The past decade has seen radical changes in how real estate transaction work, and at the center of that change is the role of technology.
Home Search
Traditionally, a large part of the responsibility has been to help clients find the right home. Buyers had no way of knowing which homes were on the market, and agents were the only sources of that information. However, with the rise of online listings sites, searching for a home has now become a much more open and transparent process, with buyers being able to explore thousands of homes online, without the need of an agent. We talk more about the changing role of an agent in this article.
Paperwork & Digital Signatures
Traditionally, a real estate transaction might consist of dozens of documents, which had to signed manually on paper. However, with the creation of digital signature technology, like DocuSign and others, signing documents online has become commonplace – (although, you would be surprised to know many transactions still happen on physical paper).
Digital documents bring not only the convenience of not needing to print on paper, but also make it easier for agents to fill out large amounts of paperwork, draft edits, and share revisions with collaborators. Of course, digital copies are also much more secure, as they can be backed up on the cloud. Overall, the introduction of digital signatures has helped improve real estate transactions to be simpler, more collaborative, and faster.
The Future of Real Estate Technology
We know that technology has helped improve transactions, but at Hutsy we believe there is still a lot more to be done. We are working to bring the benefits of cutting edge technology to real estate, to make transactions easier and faster than ever before. We believe technology can improve in a few key ways:
Intelligent Documents
A large part of real estate transactions is reading and understanding large amounts of paperwork, and while digital signatures have made it easy to sign documents, they do nothing to help buyers understand what they are signing. We are building software that will read through documents, and extract key information to help you better understand what exactly you are signing. This goes a long way in increasing transparency and trust, helping buyers feel more confident in the transaction.
Digital Closings
Although digital signature has helped to bring documents online, the rest of the closing process is still largely offline and soloed. At Hutsy, we are building the first complete end-to-end closing platform, that will bring all the various aspects of the transaction, onto a single unified place.
Ultimately, the goal of technology in real estate should always be to create a simpler, easier, and more transparent experience for home buyers. Intelligent documents that help buyers understand what they are signing and full digital closings are just some of the things we are working to make home-buying a more delightful experience.
