I want to thank DocuSign for asking me to do an interview for their blog. I want to take a few minutes and go more into my history of how I made the move to use their service. If you are a real estate agent I recommend you sign up immediately if you have not done so already.
After I had written a few dozen real estate contracts I realized after I had been in business a few years I was going to be overwhelmed by paperwork, it was stacking up quickly. When you consider the Arizona Real Estate Contract is 9 pages, then you add in the buyers advisory, home owners association addendum, as-is and more, a real estate contract could easily become close to 30 pages.
If I was just writing five offers a week I would be printing out roughly 150 pages a week that would need to be signed. That is 150 pages of paper, ink and 5 folders, all of which can add up quickly. I was looking for a better way. Not to mention that 30 pages grows after an offer is accepted because of the seller addendums.
After printing out the contract and having the client sign all the pages, I would then need to fax it back to myself or scan it as many agents want to receive contracts via email. That took time. I had heard about people going paperless, but I really debated if I wanted to purchase a tablet pc just to have people sign contracts.
So earlier this year I turned to Twitter to help find an answer. A couple agents I respect a lot, Jay Thompson and Nick Bastian suggested I check out DocuSign. Not more than a few minutes after that An, the person behind @DocuSign on Twitter, reached out to me and offered some suggestions. That had me thinking DocuSign was the way to go.
I set up an account, but in a rush to do so I made a mistake and had technical issues. Within minutes I received a call from @DocuSign and a tweet from @tgonser helping me out. I had no idea at the time that Tom was the founder of the company. The kicker was this great service happened at 9pm on a Saturday night.
Over the last two months I have written roughly 30 contracts, every one of them was done in DocuSign. Not only does it save money, it saves time. The speed I can get a contract done and signed saves me several hours a week. I do not get paid by DocuSign, I am just a fan and recommend you check out their services if you are a Realtor.
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Dean, it was our pleasure to help. Thanks for diving into detail about how/why you decided to go paperless, and I especially thank you for choosing DocuSign. :)
An Bui, DocuSign Social Media’s last blog post..DocuSign Users: Getting to Know Dean Ouellette
Docusign rocks my world. What amazes me though are the banks that say “we don’t accept electronic signatures”. Maybe if they pulled themselves out of the 1970s, they would be in such trouble.
Jay Thompson’s last blog post..Search Phoenix Homes by Walk Score
Jay – when you find a bank that is trying to force you back to the stone age, please let us know. Most banks are with it.. Our general counsel can usually correct those situations where they are not by contacting the bank. After all, according to the Federal ESIGN act, “a contract may not be denied legal effect solely on the basis that it is electronic.” Now, that is what the LAW says, but dealing with non-aware people is an entirely different matter…