With approximately three weeks left in 2009, do you have enough time to accomplish everything you would like to before the start of 2010? Perhaps you’re thinking about new initiatives for next year – with electronic signature, you can start saving time NOW while implementing an environmentally friendly, “Green” business process.

How many pages are the real estate contracts you prepare for your clients? If you’re writing an offer with all of the associated addendums, you could easily create nearly 30 pages of paper.

If you’re faxing the offer, that’s another 30 pages created by the fax machine. This transaction has created 60 pages of paper – and no signatures at this point! Your client then has to sign each page where you’ve indicated and if he or she faxes it back, this process has now created 90 pages of paper.

Of course, if you have to get your client’s spouse to sign, you’re looking at more faxes and more paper. If you’re using a scanner, you can minimize, but not eliminate, the amount of paper you generate.

In a multiple offer situation, say five, the number of pages multiplies and could become 450 pages for the fax-back-and-forth process of collecting signatures, just for this one client. If you’re working with multiple clients… the number of pieces of paper multiplies as well.

With seller addendums… you get the picture.

The Solution: Electronic Signature from DocuSign

With this much paper, you need a solution that enables you to implement a paperless and green business process. DocuSign is the leader in electronic signature services that securely enable you to electronically send, sign and manage your documents with confidence.

You can create your documents with your current forms creation software – Adobe, Microsoft Word, zipForms, WINForms, TrueForms, Flexmls Forms, IRES, Realfast2Go, TransactionPoint, or DocCentral.

Once you’ve created your documents and saved them to your computer, you can log into DocuSign. You upload your documents, enter your client’s information, tab the documents for signature and click to send. See the video below:

Your client receives an email from DocuSign with a message that you’ve requested their signature on documents. Once your client clicks the link included in the email and authenticates him or herself into the DocuSign system, DocuSign takes them through the electronic signature process, step-by-step. See the video below:

Once your client has signed or initialed the document in each location you’ve tabbed, accepted or declined each tab for optional signature or initial, and completed the signing process, you will receive an email notifying you that your documents have been signed.

If you choose to “CC” the other agent in the transaction, he or she will receive a clean, legible copy of the documents with all of the associated signatures.

No faxes. No paper. DocuSign electronic signature provides clean, clear electronic signatures on documents without software to download or equipment to buy.

As the official and exclusive provider of ESIGN services for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and its 1.2 million members under the REALTOR Benefits® Program, and is designed to provide unique offers to NAR members through its new “ESIGN Advantage Promotion for Realtors®.”

With the “ESIGN Advantage Promotion for Realtors®,” we’re currently offering a special promotion to Realtors® through December 31:

• All the capabilities of DocuSign for Real Estate Standard Edition,
• Custom branding that will enable you to tailor your account for a more personalized client experience,
• And special pricing: the cost for the promotion will be as low as $13.95 per user/month (annual commitment) or $17.95 per user/month (month-to-month). You can save as much as 21 percent on the best available monthly subscription rates with a risk-free 30-day money back guarantee.

You can implement paperless processes and go green at the same time with electronic signature from DocuSign!

With six scheduled demos, many more impromptu one-on-one demos, questions about “Designed for Mobile”, and forms compatibility, I’ve pulled together some thoughts to share:

1. How do I get DocuSign on my mobile phone?

DocuSign “Designed for Mobile” comes with your subscription to DocuSign – there are no apps to download! It works for Apple iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Google Android. With electronic signature “Designed for Mobile,” eSign is faster and easier for customers to complete transactions while on the go.

You and your clients can now view and e-sign documents on your handheld device and see a new status console optimized for mobile browsers.

2. Will DocuSign work with my forms?

We’ve partnered with many of the real estate forms providers, including zipLogix (zipForm® and WINForms®), Realfast (Realfast2Go™), IRES, Reveal Systems (TrueForms), LPS Real Estate Group which includes TransactionPoint and DocCentral – click here to learn more about our partners.

You can also DocuSign documents created in Adobe (PDF’s), MS Word, Excel & PowerPoint as well.

3. How do I get started with DocuSign and electronic signature?

You can sign up on the DocuSign web site. Once you’ve signed up, take a look at our subscriber resources:

• Sign up for a Live Interactive Training webinar for eSignature
• Browse our DocuSign Electronic Signature forums, which are online discussions of DocuSign features, how-to’s, product announcements and more.
• Watch our How-To videos, including “Sending and signing a Lead-Based Pain Disclosure using DocuSign”, “Sending from zipForm 6 and DocuSign”, “How to add another real estate agent as a carbon copy recipient” and more. Take a look to see if there’s a video that addresses your question!
• Read our blog and suggest post ideas in the comments

With a 30-Day Free Trial, you can experience the power of securely sending, signing and storing documents with DocuSign.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth at NAR – keep an eye on the blog for an exciting post-NAR announcement for those of you who stopped by!

Last week, Coachella Valley Escrow’s weekly Tech Tuesday post featured a video discussing DocuSign and electronic signature. Did you know that DocuSign is compatible with zipForms, WINForms, TrueForms, Realfast, DocCentral and Transaction Point? If you want to learn more about using DocuSign with your current forms creation software, take a look at this How-To.

In addition to the video interview conducted at the CAR 2009 Conference & EXPO earlier this month in San Jose, Coachella Valley Escrow also highlighted some of our more popular blog posts, including: “The Legality of Electronic Signatures”, “Why DocuSign Electronic Signature Might be a Realtor’s Best Friend”, and “The DocuSign ESIGNControl App by Smart Mobile Solutions”.

Want to Learn More about DocuSign Electronic Signature?

Other popular posts from the DocuSign blog include:

Want Free Electronic Signature? Try DocuSign Lite: With DocuSign lite, you can get a document eSigned with no paper, no account and no cost. You can also try the Mozilla Firefox plugin, LOOP to PDF tool, or iGoogle Gadget.

FHA and Lender Acceptance: With background information about the federal ESIGN Act, HUD and FHA policy, and frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) about electronic signatures in real estate transactions, this post is a valuable resource for those who have questions about electronic signatures, the FHA and lender acceptance.

How-To ESIGN: In-Person Signing with DocuSign: If you want to leverage the power of DocuSign electronic signature and preserve the face-to-face interaction with your clients, you can use DocuSign’s in-person signing feature. This means you can keep all of your files DocuSigned and consistent! You no longer have to keep track of paper copies, and your clients can download their signed, easy-to-read copy.

If you missed meeting us at CAR EXPO in San Jose, the DocuSign team will be at REBar Camp San Diego November 12, 2009 and NAR EXPO in San Diego November 13-16, 2009. Stop by and say hi!

Commitment issues – some of us are more commitment-phobic than others. What if you like the idea of electronic signature, but aren’t sure if you want to commit to it yet? What if change makes you uncomfortable?

Both perspectives are valid. If you’re concerned about cost, electronic signature starts at $15.95/month with a pre-paid annual subscription. If you’re concerned about commitment, you have a 30-day money back guarantee. You don’t even have to install software! If you have special needs, such as integration with existing software platforms or workflow capabilities, you can speak with one of our account managers or professional services folks about how DocuSign’s electronic signature service might best suit your needs.

DocuSign for Real Estate already integrates with the major real estate forms providers and software services such as zipForm, WINForm, Realfast, IRES, TrueForms, TransactionPoint and DocCentral.

If you really want to try before you buy, take a look at DocuSign Express for Drawloop. You can use electronic signature without registration or account creation. You can also use DocuSign Express for Drawloop in a variety of ways – from the web, from the iGoogle gadget, or from the Mozilla Firefox browser plug-in. DocuSign for Drawloop is a “lite” offering, so you can get a taste of life with electronic signature. With a subscription to DocuSign Electronic Signature, you’ll be able to take advantage of additional features, such as:

• DocuSign’s document dashboard, enabling you to manage your digital documents for signature
• Multiple signers and documents per envelope
• More envelopes each month
• Additional options, such as workflow capabilities, custom branding, templates, etc.

One reason you might be uncomfortable with change is that the paperless electronic signature process is unknown. DocuSign provides its users with resources such as:

• “How-to” and demo videos to learn more about using DocuSign
• Blog posts to provide a more in-depth perspective on electronic signature and DocuSign’s services
• Forums to engage in discussion about electronic signature features, workflow and other questions and suggestions
• Live Chat help when you can’t find the question to your answer anywhere else

Why not give electronic signature a try? With a 30-day money back guarantee as well as several options to try ESIGN for free via DocuSign, you really have nothing to lose and quite a bit to gain, such as time savings, convenience, and increased customer satisfaction.

Recently, DocuSign joined ActiveRain. Why? With so many Realtors and real estate agents as customers, we want to understand the challenges they face so we can provide better service and create useful features. By following the vibrant discussions on ActiveRain, we hope to provide useful insight to help the real estate community where we can, especially regarding electronic signatures and online contract execution.

DocuSign continually innovates our electronic signatures and online contract execution service for real estate and has established real estate specific partnerships with many of the major forms providers such as IRES, Realfast, Reveal Systems (TrueForms), Ziplogix (Zipforms) and Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions. One of the many useful features DocuSign provides includes signing by multiple people with only one email address, as is the case when a husband and wife share an email address. DocuSign also works with ESRA, the Electronic Signature and Records Association, to establish clarity in policies regarding the use of electronic signature and electronic contract execution.

DocuSign’s commitment to providing an electronic signature and online contract execution tool that helps real estate agents save time, money and do more deals has brought us to ActiveRain. Please do stop by, say hello and let us know how we can help you.