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Using electronic signatures in the practice of real estate poses a few unique hazards. Seth Weismann...
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Using electronic signatures in the practice of real estate poses a few unique hazards. Seth Weismann is the General Counsel for the Georgia Association of REALTORS(r). He has written all of our contracts and special stipulations for the past 15 years. Smart guy.
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I went to a class he was teaching to learn about the changes in some of our forms and I cornered him during the afternoon break and asked what he thought about electronic signatures. His answer was something close to "They are legal. They are available. And if you use them you are making yourself a target for litigation."
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It was not an unexpected answer. Part of Seth's reasoning was that electronic signatures have not been tested in the courts yet. Likely as not, when we first started using faxes there was a court challenge as to the legality of the new technology. Once that little firestorm passed, we all became very comfortable using fax machines. What we need is a volunteer to get the first esig lawsuit out of the way.
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I suspect that at some point, someone's client is going to get their nose out of joint and want to get out of a contract. They'll hire an attorney who will notice that certain docs were signed electronically and off to the courts it will go.
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My ONLY point in all of this is use good judgement. First and foremost, talk with your broker. If he/she is okay with esigs, bust loose. Read! REALTOR.org has some very good articles on the subject. I use esigs on regular basis (I just did one today!). But I am careful. No attorney is every going to give a rip if I esign an Instructions to Closing Attorney. The fight will come over something like the purchase and sale agreement itself.
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And one final note: the conversation with Seth took place over a year and a half ago. I heard via someone that works closely with his law firm that they have started using electronic signatures.
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6/9/08 3:07 PM
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9/15/08 1:41 AM
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Several weeks ago, my brain kicked into gear and I set up a Google Alert for "electronic signature"...
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Several weeks ago, my brain kicked into gear and I set up a Google Alert for "electronic signature" and it's beginning to reap results. This week I was alerted to an Adobe blog that has articles about the subject. It is really good information about how you know if the correct person is actually signing the document.
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<a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/security/2008/08/setting_signature_trust_in_ado_1.html">Part 1</a>
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<a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/security/2008/08/setting_signature_trust_in_ado_2.html">Part 2</a>
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8/31/08 7:58 AM
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9/1/08 11:45 AM
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When I first heard about electronic signatures, I assumed that I would scan my signature and then so...
307 views
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When I first heard about electronic signatures, I assumed that I would scan my signature and then somehow place it on a document.
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Let me disabuse you of that notion if it is yours also. Think of an electronic signature as a small piece of software that you merge with your electronic document and when you combine the two, the electronic signature does a couple of things. First, it locks the document so that it can never be altered again. Second, it conveys that you agree with the contents. Third, it times stamps the placement of the electronic signature.
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The Electronic Signature Act of Congress July 2000 defines electronic signatures a bit more broadly, But erring on the side of caution, be sure to only use professional electronic signatures. I have heard that there were inspectors who used a scanned image of their signature. Subsequently, someone lifted that image off a document and began to use it on forged documents. As I understand it, the courts said that the electronic signature belongs to you and you had better protect it because where ever it appears, you are responsible. We now have a few less inspectors in the state.
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The three I like:
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<strong>United States Postal Service Electronic Signatures</strong>
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<li>By far the most secure and most complicated to use. If you need to set up multiple signatures and make sure that you are protected by Federal law, this puppy is for you.
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<strong>Adobe Acrobat</strong>
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<li>Several full versions of Adobe allow you to create your own signatures. I use this more often than anything else. The draw back is two fold: Adobe is expenseive and you can only do your own signature.
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<strong>DocuSign.com</strong>
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<li>Monthly fee. Great product. You can set up the document signing for all the parties or just yourself.
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6/9/08 3:21 PM
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8/31/08 5:04 PM
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