Real-a-Save Success Story
BACKGROUND Real-a-Save is a Colorado-based online real estate company that uses Web-based technology to conduct business. The company rebates 75 percent of its commission directly to its buyers, while its sellers pay a flat-fee of only $2,500 for full service listing, which includes listing the home in the Colorado Multiple Listing System. Customers get virtual tours, color fliers, yard signs, showing service and lock box, and a full-service agent to handle all of the paperwork and negotiations at a fraction of the cost of a traditional real estate agent.
CHALLENGE The real estate industry is a cut-throat business. Time is of the essence, and closing the deal is harder than ever due to increased competition from other real estate agents. Traditionally, buyers and sellers have gone back and forth when it comes time to negotiate a deal. In the past this has been done using old-fashioned pen-and-paper to apply a “wet” signature throughout multiple documents. Most of the time 20-to-30-page documents need to be signed in multiple places by both parties, and then the document must be faxed or sent via overnight mail to the other party. This process can take more than a week to complete. If any signature is out of place, not signed correctly or illegible due to repeated fax transmission, then the entire deal could be in jeopardy and the paperwork would need to be rewritten. Also, many real estate agents have to drive documents to the clients at odd hours to get signatures on the contracts. It is a very time-consuming, inefficient process that is quite taxing for agents.
SOLUTION When Bob Connors, founder and CEO of Real-a-Save, started his company in 2007, he had a few goals in mind. “First we set out to make the process of buying and selling homes as simple as possible. In addition we wanted to be an environmentally friendly company.” After researching many options to improve the sale closure process, Connors selected DocuSign. “We looked at other eSignature options, but none were as intuitive and easy to use as DocuSign. From our perspective it was an absolute no-brainer to use DocuSign’s eSignature service.”
RESULTS After using DocuSign’s eSignature services for just a few months, Connors has been very pleasantly surprised. “I’ve had customers contact me after signing our contracts and they said — unsolicited — that this is a very cool process.” In addition to ensuring a high degree of customer satisfaction, Real-a-Save benefits by locking out the competition by closing deals so quickly. By allowing the team at Real-a-Save to save time and become more efficient, it has allowed its real estate agents to spend more time working with their customers instead of focusing on administrative tasks. In addition, as a former high school science teacher, Connors had another goal in mind when starting the company. “I was determined to create a company that was environmentally friendly, and one of our goals was to become a paperless company. By using DocuSign I can’t remember the last time I bought paper or even used a fax. In short, DocuSign is a match made in heaven for us.”
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