the kitchen and bathrooms intense cleanings, paying attention to the condition of everything in the home, cleaning all furniture, fixtures, lighting, etc… http://www.canadianliving.com/life/money/top_15_home_staging_tips_2.php.

HGTV’s http://www.frontdoor.com/photos/staging-to-sell-or-stay-in-spring also had a great blog covering spring property staging tips. Their blog follows a very similar theme: de-clutter and make sure everything is clean, sparkling clean. They even go as far as to recommend buffing floors and washing walls.

For spring they go on to recommend:

• Swapping out colour themes where possible with light, bright springtime colors.
• Open drapes and blinds to get as much natural sunshine shining in as possible.
• Improve the aroma – look to scented candles to create a fresh aroma throughout the home.
• Make sure you have taken down any exterior fall/winter décor and put out fresh flowers.

Your client may also want to consider what can go. Perhaps a spring garage sales is at hand, not only to get rid of unwanted clutter but also to raise funds for home staging.

Finally, with spring here, exterior staging is also important. Some spring tips for exterior home staging include:

• Gardening – trim the trees and plant some flowers.
• Rent a power washer to wash your entrance way, walkway and driveway, the garage door, front door and windows. If they still look dirty consider a fresh coat of paint, including on the driveway. Paint is inexpensive and really freshens things up.
• Get rid of junky looking outdoor furniture, bring in the kids’ basketball net and other outdoor clutter.

We hope that this blog is helpful and helps you work with your clients to freshen things up for their spring time listing.

Looking for other ways to market your property listings? Check out ViMO www.myvimo.ca.