Is it possible to be paperless?

I tell you we are trying our best to reduce the paper use in our office, but it is difficult to go completely paperless.  Maybe the term should be “Less Paper”.  We have not made a copy of one closing file since we opend our doors in Little Rock on March 1, we have provided copies of all closing docs on a flash drive.  Which has been surprisingly well received in our market!  We are a step closer to “less paper” office, now if we can get the digital signiture peice in place, then I can see how close to a paperless office we can become.  Of course, if our customers are not willing to accept this direction we are headed, then we could be going through this exercise for no reason at all!!

Spring is Here

After a few thunderstorms rumbled through the last couple of weeks, we have sunny skies and warm weather.  The flowers are blooming and the grass is ready for the first mowing.  And the Real Estate Business seems to be picking up, as it typically does at this time of year.  In spite of the news, we still have a real estate market that is alive and doing okay.  It is traditionally this spring season that kick starts the activity in the real estate markets.  I see this is true today, even in the current climate.  The low rates have caused an increase in refinances, but at the same  time, there are still people out there looking for homes.  I am hearing from our customers, that this is in fact the case, and the purchase market is picking up. 

Do you see this in your market?

Paperless Closings

I am trying to go “Green”!!  No more paper…is it possible in the real estate biz?  I think it is and I am testing the waters.  In this new venture I am starting, we are going as paperless as we can from the very beginning.  Using tools such as myfax/efax is a start.  We do not have a fax machine, everything is scanned and emailed or faxed out through our electronic faxing provider.  All files are “worked”  via an electronic file in the software we utilize and we plan to scan all closed files immediately upon closing.  No more storage rooms!!  So far so good.  

Next step will be to conduct a paperless closing…can it be done?  Yes, it has been done in other states and it appears to work just fine.  There will be some that will require paper documents for filing at the courthouse and some lenders/banks will require a “wet” signature on documents, but we many will accept the digital signature.  Heck we sign a signature pad for almost everything we buy now, why not real estate?  I will keep you in the loop on our time line, hopefully in 30 days we can have a true paperless closing.

Now, if I can get this accomplished in other areas of my life!

Have we hit the bottom??

I wonder of we have hit the bottom of the Real Estate bust?  It sure appears to me that real estate activity has increased these past four weeks, homes are being shown, refinances are on the rise, and all of the folks I talk to say they are busy.  Does this represent the bottom?  I speculate that we are dragging along the bottom, waiting for the proverbial “bounce”!  I am not expecting a huge bounce, but we may have a little more spring in our step come this summer. 

I hear some of the big lenders may show a profit for the first quarter, i.e. Bank of America, Countrywide, and a few others.  If this is true, will that increase our confidence in the Real Estate markets?  Not sure about that one…but should show us that you can get a loan and that the markets may have adjusted.  All we can do is keep our heads down and keep focused on our task at hand, whether that is selling real estate, making loans or closing deals.  Our work ethic is the ONE thing we can control!!  Those who do this, will be successful, no matter the conditions of the market.

New Technology Part 2

I wrote about the new buzz words/gadgets in technology last fall, things such as Sumo Text,Twitter, myspace and facebook.  Now it appears that these are now all of the rage in the Real Estate Biz.  In fact, I have gone so far as to get active on facebook (great to find old high school classmates…not sure how it will create new business opportunities) and myspace (appears to be suited for musicians), and even have established myself on Twitter! It all seems to me to be part of the big “Social Networking” world that may, some day, find its way into the business world.  I guess one should never underestimate the power of your network!

Starting a new title company, National Closing Corp, I have decided to give this new way of networking a try.  It certainly can’t hurt our business, and we may even find a group of customers out in cyber space that prefer this way of communication with businesses.  I am going to focus on linking all forms of cyber communications to the blog and web sites we have established.  Seems to me that some quick updates, which includes links, will be the most effective way to drive folks to us. 

Let me know if you have ideas or suggestions that have worked for you.

www.NationalClosingCorp.com