This might be classified as a solution in search of a problem, but I think not.  Read on and then you be the judge.

My daily work has me interacting with 400+ real estate agents of varying technical abilities.  They of course are interacting with their clients, all of whom have wide ranging technical abilities too.

The technology varies, but one thing that most of them share is e-signing. More and more of our clients find it much more convenient to to electronically sign the piles of paper in a real estate transaction than to trek into our real estate offices to get the job done.

Some clients breeze though the process and others never quite get there.  My experience with the ones who don’t get it s that when they are shown how to do it, they can later do it on their own.

So here is an opportunity for real estate professionals to further the cause of e-signing as well as to streamline their own work.  The opportunity that I see is to combine old school tactics with new school tools.

Here is what we used to do when we first met a buyer or seller that was interested in doing a transaction.  We would sit down with them and a blank contract and go over the form explaining the boiler plate, paragraph by paragraph.  The purpose of this was so that when it came time to write an offer, we only had to concentrate on filling in the blank spots…the boiler plate was already explained.

Here is how we can apply new school techniques to that old school tactic  We can use a product like ScreenHero which allows us to share our screen in such a way that the other person can also move the mouse and interact while we are doing the same on our end.  If you have ever used screen sharing tools like Join.me in the past, you know that screen sharing is a one way process.  The presenter shares his or her screen and the viewer has no way to move the mouse pointer to an area that needs more explanation.  What follows is a long series of voice commands to move up, move left and so on.  ScreenHero allows the viewer to move the mouse directly to the area of their concern.

This is one way that you could use the tool.  Another way would be to actually demonstrate a signing using Docusign or other esign product and let the viewer take over after you have demonstrated how to do it.  You could then correct any missteps by using your mouse.

Now when the actual contract arrives, the client is not fumbling in the dark as they have done this before.  I can think of several other uses for this tool, but this should be enough for you decide if it’s something that you’s like to check out.

It’s in beta right now, works on both Macs and PCs and is free (for the moment)  It does require a download, so if you want to use it, you should probably incorporate that process in your initial interviews with prospective clients.  If you’ve got a client whoa wants to use tech, this is going to make you look so much better.  If you’ve got one that doesn’t like tech, this will be a way for you to help them over the hurdle.

You can get more info from their FAQ at: http://screenhero.com/faq.html or by watching a short YouTube video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BOAArc7vfM

Either way, I think it’s worth checking out.  What do you think?