Lazy Brokers and eSignatures

We all love eSignatures.  But lazy brokers love them the most!

Our firm uses DocuSign, and we have since it first appeared.  And regardless of what eSignature system you are using, I think we can all agree these systems have made our professional life easier and more productive.  I mean think about all the driving around, for signatures, that we are no longer doing.

But there is, still, one fly in the ointment:  Checks.

Fully executed contracts appear right in my email inbox.  But any monies required by said contracts, well, that's a different story.  In North Carolina, our contract calls for two different checks, an Earnest Money check and a Due Diligence check.  Now the contract does allow the Earnest Money check to be mailed and received within five days (if both parties agree).  But the Due Diligence check is to be delivered to the seller on the day of contract execution.  And because of this, we never allow the buyer to mail the Earnest Money check.

That means that while the buyer's agent need not get in his car for contract signatures, he does need to pickup and deliver the checks.  And while this may not seem like a big deal to you or to me, this has become a huge problem when we represent the seller.

Why?  Because buyer's agents just can't be bothered to do their job.

So, instead of a buyer's agent sending us a fully negotiated and buyer-signed offer, and we as seller's agents, sending this to the seller for signature, we have to halt the process.  We say to the buyer's agent:  Okay, we have received your signed offer, now bring us the checks.  And of course, the buyer's agent always says:  No, no, get your seller to sign, and then I will bring you the checks.

The problem with that is, after the seller signs and this is communicated to the buyer, then, checks or no checks, we have a fully executed contract in place, which must be delivered to the buyer.  So fully executed contract and no checks!  That is no way to serve our client, the seller.

And see, the problem is that it is a bit of a gamble.  Sure, we want a fully executed contract in place.  But I sure don't want to have to worry about getting those checks afterwards.  Yes, there is a procedure to force delivery (or risk seller termination) after the fact.  But who wants the trouble?  And in the meantime, we may lose a perfectly good alternate buyer to some other house.

This would not be a problem if we could simply count on agents to do their job!

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