Inman

Realty Commander takes charge of offer automation

Have suggestions for products that you’d like to see reviewed by our real estate technology expert? Email Craig Rowe.

Realty Commander is a popular transaction management solution with billions in deals under its code.

I reviewed it in full last summer after meeting company Senior Vice President Randy Tobbe. I was promised that more was in store for the still-growing real estate software company.

This week the company announced an offer submission and management feature that allows agents outside of the system to experience its Web-based efficiency and its customers to better manage the data and details of offers.

The new feature is accessed via a unique URL embedded into the Agent or Broker Remarks section of any local MLS listing.

Buyer agents open it to swiftly surmise their offer and alert the listing agent, who is notified through any device iteration of the software.

The buyer agent does not need an account or any formal knowledge of Realty Commander to access and submit an offer.

The most prominent advantage to the tool is this non-user flexibility.

Beyond that, the offer form looks great. The major input fields are bold and labeled with clear intent as to their content. Nothing is muddled by legalese or too much formality.

It replaces the tedious and redundant “intent to offer” letter by including only the most pertinent terms, such as price, close date and major contingencies.

[Tweet “The most prominent advantage to the tool is this non-user flexibility.”]

If buyer agents prefer to, they can complete their own offer document and attach it to Realty Commander’s barebones form. It will link an attachment from any of the popular document tools.

Buyer parties will get customized confirmation of an offer’s receipt.

The listing agent gets only what’s important about an offer. This improves response time and makes it easier to compare multiple offers.

Listing agents can also send a batch email to all agents who have submitted an offer to inform them of the deal’s status or ask for a highest and best.

The listing agent gets only what’s important about an offer.

Accepted offers are automatically integrated into Realty Commander’s deal flow and critical offer dates are dropped into the transaction calendar. Workflow ensues.

As is the case with other features of this product, offers in progress when working on a desktop browser can be picked up on your mobile version of Realty Commander.

The practical applications, like a reduction in offers managed by email and having to scribble down the high points of competing offers to communicate them to sellers, seem obvious. However, eliminating these menial chores can seriously benefit the flow of a deal.

The automation of contingency reminder alerts and calendar input also help a great deal in streamlining the sales process.

This update does a nice job of compartmentalizing vital transaction data from multiple parties. It keeps all documents and data together.

I’m always partial to software that reduces the number of decisions its users have to make. Not all software does this as well as it should.

Given the breadth of features in Realty Commander, this may seem like a minor touch-up.

On the contrary, for teams and brokers looking to improve their office operations in 2016, this new offer tool alters the entire scope of the offering.

Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe.