“The proof is in the pudding”
There was a time believe it or not when we didn’t have Adobe Echosign. The MLS was just a figurative concept deep in the bowels of an innovator’s imagination. The process of acquiring, signing and delivering a contract was a labored exercise in repetition and exhaustion. Finding a home would be as simple as looking in a big book and going from there or simply seeing a sign outside the property. If you didn’t see one you would have to drive afar to find one.
More so there was a time when two people would stand over a piece of land, one would declare it belongs to the other and an exchange in cash would take place with witnesses present.
It is arguable that in this day and age, real estate agents may not work as hard as their ancestors, I would like to say. There are still some of the old guard who prefer ink contracts and standard mail-aways. The new generation however rely on technology as an integral part of their day to day business. I cannot imagine preparing an offer without the use of Transaction Desk to populate the forms and ensure I use the correct legal description. Nor can I visualize the use of any system other than the MLS to whittle down 6,000 homes to an handful set to a precise criteria.
Now a client does not even need to attend a closing. An agent can forge friendships and client-relations without physically meeting their principal. An home can be purchased or sold with a tree being saved thanks to the advent of technology and e-signatures. All you need is a computer, or smartphone.
So this does make us any less of a hard worker or more lazier? The answer is no, of course it doesn’t. Here at Evergreen, we try to embrace technology in order to promote efficiency – we work with vendors who we trust and who capitalize on the technological benefits available to us in this day and age. The best part is that we can adapt to the old-fashioned methods if need be – even back in 2009 when I first started, we used a “sign and fax” system when presenting offers pretty regularly – a method which has now been replaced by using your fingers on your iPad to compose and sign such documentation. It is amazing when you think of how far our society has become but believe it or not, there is still demand for those old routines and methods. A solid agent and a true professional will not become frustrated when they have to mail the papers out but instead will remember how this business began, and how our predecessors set the way for this industry to thrive.
There is of course a perception that agents are not always worth their corn but the truth of the matter is that the more time we save during the various steps of a real estate transaction; the more we have left over to to continue to give our best to our client base. Efficiency and complacency can often be confused in this industry but if you have the tools, why not use them?
Remember, the proof is in the pudding, irregardless of how we eventually get there. We can guarantee at Evergreen that you as a consumer will receive our best efforts in order to promote an efficient, informative and ultimately successful transaction. And that is worth every penny.
Evergreen Real Estate Services 