Streamline Your Real Estate Transaction with Form Simplicity

Debra Spadafora, VP, IT & Corporate Services, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty in South Florida, remembers when her brokerage’s agents handled real estate forms manually. The first step in this time-consuming process involved adding information to individual documents, proofreading and correcting errors. Next, it entailed emailing forms to customers, who’d print, sign, scan and send them back. When customers didn’t have email, agents faxed or hand-delivered forms.

Debra Spadafora

In 2012, her team began using the web-based transaction management platform, Form Simplicity, to streamline this workflow.

Owned and offered by Florida Realtors®, it features up-to-date forms and templates (in compliance with state regulations), centralizes data and auto-populates information across all forms per transaction (synchronizing relevant fields when agents make changes). Incorporating eSign capabilities, Form Simplicity keeps an audit trail of all documents, provides copies of signed documents, and enables brokers and admins to review all transactions for compliance.

Thanks to its intuitive user interface, agents at EWM Realty mastered the system quickly, soon using it for all listings and contracts. Now that Form Simplicity has been an integral part of her team’s processes for 10-plus years, Spadafora cannot imagine her agents living without it. They save countless hours (avoiding many in-person meetings). Plus, the brokerage spends less on paper and courier services; and the forms are more accurate, she explains.

Low cost, high returns

Sasha Fedoroff, office/transaction manager, The Atlas Group Real Estate Services in Spring Hill, has used many systems in her 22-plus years in the industry—and raves about Form Simplicity’s return on investment (ROI).

First, the cost is low. Other platforms charge $300-$1,000 per month, depending on the number of users, she says. Form Simplicity’s Professional version is free to all Florida Realtors® members and offers many features, including state forms.

The Ultimate version (which involves a fee) also provides unlimited online data storage, unlimited e-signing, user-created and integrated eSign templates and a split PDF feature. For scale, brokerages can opt for an office-wide plan for all their current agents, with the system automatically adding or subtracting agents based on state and local rosters, explains Fedoroff.

For a low cost, Form Simplicity provides a high degree of savings, Fedoroff says. She estimates it shaves 10-20 minutes off the creation of each file. For the average office, that could add up to eight or more hours per week, or 415 hours per year, she says.

Rei L. Mesa, CRS, CRB, president and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty in Fort Lauderdale, shares similar sentiments. He uses the Ultimate version, creating company-wide packages for listings, sales and rentals. Then, on a branch-office level, his managing brokers generate packages for their sales professionals. The ROI is “immeasurable,” he raves, with his sales professionals, cooperating brokers and customers getting to closings more quickly and efficiently. “Having the forms and transactions online is a necessity,” he adds. “I cannot imagine how we functioned efficiently prior to Form Simplicity.”

An automated workflow

“Form Simplicity is the daily heartbeat of our business,” says Sasha Fedoroff. “It’s a long-term, reliable, secure system that’s crucially important for any successful real estate office.” Here’s how the system helps with her brokerage’s processes:

• To create new files for transactions, agents select from in-house pre-filled form packages. “They instantly have exactly what they need to get their documents generated ASAP.”
• The system reviews, finalizes and completes forms, including eSign templates, and sends forms to customers to eSign.
• Once these forms are fully executed, it routes them to admins and managing brokers for review and approval. They check for compliance, using in-house-customized checklists.
• The system archives completed transactions.
• At any point, admins and brokers can monitor, review and help with transactions.