IT IS FINISHED. You have successfully led all parties through the entire real estate process and house keys have finally been exchanged! The blood, sweat, time, and tears you put into selling a home turns into dancing as you celebrate yet another conquest. Part of the reason it feels so good to close is because the process can be complicated and difficult to get through, especially when it comes to escrow.

Before we dive in, if you want to have any and all of your general escrow questions answered, check out our Ultimate Guide to Escrow, where we break down the entire process, step-by-step.

The escrow process is notoriously painful: The endless back-and-forth, mailing of documents, never-ending phone calls, and intense vigilance to stay on top of everything can be exhausting. However, these challenges can be remedied with a new way of getting through the escrow process: Virtual Escrow 

Here’s just one example of how:

You’re in the middle of the escrow process for your client — let’s call her Nancy —  and you are waiting on certain documents to be signed. FedEx takes 4 days to get the documents to your client, and when they finally arrive, they make it to the bottom of Nancy’s pile that she’ll probably only get to over the weekend.

A week goes by. Now, you’re 1 week further from having been able to close on Nancy’s home.

With instant document signing and notifications through virtual escrow, there wouldn’t have even been room for such a long turnaround to occur.

Then there’s the problem of keeping sensitive information safe and secure during the whole process. The FBI estimated $90 billion dollars in attempted wire fraud in a span of less than 3 years. Because the escrow process is so involved and requires so much back and forth, it becomes a hotbed for scammers to jump in on and commit wire fraud.

With virtual escrow, the escrow process is much more controlled and gives your clients the peace of mind that their escrow is safe and secure.

If you need even more evidence as to why virtual escrow is the way to go, continue reading to check out other benefits of using our digital escrow app VentureTrac 4.0 mobile app.

1. Limited Face-to-Face Meetings

This is the one of the best benefits of virtual escrow during a very nerve-wracking pandemic – no need to meet in person. This is especially beneficial as we shift into a “new normal” and prepare ourselves to keep important events like closing on a home always possible.

While traditional escrow requires regular in-person meetings to keep up with the escrow process, the VentureTrac 4.0 digital platform allows your clients to sign documents and go through the entire escrow process all from the comfort of their own home.

There is no need to drive to the office to sign documents or sit in traffic to get such an important part of the home closing process done. Clients will love the convenience and extra safety, and you will love the extra time to manage more listings.

1. Secure Login & Communications

Security is definitely one of the main concerns for most Americans when it comes to anything digital. In fact, a recent study by Pewresearch found that “seven-in-ten Americans say they feel their personal information is less secure than it was five years ago.”

To make your client feel safe, we made sure everything about our virtual escrow services were secure – from the login to the communications.

To start, we offer secure encryptions through Microsoft, Google, or Facebook accounts.  This is superior to two-way authentication as well, because you have the backing and security systems of billion dollar companies behind you.  All the documents uploaded are stored and managed on our secure servers – which is especially beneficial since escrow involves tons of sensitive documents.

In addition, since most real estate wire fraud (a $1 billion problem!) often occurs via email, we use a secure messaging service on an app that ONLY WE have access to. Our secure messaging system allows buyers, sellers, and agents to communicate with us and discuss sensitive and pertinent info about their transaction with the peace-of-mind that their info will always be safe and secure with us.

1. Smoother Closings

Traditional escrow services are paper based and can include the mailing of documents (like in our example above) and even more outdated, faxing. It makes the whole transaction take longer, not including any complications that may arise in the process.

For instance, sending mail or faxes of important documents leaves more room for human error, which can stunt the process for weeks on end. Receiving mail is never a guarantee, and faxing might just be out of the question as more and more people get rid of their fax machines.

On the other hand, virtual escrow keeps all documents available to your client with quick and easy access at the touch of a button. All parties can sign documents right there on the app – no faxing or emailing of large files needed!

All parties receive an email notification or app alert when a task is updated or a specific document needs to be reviewed or signed.

This overall quickens the process and allows your client to be owners of their new home sooner!

1. Custom Escrows

This benefit goes hand in hand with allowing your clients to close on their home faster. At New Venture Escrow, we take a proactive stance, meaning that when something has been done or any info needs to be shared with buyers & sellers, we make sure it happens before you even realize it yourself.

If you want to give the same experience to your clients, then virtual escrow is the only way to go about doing so.

With virtual escrow, long gone are the days when you have to spend time organizing the start and end of the escrow process with your client. Instead of remembering to pick up the phone to call a client or send an email to keep pushing the process forward, virtual escrow sends out automatic alerts at all stages of the escrow process.

For instance, when escrow is open, buyers, sellers, and agents (yes, you too!) all get an automatic alert to their phones. If a document has been added to the transaction, automatic alerts are sent to notify everyone. If someone has signed a document, alerts are sent. If something needs to be reviewed, everyone stays in the know.

The app removes the extra thinking time it takes to keep the escrow process moving on your own. With automations in place, the work is done for you. Just sit back and watch the escrow process continue as if it were on autopilot.

1. Lifetime Access

Another benefit of being all virtual is documents will no longer take up physical space or be thrown out after a few years. This can cause pain and problems down the road when you might need to revisit or review these documents again.

VentureTrac 4.0 includes a virtual filing cabinet where all of the buyer’s & seller’s signed documents can be stored forever in our secure servers. So if your client needs to access any of the signed documents when filing taxes, they will have easy access to all the documents in one place!  To sweeten the deal even more, docs can safely and easily be sent via email and SMS directly from the VentureTrac platform.

Higher Client Satisfaction With Virtual Escrow

We saved the most important benefit to virtual escrow for last. In case you skimmed over the advantages of going digital with escrow, all of them can be wrapped up in this point here: your clients will be happier.

Everyone likes getting to closing faster, everyone wants their money to be protected, and everyone wants their escrow process to be easier. All of the above advantages of virtual escrow lead to these overarching benefits that will make your client’s satisfaction shoot through the roof.

As a real estate agent who is pursuing excellence year after year, we understand that you may want systems in place that will make your job easier.  You won’t have to deal with calls from your clients about their escrow because the proactive approach that New Venture takes means that we’ve already communicated with your client and answered their questions.

Seller Protection Plan

For the icing on the cake, picture the following:  You have just closed escrow with your Seller and they are satisfied because their closing process was transparent, smooth, and gave them total peace-of-mind because of our approach to escrow.  Not to mention, you are feeling good because your clients are happy and the escrow process was a total breeze for you.

We bring it all home by offering your client a 6 month, $25,000 Errors and Omissions insurance policy that protects them in the event of a lawsuit or a major disclosure violation.  The best part?…we present this to your Seller on behalf of you, the agent!  What an incredible way to take care of your client WELL AFTER the close of escrow.  That Seller will definitely tell their friends about you!

Contact us at New Venture Escrow to find out more about our virtual escrow services and how we can help make your client’s home buying process more simple, secure, and easy!

With New Venture Escrow, it’ll still feel amazing to close, but it won’t be because you are glad that it’s over!