The Safety and Security of Online Contracts

In my last blog, I discussed the evolution of technology as it relates to the world of real estate and specifically, online contracts and signatures. In this posting, I will discuss this further, especially the safety and security of these online documents and signatures.

On July 25, 2000, the first paperless real estate transaction took place in Broward County, Florida. That transaction involved the purchase and financing of a home and took less than five minutes to record. Confirmed documents bearing all necessary recording data were immediately returned to the settlement agent via e-mail. Images of the recorded documents were immediately available on the county’s website.

Paperless real estate transactions save time, and time is money. The process of accepting a purchase and sale contract; executing closing documents, the promissory note and mortgage; a compliance review by the lender; transferring the deed and the mortgage to be verified and recorded at the county office building; and issuing the title on the property — all can be sent electronically to the market for loan servicing rights. This process from beginning to end can be completed within one business day.

It has become clear that innovation and the paperless real estate transaction are essential in maintaining accurate consumer records and coordinating a seamless real estate transaction with great benefits to the consumer, the lending institutions and all the real estate professionals involved. Real estate documents often contain sensitive information and represent some of life’s most important transactions. With regard to security, a key advantage with e-signatures is this: Should an e-signed document’s validity ever be called into question, agents and their organizations can know with certainty that those documents are legally sound and defensible because the evidence of the signature is embedded into the document itself. And because independent e-signatures adhere to published, international standards, the signed document is valid forever.

Signatures have been the bane of a real estate professional’s existence for generations. With purchase agreements and closings getting more complicated every year, with more and more layers of mandatory disclosures, regulations, title assurances, and anything else you care to name, it’s easy for customers to miss a signature or initial. Historically, this meant that the real estate agent winds up expending precious prospecting time driving across town to track down the parties, or spending money to prepare and send documents back to them via FedEx. Now, this can all be taken easily and quickly online.

The signature request allows me to send a ‘sign form request’ and allows my clients to sign with a truly wet signature using a tablet or cellphone! My client can also use a laptop touch pad and a traditional mouse on a desktop computer too. There are easy methods for the computer challenged client where they are allowed to type and pick a font for their signature as well.

Are these programs legal? Electronic contracts and electronic signatures are just as legal and enforceable as traditional paper contracts signed in ink. Federal legislation enacted in 2000, known as the Electronic Signatures in Global and International Commerce Act (ESGICA), removed the uncertainty that previously plagued e-contracts. This e-signature law made electronic contracts and signatures as legally valid as paper contracts, which was great news for companies that conduct business online

Are these programs secure? These signature solutions use digital certificates to provide security and authentication. User authentication is enhanced by the fact that they require multiple layers of authentication. Virtually all electronic signature solutions generate an “audit trail” that includes the path the documents traveled and computer-generated event information such as the date and time the documents were signed as well as the IP address of the computer used to sign and send the documents.

No one wants to have a real estate transaction delayed because of a paperwork kerfuffle. Fortunately, there’s a better way, thanks to a miracle of modern information technology. It’s time to embrace the e-signature!

If you have any questions about online signatures, call me, your Sarasota Hometown Realtor and I will be happy to discuss this with you and…help you buy or sell your home in Sarasota, Florida.

Sources and credits: The Washington Post, Online Sunshine/The Florida Statues, NOLO Press

Are You Stuck in a Real Estate Time Warp?

Evolution is a slow process in any industry and real estate’s technological evolution is no different. For many years while working as the IT Director as well as the technology support manager of the Real Estate business at Re/Max Alliance Group in Sarasota, FL, I worked toward creating an online system that would allow clients to able to sign and initial contact documents to avoid multiple reprinting, faxing, and the time delays associated with all the back and forth. Today, several large organizations have produced web based secure software that allows us to have documents electronically signed via email. Today, Re/Max Alliance Group uses such a software package.

I was in the computer world as a programmer before there were hard drives and ‘mice’ and know better than most that technology is a catalyst for change in most industries.  The real estate industry, in particular, has undergone major changes over the past 10 or more years and shows no signs of slowing down. While the basics of selling real estate haven’t changed, the tools used to do it have. Because of these tools, you and I can access virtually anything, or anyone, from a smart phone or tablet. I can complete paperless transactions from wherever I am. Gone are the days of being tied to an office or desk. Gone are the traditional ways of buying and selling property involving a land line and a fax machine.

Using this technology, I am able to get all parts of a purchase contract negotiated between a seller in Sarasota, FL and a buyer in, for example, Bombay India in 1 day! Without this system, that would have required hundreds of dollars in FedEx fees and several days, to say nothing about consuming a sizable chunk of a tree!

If you are stuck in a time warp and are leery of doing transactions online, worry not! The idea of paperless real estate transaction technology is obviously not brand new. It has been in the industry for a decade following the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act and the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act. Both acts were passed to ensure that paperless real estate transactions signed electronically were legally binding. I will go into this further in a future Blog.

In spite of all this technology, the real transaction happens because of the personal communication between you and your Realtor. If you have questions about using these services feel free to call me at 941-315-1185. And...if you are looking to buy or sell your home in Sarasota, FL, my hometown, definitely call me!

The Street Where You Live-Some History

I grew up on the north side of Sarasota amongst the banyan trees, near the Ringling Museum. My wife and I frequently take drives there and throughout Sarasota to see the new developments and reminisce about the old homesteads and streets where we lived and played. Sarasota can be at times, a challenging place to find your way around so we got curious about street names and the history surrounding them.

Downtown Sarasota has super-cute street names named after tropical fruits like Orange, Lemon and Pineapple Street. And then there are the numbered streets and those streets that don’t seem to go through and then pick up again further on. I found a great explanation of all this written by Don Smally, a well-known builder and engineer, in Sarasota’s History Alive newsletter and I quote the article here:

Growth in the metropolitan Sarasota area was putting a burden on the Post Office because of the duplication of street names. Mosby’s work preparing new property maps presented an opportunity to correct the street-naming problem. The Post Master, Gordon Higel asked the County to help him straighten out the mess that existed and to allow him to control the naming of new streets. I was asked to work with him. There were duplications and inconsistencies in numbering that also needed correcting. We devised the following plan: 

• East-West thoroughfares would be renamed 'Streets'
• North-South thoroughfares would be renamed Avenues
• 7th became 1st Street
• The old 5th became State Street
• Roads would remain Roads

There were complaints. “Avenue” sounded classy, while "Street" sounded ordinary. “Why should I have to change my street name from 12th to 6th Street?” "Why should I have to change my address from 2604 to 1804?” The Postmaster prevailed, the changes were made, and all new developments followed the new method of naming new streets. Another major change had to do with the requirement of naming any through road that lined up with existing roads to use the same name, even though miles might separate the two. An example was Beneva Road which had stretches and gaps and was called Oriente north of Fruitville Road. Starting at 17th Street (which used to be 23rd Street) Beneva was the name down to U.S. 41 at Vamo Road. An exception was made for Swift Road. It was allowed to remain even though it lined up with Tuttle Avenue. There was confusion for a while but eventually everyone got used to the new system.

And then there is a lot of old history of our streets names based on landowners and developers ‘way back when.” Examples are the Bertha Palmer family, (Palmer Blvd, Honore Ave., Webber St., Lockwood) and the Burns family who arrived in 1910. Owen Burns closely followed Bertha Palmer to Sarasota and with two purchases, he quickly became the largest landholder within what now is the city, therefore many of the huge Sarasota properties she owned are in what now is Sarasota County (which did not exist during her lifetime). Many of its roads bear the names she put on the trails she established. She did participate, however, in speculation in the city along with others, purchasing undeveloped land in great quantities, and many parcels bear her name or that of her sons among those in abstracts.

And the history of all of our neighborhoods is entirely fascinating from the street names to the famous people who lived in them. For instance, do you know why there’s an Ocean Boulevard on Siesta Key when the city isn’t near any ocean? Turns out the street was named after Captain Louis Roberts’s wife, whose given name was Ocean Hansen.

It was a lot of fun researching this and the fact remains that Sarasota is not the easiest place to find your way around. Thankfully, most of us have navigation systems…and lifetime Sarasota residents like myself who know their way around! So if you are thinking of buying Real Estate in Sarasota, I will be glad to show you around my home town and find you a great home!


Sources and Credits: nps.gov, Sarasota History Alive, The Sarasota Herald Tribune/Jeff LaHurd