How RESAAS enabled REALTORS® to execute global real estate referrals with Dropbox Sign
RESAAS is the world’s largest platform that connects licensed real estate professionals all over the world to share real estate data, real-time listings, and referrals.
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Global referrals demand a transparent, scalable solution
To give real estate professionals a safe online space to collaborate, RESAAS has spent the last 10 years building a platform for agents to share industry data, exchange inventory, and refer clients. Starting with 2,000 real estate professionals in North America, RESAAS has quickly grown to over 500,000 members in more than 160 countries today.
With a finger on the pulse of such global real estate trends, RESAAS noticed how a shift to remote work was affecting the real estate industry. People no longer worked in just their local communities, so agents were receiving more and more inquiries about buying, selling, and renting properties across the world. For RESAAS and the real estate agents who use its system, that meant a fast spike in referral agreements, not only in the same city or country but across international waters too.
Previously, the referral agreements that passed through the RESAAS platform missed the crucial component of a formalized process, with transparent and agreed-upon terms. This meant that, should a referral become disputed, REALTORS® could end up with no commission.
With referral agreements determining the amount of commission that co-broking agents receive, and how and when they receive it, RESAAS knew its platform needed to both handle a large increase in referrals and provide a process that worked for agents to execute referral deals on when transacting across geographies. “We knew we needed to go beyond just tracking and legitimizing these real estate referrals and make the signing process more robust. Our referral system involves real estate agents who work in different cities, countries, and time zones, so it’s important to have digitized agreements and signatures tracked digitally in the event there’s a dispute or audit,” says Tom Rossiter, CEO of RESAAS.
As well as implementing a tool that would add credibility to the referral agreements workflow, RESAAS needed a solution that could scale with fluctuations in volume. Some of the world’s largest real estate companies use RESAAS tech in their back-end infrastructure. So, to meet the demands of enterprise customers such as Keller Williams and RE/MAX, RESAAS had to have an eSignature tool that was scalable, robust, and secure.
That’s why they chose Dropbox Sign API.
“After our due diligence and research of eSignature providers, Dropbox Sign had an enterprise-grade offering that would allow us to provide that scaling ability to our customers.”
Dropbox Sign adds credibility at scale
Replacing the existing referral forms with transparent and executable agreements was a critical part of formalizing RESAAS’s referral process.
Using the Dropbox Sign API, RESAAS developers embedded a new but familiar-looking referral form on the RESAAS platform that added an entirely new layer for agents. The Dropbox Sign audit-trail feature also affixes a tracked and time-stamped PDF to each signature request. This gives agents on both sides of the transaction a tamperproof copy of the agreement to execute.
“Now all parties have a tangible agreement that isn’t just a green checkmark, but an actual PDF backed by Dropbox Sign. That carries a lot of weight and provides that peace of mind to agents referring their clients,” Tom explains. “We are sure some of the increase in referrals and deals closed can be attributed to having eSignatures in place via our Dropbox Sign integration. This shows that our customers and end-users see RESAAS as a real and credible brand, motivating them to use our platform even more.”
Providing back-end infrastructure for big, multinational brokerages, RESAAS needed to ensure it could handle the growing volumes of referrals its enterprise customers were experiencing. So it looked for a tool that could flex along with differing referral requests. “After our due diligence and research of eSignature providers, Dropbox Sign had an enterprise-grade offering that would allow us to provide that scaling ability to our customers,” says Tom.
Additionally, because RESAAS’s customers transact 24/7, 365 days a year, from every corner of the globe, RESAAS needed a solution that could integrate with existing workflows simply and with as little disruption as possible. “The most significant requirements were simplicity to integrate and cost of scale. It was also important to add on features as we needed them, which we are able to achieve with Dropbox Sign,” explains Marie Fryman, director of marketing at RESAAS.
In just two weeks, RESAAS integrated and deployed full referral-signing functionality into its platform, thanks in large part to clear documentation, an easy-to-integrate SDK, and comprehensive testing. “Dropbox Sign allowed us to achieve all of this using multiple ‘testing modes’ with minimal changes, because the API documentation was clear and the SDK made it easy to integrate,” says Marie.
99% of referral requests are processed through the Dropbox Sign API
With an added layer of transparency, now 99% of all agent referral signing requests are processed via the Dropbox Sign API.
Over 80% referral completion rate
Using the Dropbox Sign API, over 80% of referral documents on the RESAAS platform are already completed and signed.
100% auditable and accountable
With Dropbox Sign’s complete audit-trail feature, real estate agents are assured that their referrals are tracked and securely signed.
What’s next for RESAAS
A large part of RESAAS’s business is to give brokers, licensed real estate agents, and REALTORS® access to a suite of digital tools that will help them increase productivity as well as collaborate and communicate better.
Being able to provide this robust level of support is why RESAAS can proudly claim some of the world’s largest real estate companies as customers.
But RESAAS wants to do more to help the industry become less fractured and more efficient. And part of that plan is to extend the capabilities of eSignatures to other areas of real estate transactions, including closings and titles.
Interested in seeing results like RESAAS?
Dropbox Sign is the easiest way to send, receive, and manage legally binding eSignatures for business. Voted #1 for ease of use by G2 (two years in a row), our eSignature solution can make your most important workflows fast, easier, and more secure. Sign up for a free trial today to start digitizing your business.
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