Heard of DocuSign?

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By Don Dunning | December 2, 2009

I just signed up for a new, online application which, in my opinion, is a must-have for many businesses, including real estate. An easy-to-use technology, DocuSign allows documents to be signed and returned online and the signatures are considered legal just as though you had signed them in person. I am now one of “only” 18,000 U.S. Realtors on the system (out of 1.2 million). That will change quickly for a number of reasons.

Several weeks ago, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) made DocuSign its official product for online signatures. NAR also invested in the company and has a seat on its Board of Directors. A key to what I predict will be rapid growth among Realtors is the combination of an extremely affordable price and a time-saving, hassle-avoiding product.

Here is a quick example of how it could have saved my clients and me time and energy the other day:

I needed my buyers to sign a purchase contract addendum for a property that is already in escrow. I made a PDF of the form and faxed it to the wife, who received it at work because the couple owns neither a fax machine nor a printer and she does not have a printer at work. She brought it home, where she and her husband signed. Next morning, she had to fax it back to me from work. I scanned the fax and emailed it to the listing agent.

With DocuSign I could have emailed it to husband and wife, had each sign electronically, returning it to me by email. I could then have forwarded it to the listing agent.

The beauty is that any form needing a signature can be used with this system and it has a detailed record of all documents that have been signed.