Streamlining the process of real estate transactions means increasing revenue and saving time, money and materials. In this article we will explain how to get the most out of Viafirma’s digital signature for real estate, the fastest and easiest way to make a sale and conclude online agreements between interested parties.
Closes contracts on the same day
Although digital transformation has been applied in real estate for years, there is no doubt that it has experienced a special boost with the current health and social situation.
Gone are the days when the process of selling a property involved complicated paperwork. The fact of signing lots of physical documents in a traditional way is a thing of the past. Viafirma’s electronic signature for real estate sector allows to speed up the formalization of sale and rental documents, especially when the parties are not in the same place.
4 advantages for real estate companies
- Avoids travel. Allows real estate agents to expand their client portfolio inside and outside their usual area, since both parties can validate the documents from anywhere in the world
- Differentiate yourself from your competition. In such a competitive world, any added value will position you better in the market, transmitting a modern image in your customer’s mind
- Spend more time with clients and less time on paperwork. Real estate lives on relationships that are built by exceeding customer expectations. Electronic contracts and digital signatures save you time and take the work out of document management.
- Saves time and money. It allows you to eliminate the costs of printing, mailing and storing documents. By replacing manual tasks with digital signatures and automated processes, you can work faster and more efficiently.
Which documents can real estate companies digitally sign
Reservation contracts
This contract can be considered as the previous step to the contract of sale of the property, where all the aspects that have been agreed between the buyer and the seller are reflected and there is a promise of the acquisition of a property by the parties.
The approval of reservation contracts can be done in person or remotely, without requiring an electronic certificate from the parties involved.
Down payment contracts
The earnest money contract is used to ensure the fulfillment of the obligation of a sale. The parties agree on the reservation of the sale of movable or immovable property, giving as proof a sum of money as a down payment. In many aspects it is similar to the reservation contract. Basically we can differentiate them in that the earnest money contract is regulated by the Spanish Civil Code (article 1.454), which gives it greater legal support, and in that this one always allows its rescission by means of the payment of an indemnity. There are 3 types: penitential, penal and confirmatory, the latter being the one indicated for this real estate process.
For the electronic signature of the earnest money contract, it is possible to use, in the same way as for the reservation contracts, the face-to-face or remote procedure. In the case of the remote procedure, the process can be performed from any device through strong authentication procedures such as OTP SMS to ensure the identity of the parties.
Sales contracts
With your signature the real estate transaction is definitively materialized. It must contain the following data:
- Buyer’s and seller’s data;
- Information of the property and its cadastral reference;
- Price and its difference, if any, with the appraised value of the property;
- Expenses derived from the transaction (payment of taxes, registration in the Land Registry, etc.);
- Inventory with the household goods contained in the property, in the event that the property is not sold vacant;
- List of encumbrances on the property (mortgage, payment of outstanding taxes, liens, etc.).
Managing all this list of information involves attaching a considerable amount of documentation. It brings with it advantages associated with saving paper or in the costs of sending documents and greater guarantees as far as security is concerned.
Lease agreements
With a rental or lease contract we formalize the right to use a property for an established period of time in exchange for a monetary payment. Depending on the stipulated rental period, Law 29/1994 on Urban Leases establishes the following contracts:
- Less than 5 years for individuals and 7 years for legal entities: if the lessee so desires, they will be compulsorily extended every year until reaching 5 (or 7) years. Subsequently, and at the lessor’s will, it may be extended for 3 more years;
- With indefinite term: they do not establish any specific duration, but this is considered to be one year with the possibility of extension up to 5 years. After 5 years may be extended for another 3 years;
- More than 5 years: these will end on the date specified in the lease contract.
Viafirma allows to send to sign rental contracts to any person with a PC, tablet or smartphone, without the need for the signer to install software on their device.
Viafirma, the most efficient signature for real estate companies
Our solution allows the buyer, seller, guarantor and your real estate company to sign the same contract in a simple way and without the need of an electronic certificate, all of them being perfectly legal and admissible before any court.
Thus, we will be able to approve any contract of our real estate company telematically with total tranquility, a technology that undoubtedly improves the customer experience and avoids having to print and all those other setbacks that handwritten signatures can bring with them.