DocuSign and Real Estate: A Natural FitPeople often ask me “Why is DocuSign such a natural for ? Haven’t some tools been around for a long time? Why now?” These great questions have two sets of answers. The first is Why NOW?, the second is Why DocuSign? The answer to ‘Why Now’ for The main answers to ‘why now?’ are risk and the fact we are all on the same wire. When we first started providing to the market in 2004, it was just too early. Realtors were still getting introduced to web sites as marketing vehicles, and using the web to move valuable data and documents was still on the edge of being risky. Now, with huge multi-national companies such as Fidelity, Comcast, John Hancock, Monsanto, Microsoft, Cisco, and many others executing millions of contracts each month, the time has arrived. These large companies signal that the technology and legal frameworks are in place: In short, ‘it is safe and OK to rather than fax’. The other answer is really timing – we are literally all on the same wire[1] milliseconds away from each other. Why not take advantage of this fact and send you documents to sign securely, rather than forcing things back off the ‘wire’, and into a fax machine into paper. We KNOW it is better to stay online now. The answer to ‘Why DocuSign’ for This answer has to do with years of iteration with our Realtor customers as much as anything else! We’ve been partnering with leading forms vendors and other technology providers as well as hearing feedback from Realtors longer than anyone else. ’s forms technology arm adopted DocuSign as its standard years ago. We learned that a tool to execute contracts for transactions needed to be powerful AND easy to use. Vital Capabilities:

  1. “Make it easy and familiar for my signer – I am trying to close a deal, not train them on technology or law.” – DocuSign is the only system that uses the familiar yellow ‘sign here’ and ‘initial here’ tabs. As part of our patented process, these signature indicators are really familiar and our ‘one-click’ signing makes it both legally binding and simple to use. (Some tools have some really odd ways they want you to sign[2]).
  2. “Give me downstream reliability” – It is important that the solution not make ‘stray marks’ in improper places. My signatures, initials, and data need to be exactly placed, without odd ‘borders’ or ‘seals’ appearing in strange places. Downstream these will always get kicked back.
  3. “Help me handle complex transactions” – Often the transaction has a number of forms to fill out, initial and sign. DocuSign’s system can automatically recognize your documents and apply templates so you get the benefit of exact signature placement without having to do all the work!
  4. “Integrate into my forms software” – By integrating directly into the software Realtors use to create and manage forms, DocuSign makes sending for signature a ‘one click process’. Talk about saving time!
  5. “Allow me to sequence my documents to specific roles” – such as buyer & seller, and allow me to easily follow the industry standard practice.

So, these key points make DocuSign the clear leader for the market. These and many other reasons explain why so many Realtors blog about DocuSign, tell their customers about DocuSign, and why the word ‘DocuSign’ is being used as a verb for electronic signature and online contract execution! You’ve probably heard it at conferences – you know “Hold on, I need to get my buyer to DocuSign it so I can close this deal”. [1] The same ‘wire’ – the INTERNET, silly! [2] Like ‘mouse cursive’ – ever try signing your name with a mouse? It is just silly. Nobody can – everyone hates it. Amazing waste of time that shows lack of understanding of what signing really is.

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