The “industry” is having conversations about document management related to real estate transactions. Due to the emerging guidelines and rulings by the CFPB, the solution won’t come from real estate brokerage, but from mortgage. This isn’t a technology issue, but a standards issue.

For more standardized and efficient management of systems and documents within a brokerage, there are software systems — some cloud-based — that are beginning to integrate front office (what the agent touches, like contracts) and back office (everything else, from compliance to commissions management to contract-to-close).

So, transaction management will bifurcate into:

1) doc management and processes required for CFPB compliance; these systems will best be implemented on saas created and managed by the largest mortgage and title firms. Anything that touches the financial processes in a brokerage (like generating a commission statement or journaling an escrow) increasingly will be regulated under CFPB guidelines.

2) doc management for agent and staff productivity, mostly around getting contracts signed and moved around. Point tools will continue to proliferate.

The “how” of implementation will depend on brokerage size. Now, more than ever, it will be logical to operate with a handful of agents or with hundreds or more, but not with head count in between. But that’s a conversation in itself.

Highly truncated answers. Maybe we can continue the conversation, soon.