The power to make the paperless real estate transaction a reality is in the hands of real estate brokers, agents and county recorders, according to panelists in an Inman News audio conference on the subject Wednesday.
“On the front end, in terms of the real estate side, there is no barrier to entry. It’s legal, it’s valid, it’s being practiced today,” said Dan Tealdi, chief executive officer of Criterion’s REDTablet, a tablet PC company. “We need to see county recorders adopt technology on the title side.”
While fellow panelist Brad Dick, senior vice president of document storage firm Zodas, agreed, the third panelist on the “Paperless Real Estate Transaction” online conference went one step further.
Asked if there is actual demand on the part of buyers and sellers for the paperless transaction, Lorenzini gave a qualified “yes.”
“You’re talking about millions of transactions going on. Only a fraction of those are demanding it, but a fraction of millions is still a large number,” DocuSign’s CEO said. “Mortgage brokers, agents all believe this is inevitable. A year or two or three from now everyone’s going to be signing electronically.”
Seattle-based DocuSign’s product makes it possible for a buyer or seller to sign documents using only a PC, without additional hardware such as a stylus, from any location. REDTablet, owned by San Bruno, Calif.-based Criterion, makes tablet PCs that can capture a signature done with a stylus and apply that signature electronically to documents in a transaction.”
