One thing I’ve been meaning to write about which has been bugging me since day 1 in this industry: WASTE. More specifically, PAPER WASTE. Real estate is a paper-heavy industry because there are copious amounts of paperwork (contracts, agreements), paper products (feature sheets, postcards, business cards) and general junk mail.
Considering it’s the 21st centry, isn’t it about time we cut back. There are innovative ways to get around all the paper and yet I still see realtors printing out 4 copies of every contract. I’m trying to take a new approach: contracts will be printed once, double sided. When it is filled out I will scan and e-mail copies to all parties involved.
Every little bit helps!
For example, when listing a home the sellers must sign a Multiple Listing Contract (3 pages) plus a Property Disclosure Statement (4 pages).
Let’s do a brief analysis. In 2009, 4117 houses sold in Capital Region. Let’s assume we are looking at just the listing documentation.
Realtors print two copies
(2x7x4117) 57,638 Pages
(Worse) Realtor print 4 copies: 115,276 pages
Realtors print double sided, one copy, scans and e-mails
(4x4117) 16,468 Pages
See how much paper we could be saving! And that’s just one side of the transaction. Granted not everyone has access to e-mail, but in this day, many do! Let’s not forget about the minimum 7 page contract of purchase and sale. The list of printed documents goes on and on and on AND ON.
One thing I love about Royal LePage is our electronic filing system (Realty Nuance). Every document (including inspection reports, contracts CMAs, photos) for each client is uploaded into the system. From there we can e-mail it to anyone necessary and have easy access to our files on the road. It’s so simple and we don’t have filing cabinets full of paper. The paper can be shredded and recycled. What a novel concept.
I’m thinking of going on a crusade to save paper. It shocks and disgusts me how much paper I have wasted myself since the beginning of the year and I’m only one of 1323 realtors in the Capital Region.
More to come on this topic…
