Working with the Residential Property Condition Report

Historically, the process of getting the Residential Property Condition Report completed and digitally signed has proven to be a challenging experience, both for agents and their seller clients. The form itself is quite lengthy (9 pages) and requires detailed knowledge of many different aspects of the property. Completing the 60+ fields (many of which require additional information or explanation) can be a tedious process in and of itself. The degree of difficulty is increased if the client must search through various sources outside of the signing platform to obtain the necessary information. Leaving the Property Condition Report to locate information from external sources can be disastrous if the client fails to save their work properly. It is disheartening to spend a lot of time filling out the form only to have to do it all over again because, for whatever reason, it was not saved successfully. 

If you have ever experienced similar struggles when working with your seller to complete the Property Condition Report, we have great news for you! The SmartMLS Sign platform provides a consistent and reliable solution for sellers to complete and sign the Residential Property Condition Report without the risk of lost work or duplicated effort. 

Note: This article is focused on the unique ways SmartMLS Sign streamlines the process of working with the Residential Property Condition Report rather than on the process of creating a signing. 

Click here for detailed instructions on creating a signing.

*****************

Once you have selected the Residential Property Condition Report and are in the signing editor, the Signing Flow section (on the right side of the screen) reveals that there are two signing stages:

• The first stage, Data Entry & Signer, is intended for one of the sellers (if there are more than one) to complete all of the fields and add their initials and signature. Ideally, this would be the seller who possesses (or can easily access) the property information needed to complete the form. 

• The second stage, Additional Signer(s), is designed for any other sellers (if there are more than one) to initial and sign only. There are no fields for these participants to complete. 
  If there is only one seller for the property, click the delete icon to the right of the Additional Signer(s) stage. This removes the initial and signature blocks associated with additional sellers, leaving only those for the seller in Stage 1:

  

While completing all of the fields during the first stage, the seller will likely have to locate information outside of the SmartMLS Sign platform in order to properly answer various questions. This is often when problems occur. In the process of switching to another website or resource, if the signing program is accidentally closed without successfully saving the work that has been completed, all of it is lost and must be redone. This can add a lot of extra time (and aggravation) to a process that is already cumbersome and time consuming.

With SmartMLS Sign, however, this issue is a thing of the past. The platform has a built-in autosave feature that prevents the participant from losing their work if they leave the signing without clicking Save Draft. Even if they close the tab they're working in, shut down the entire browser or lose their internet connection, none of the fields they have completed will be lost. This is a huge win for both the agent and the seller(s). 

Once the first stage has been completed (all fields are filled out and the seller has initialed and signed the form), it moves on to the second stage. This allows any additional sellers to review the document and add their initials and signatures. If there is only one seller, there is nothing additional for the seller to do and the completed form is sent to the list agent.

Also noteworthy:

• Any initials or signatures that have been added to the form are automatically wiped out when it is saved as a draft. These fields must be redone before the signing can be completed. 

• If there are multiple sellers involved in the signing, you'll encounter a popup window (either when you save as a draft or when you send the signing) asking if you'd like to save the contacts as a Contact Group: 

  

  
  
  Since you'll likely need this same group of people to complete other documents during their selling journey, saving them as a Contact Group will help streamline the signing creation process on any future documents. Rather than adding the contacts individually, you can save time by adding the group.

   

SmartMLS Sign simplifies what has traditionally been an inefficient multi-step process into a streamlined one-step process. Gone are the days where the form is completed by the seller, sent back to the agent, marked up for initials and signatures, and then sent back to the seller(s) a second time for completion.  Your seller can now fill out the form and sign it within the same session.