Earth Day and The Ayers Team...what we are doing!

As many of you know, I have been transforming Ayers Realty Group, my real estate brokerage in Oswego, IL, into a state-of-the-art paperless company.  We have moved all of our transaction management to the Cloud and are seeing the benefits.  You all know I love my Android platform and couldn’t get along without my Samsung GSIII and Galaxy Tab 10.1.  I practically run my entire business off those two devices! 

Our clients have really come to embrace the “paperless real estate” model. (Although I do have a couple of stragglers that still love paper!) 

We utilize Docusign.com for all of our e-signatures basically eliminating printing, copying, faxing, etc.  All the e-signing takes place online! 

On the Sellers side, all of our pre-listing presentations and short sale paperwork are shared online.  We are even changing it up a little in 2Q13 and putting MORE information online in a pretty slick way.  I think everyone will really like that change as well!  Keep an eye out for that coming May 2013! 

On the Buyers side, we have been utilizing Evernote.com as a way to preliminary share files with our customers.  This is BEFORE we get involved in an official transaction, when we are out looking at homes, etc.  It is still a work in progress, but it is a GREAT tool for SO MANY things.  We share MLS listing sheets, driving directions, spreadsheets, etc. 

My guess is that I am going to lean on Evernote for my internal company infrastructure though.  It is a great way to share marketing templates, policy and procedure manuals and all the hundreds of other things I need to manage in the Cloud on a daily basis!  I have had mixed responses from clients in the field…I will continue testing it this summer and come to a final verdict then! 

For those of you that have gone through a transaction with us in the last year or so, you know that we are now using Cartavi.com as our Virtual Transaction Room software.  It is accessible to our Buyers, Sellers, Attorney’s, lenders, Brokers, and anyone else involved in the transaction 24/7.  One can access it via any browser, operating system, smartphone, tablet or whatever your choice of device! 

Cartavi.com originally started as just a place to share documents between Buyers and Sellers, but will now act as Ayers Realty’s official document repository for State of IL required files. We have pretty much always used Dropbox as our file storage of choice.  I consider that my “server drive in the Cloud” and have 24/7 access to my entire company’s files.   

For our Property Management business, we utilize Buildium.com.  It provides our homeowners and investors online access to all the reports they need to manage their investment property and provide to their CPA for tax purposes.  This tool allows our investors access to lease documents, lease applications, credit reports, and any other leasing-type documents that need to be secured in an encrypted database. 

Internally, we utilize RealtyJuggler.com for our basic CRM (Customer Relationship Mgmt).  This tool houses our entire client database of names, addresses, tasks, to-do’s, schedules, plans, customer groupings, etc.  This is how we manage our entire client-base on a daily basis.  It is a great web-based tool accessible from anywhere/anytime. 

I just wanted to let everyone know we are an entrepreneurial company that is very forward-thinking and tech-savvy! 

I am always on the lookout for real estate talent that wants to embrace the latest technology and grow their business.  Many traditional “brick and mortar” big-box brokerages just don’t have what it takes to keep up.  That is why they are closing offices, “consolidating operations”, and pay crappy commission splits to their agents…They are struggling to keep their doors open!! 

If you are interesting in joining Ayers Realty or hiring us to sell your home or represent you in the purchase of your next home, please Contact Us!

 Rich Ayers is a licensed Real Estate Managing Broker in Illinois.  Ayers Realty Group has EXPERIENCED Brokers who specialize in Residential and Investment real estate in Naperville, Oswego, Plainfield and the surrounding suburbs of Chicago. We also own and manage multiple investment properties and help real estate investors find, buy, fix, rent and sell their investments. We are experienced Short Sale experts and hold the CDPE (Certified Distressed Property Expert and SFR (Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource) Designations. Visit our website  at www.AyersTeam.com or follow us on Facebook.