Broker Tech: How to Reduce Compliance Risk & Protect Your Business

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for a fully digital real estate transaction. Agents who already were using Transaction Management software to digitally process their transactions from beginning to end benefited immediately. Agents who had not yet gone paperless and depended on manual processes likely found the transition to working from home and social distancing much more challenging.

But it is the broker-owner who may have fared best from having a digital transaction management solution in place. Having agents working from different locations with paper-based transactions can be a nightmare to manage without a digital process in place. It also could open Pandora’s box filled with compliance issues.

Brokers can protect their businesses by using Form Simplicity, a real estate transaction management software. They don’t have to worry about compliance risks because that’s one of the most significant benefits that Form Simplicity offers brokers. All transaction documents are digital, time-stamped, and stored online in one place.

Brokers Tools included

Unlike other transaction management programs, Form Simplicity provides all the Broker Tools as a standard feature at no extra cost in the Professional and Ultimate editions. They can upload their logo to association forms and even create assistant accounts for free.  Within the Form Simplicity Broker Dashboard, brokers can manage, review, approve, track, and store every agent’s transaction activity end-to-end.

In effect, Form Simplicity removes the need to recreate a “paper trail” that a compliance audit can trigger. Instead, Form Simplicity provides brokers, their designated admin staff, and agents with a digital footprint. Every document required for a compliance review or audit is digitally stored and is centralized for easy retrieval.

Reducing risk

The Broker Tools built into the Professional and Ultimate editions of Form Simplicity help broker-owners reduce risk through a customizable, automated, paperless review process that allows brokerages to stay compliant.

Form Simplicity enables brokers to work digitally in a collaborative environment with every agent. Form Simplicity streamlines agent and broker workflow, but more importantly, it helps everyone avoid making mistakes. Dynamic checklists, deadline reminders, built-in form calculations, and automated emails all reduce agent errors.

Greater transparency

Form Simplicity’s Broker Review process provides a broker and admin team with dynamic document checklists based on specific properties (including different transaction types). Agents use these checklists to submit their transaction documents for broker review to ensure compliance and overall completion.

All it takes is for a broker and admin team to deploy Broker Review in Form Simplicity is to set up a Document Review checklist, located in the Form Simplicity Broker Dashboard. A video that details each step is here.

Anytime agents submit a document for review, the broker gets an email notification. All documents that need a broker’s review are under a single tab – Transaction Review – found atop the Broker Dashboard. This gives a broker deep visibility into the transaction’s activity.

Each Checklist is dynamic – allowing agents to attach a note to the broker with any document submitted for review. The Checklist also allows the broker to add notes for the agent on the Checklist or within any document.

At the end of the Broker Review process in Form Simplicity, a broker accepts the transaction submitted by the agent as complete or marks the file incomplete. Either way, the agent automatically receives the appropriate email notification.

Form Simplicity allows a broker’s evaluation to occur online and in real time. Brokers can eliminate phone calls, emails, and undocumented back-and-forth communication. Inside Form Simplicity, everything is color-coded and intuitive, making it easy to use for even the least tech-savvy brokers, basically eliminating the need for training.

Peace of mind

Because transparency is one of Form Simplicity’s greatest strengths, using Broker Review, everything is in one place: Document Checklist, Messages, Review History, and all transaction-associated Emails. This makes review and compliance verification a breeze for a broker and others on their admin team.

Search is quick and straightforward, allowing Brokers to find what they are looking for inside Form Simplicity fast. It’s also status-driven, helping brokers better manage their workflow by indicating which activities are Complete or Incomplete. Since everything is completed online and inside Form Simplicity, it allows brokers to work smarter, not harder.

Digital beats paper

Brokers know that surviving a thorough compliance audit that relies on paper documentation can be painfully time-consuming. Trying to recreate a paper trail when agents are working from home can be exponentially more difficult. By moving to a centralized digital transaction solution with Form Simplicity, brokers can dramatically reduce their time dealing with compliance issues and avoid many of them altogether.

A digital process safeguards a broker’s business, and Form Simplicity shines when it comes to protecting your business. Check out the newest and improved version of Form Simplicity and its broker tools. Email info@formsimplicty.com for a demo of all the great broker features built into Form Simplicity.