Based on recent case studies performed by the WAV Group, a leader in providing technology consulting services and research to the real estate industry, REALTORS^® around the country are embracing Online Transaction Management!

The WAV Group has been monitoring REALTOR^® adoption of Online Transaction Management over the last four (4) years, and has seen encouraging increases in adoption fairly recently, first with forms and electronic faxing, and now with REALTORS^® moving agressively to document management solutions.

In one case study, the WAV Group reports on increased adoption among Florida REALTORS^®. The Florida Association of REALTORS^® provides Instanet Solutions' TransactionDesk platform to their members as a REALTOR^® benefit - the very same service Realcomp began offering to MLS Subscribers in January, 2008 as an optional service.

According to the WAV Group study, although the real estate industry has been talking about completing transactions online and going paperless for many years, the adoption of Online Transaction Management was slower than originally expected due agents not being "fundamentally displeased with their paper-rich process".

However, according to the WAV Group studies, all of that has now changed. In a time of brokers and agents continually looking for ways to save -- on time, money, and people resources, along with increased concern for the environment, automated transaction processing methods are now more important to REALTORS^® than ever before.

In the WAV Group's soon to be published 2009 Transaction Management Adoption Study (in which many Realcomp MLS Subscribers participated), usage of online forms, electronic faxing, and document management have increased significantly across the United States.

Respondents in the study told the WAV Group that they first became familiar and comfortable with electronic forms. Then, they expanded their adoption of online transaction management tools to include electronic faxing, document management, and online transaction task management. They realize the benefits of initiating, creating, storing, and distributing transaction information from one central online source. The study involving Florida REALTORS^® also indicates satisfaction levels are high with Instanet's TransactionDesk product.

What are the advantages of online transaction processing? According to survey respondents of the soon to be released 2009 WAV Group Transaction Management Adoption Study, REALTORS^® across America are processing transactions online for a variety of reasons, primarily to become better organized, to save time, and to better serve the needs of their clients. Other reasons include: to help the environment, for risk reduction, to keep costs down, their company requires it, to achieve market differentiation, & to increase revenue.

According to the WAV Group's research, like many Americans, REALTORS^® are "going green". Most are accomplishing this through the elimination of paper documents from their workflow.

The WAV Group's studies show REALTORS^® across the country have realized the power of processing transactions online and are beginning to take full advantage of this service to store, distribute, and easily retrieve transaction documents online, without having to page through boxes of paper files. They are also able to easily share these electronic documents with fellow REALTORS^®, clients and service providers.

What is Realcomp doing to encourage MLS Subscribers to adopt Online Transaction Management? Realcomp is encouraging adoption through the following initiatives:

• By integrating online transaction processing with Realcomp's expansive MLS and Public Record Databases - all MLS Subscribers have the ability to start a new transaction from an exisiting property in the MLS or Public Records databases, auto-populate online forms based on this information, upload new listings to the system, attach electronic documents to their online listings, and more.
• By integrating all Realcomp MLS and Board & Association forms into the MLS computer system and making them available to MLS Subscribers (free of charge)
• By providing free "hands-on" training on the TransactionDesk product
• By providing access to Instanet's free online webinars on the TransactionDesk product
• By providing Transaction Management as an optional product at a nominal fee ($6/mo.) to cover the cost of making it available.

If you are an agent or a broker who would like to learn more about how to take full advantage of the power of online transaction processing, please contact Realcomp's Training Department via e-mail or visit the Training page on our website.

Realcomp is positioned to help you take full advantage of all these Transaction Management opportunities & benefits!

Content Source: Wav Group