Why You Need Transaction ManagementArticle reprinted from the Spring 2006 Newsletter of the National Association of REALTORS® Center for REALTOR® Technology.
Many real estate consumers, particularly those in higher end markets, expect online capabilities and transaction transparency when they buy real estate. So if you’ve dismissed transaction management as too complicated for you, think again. The transaction management systems available today can save you time, simplify the closing process, and help you provide better service to your clients. Integrating TMS into your business operations can also make you more productive, lower your costs of doing business, and reduce your liability by keeping a complete record of transaction activity.
The CRT "2006 MLS Technology Survey" revealed that an increasing number of REALTORS use transaction management software in their businesses. Forty-eight percent of transaction management users believe that the greatest value of TMS is that it gives them a competitive advantage, helps them sell more real estate, and improves communications. Another 28 percent believe TMS helps lower their costs, improve efficiency, and reduce risk and paper.
TMS automates the transaction process and monitors key due dates such as inspections to ensure that all activities are completed in a timely fashion. TMS also allows all the parties involved in a transaction to manage, view, and share information during the process. It takes the guesswork out of what tasks need to be completed, what deadlines need to be met, and who needs to do what. A TMS product allows information about a transaction to be imported automatically from other systems such as public records, the MLS, and contact management and brokerage back-office applications. Importing eliminates the need to rekey data. Customers like TMS because it allows them to review the status and progress of the transaction online and more fully participate in the transaction.
Transaction management software can be used by an entire brokerage office or an individual sales associate. Brokerages can host TMS themselves or use an application provided by MLSs or a state or local REALTOR® associations. Vendors such as title companies also provide TMS solutions that may be used by individual sales associates, usually on a per-use fee basis.
While TMS is already of benefit to the real estate industry, it will become even more valuable in the future. TMS is still a fairly new application, so standards haven’t yet been established for the technology. As TMS standards evolve, they’ll lead to further efficiencies and benefits and allow for easier exchange of information among all the parties to a transaction.
CRT is actively involved with a group of vendors working to establish TMS definitions and interoperability requirements. If you decide to implement TMS in your business, insist on working with a vendor that will commit to standards as they’re developed. The use of standards will be a big win for the industry. In a world where practically anything can be purchased online, real estate must give consumers what they want and expect — online access to their transaction.
For more information on TMS, go to http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.NSF/pages/TechWatch2006012?OpenDocument and read the article in the January issue of REALTOR Magazine Online. For more on the CRT "2006 MLS Technology Survey," go to http://www.realtor.org/crtweb.nsf/pages/CRTsurvey?OpenDocument