RealTown's RealTalk

To Lynn:

Electronic signatures became legal via "The Electronic Signature in Commerce Act of Congress July 2000". That is the federal legislation that made e-sigs legal.

So, armed with that tidbit, I talked to the attorney who is general counsel for the Georgia Association of REALTORS(r) about a year ago and ask him what he thought. His response was something akin to "Yes they are legal. Yes they are available for you to use. And if you use them you make yourself a target for litigation." (bubble busting bum)

His point is exactly what Susan alluded to. Before we all are going to be comfortable using them, they are going to have to be tested in court. Sad. Would you consider volunteering to get that first lawsuit out of the way for us?

Having said that, I use them all the time. My rational is two fold. First, I talked with my broker about it and he is in agreement. Second, I will sign virtually any document electronically but NEVER a final copy of a Purchase and Sale Agreement. I just figure that's the doc, that if anything goes wrong, will be lawsuit worthy. Of course, that is not a legal opinion--just my little musings.

FWIW

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How can I create an electronic signature?

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To Tal:

Good question. First a quick paradigm shift. Think of an electronic signature as a piece of software that you attach to a document. When you attach that piece of software, it does a couple of important things: 1. it seals the document so that it cannot be edited, altered, changed, 2. it independently time stamps when the signature was placed on the document, and it 3. implies that you agree with the contents of the document. It is NOT your signature. But you can see it and differenct companies use different configurations. Your name does appear in the box that represents the electronic signature but it's not your handwriting.

Docusign.com used to have a 2 week free trial. They have an excellent product. I would suggest you play around with that and you will know about all there is to know about how to electronically sign a document. It really isn't something you create and then place on the document as much as it is like filtering your document through a piece of software.

 SERVING ATLANTA, DECATUR, EMORY, STONE MOUNTAIN
KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY METRO ATLANTA    866.411.0146

... and what became of my post that you referenced, Richard? Strange. Did the editors spot a faux pas that I'm not aware of?

 SERVING ATLANTA, DECATUR, EMORY, STONE MOUNTAIN
KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY METRO ATLANTA    866.411.0146