Drowning In a Sea Of Documents
Real estate transactions involve a seemingly unending stream of paperwork. You file the HUD-1 form. You send out the 1099-S statement. You print up buying and leasing contracts. You mail correspondence to buyers, sellers, lenders, inspectors, surveyors and a crowd of other people. To stay on schedule you check off items on a to-do list. Even though much of today’s “paperwork” is electronic, it is still a big part of real estate sales.
You can’t get away from the documentation when handling real estate matters but you can speed things up. Real estate agents and attorneys use HUD settlement statement software to automate their practices and can, in theory, cut closing time by as much at 70% — but only if they take full advantage of all the software’s features. The software can’t save you time if you are still doing things the old fashioned way.
Fast Software Can’t Overcome Slow Processes
An office that uses procedures rooted in the past may be bottlenecking the software without realizing it. For example let’s look at the problem of maintaining contacts. Every real estate practice has a host of names, addresses and phone numbers. These contacts include parties that may appear on the HUD 1 settlement sheet such as clients and lenders, as well as employees, vendors and other parties.
Keeping a paper contact list simply isn’t going to work in the modern world. Real estate professionals typically need to be mobile and can’t depend on being able to get to the rolodex at work to look up a client’s phone number. It’s a waste of resources if each person in a large office has to keep a separate contact file, and entering the contact manually into the real estate title software increases the chance of typographical errors.
You Have A Computer; Use It!
Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep your contact database on the same computer than runs your HUD program? Wouldn’t it make even more sense to keep it in the same application?
A built-in contact database simplifies this process by creating a central resource for the entire practice. You don’t need duplicate lists of contacts throughout the office. All forms, correspondence and agreements generated pull from this database so contact information is consistent and correct. Cloud software gives authorized users access to this database from anywhere with an internet connection. Agents don’t have miss a lead because a phone number was left back at the office.
It’s not all about contacts and paperwork. Real estate transactions often involve escrow finds so you need real estate software that integrates with a trust management application. When you use tools that are designed to work in concert then you are less likely to make innocent mistakes that could open your practice to ethics violations.
Our software is only one step in the process you use to handle real estate closings. Check out our library of training videos to find out about more features of our real estate and law practice management software so you know you are getting everything you need from Easysoft products.
