Simplifying the paperwork mess
While there may be a few professions that involve more paperwork than real estate, our industry is certainly at the top of the charts. We’ve found some quick ways to cut down on the number of papers shuffling around your office and take them to the web.
First, we want to share with you that there is a simple tool called PDFmyURL that turns ANY web URL into a PDF for free and all you do is enter the URL and hit enter, it’s super simple. How cool would it be to have PDFs of your listing presentation that you host online or perhaps important documents (buyer’s rep agreements, etc)?
Second, we want to point to a tool called FillAnyPDF (that Realtor Ben Goheen calls a “game changer”) that lets users put their information into any pdf without having to download software and it too is free. It even has a pencil that allows people to sign any pdf document which may not be recognized by some companies as legitimate as something like DocuSign, but for internal docs it could work!
Amy Cavender of Simplified Mortgage says, “The problem I see with that service is that most of my investors will not take electronic signatures from us. Most of the forms we use for disclosures are all populated from a program after we input specific information.”
So, it’s not a perfect system, but for non-legal docs, the signature function is helpful and for documents that you need put in PDF form even if for use for yourself or to document changes on your website, these tools are great and they’re free! What uses can you think of for either of these tech tools?
aMY L cavENDER
February 11, 2010 at 12:16 am
Thanks Lani – I’m sure there are investors out there that will accept digital signatures. Until they all agree, I’ll still have “real” signatures.
Jeremy Isaac
February 11, 2010 at 1:19 am
Amy, you lender’s need to get it together 😉 I’m sure the digital signatures will become accepted more and more – just like we see dealing with banks in short sales and REO transactions – *most* banks will accept digital signatures now.
Jeremy Isaac
February 11, 2010 at 1:33 am
Ok, FillAnyPDF is slick… absolutely awesome. Love it!
BawldGuy
February 11, 2010 at 11:45 am
Very much appreciated, Lani.
Lani Rosales
February 11, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Glad to help 🙂
aMY L cavENDER
February 11, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Jeremy, it’s not me 🙂 It’s my investors – ya know, the same ones that are getting it together on the short sale side. What do you use FillAnyPDF for? The only time I need it is for the Bond or CHFA programs. The rest of my stuff is embedded in my LOS.
Michele Hammerton
February 13, 2010 at 3:20 pm
This is a great site, and I’m glad a colleague turned me on to it. I have learned about a lot of things that I knew about only peripherally, and now I won’t be afraid to try some. What should I try first? Feel a bit like a kid in a candy store. Well, maybe it will be Twitter. Can’t wait to see how it opens up my world.