As a real estate brokerage owner, one of your top priorities is to protect your business, including costly and time-consuming audits. Implementing a digital transaction management system can help you effectively “audit-proof” the transaction side of your brokerage by automatically maintaining detailed records and documentation that is easy to access and provide if you face an audit.

Audit-Proof The Transaction Side Of Your Business

Streamline documentation.

One of the biggest time drains associated with audits is gathering all the necessary paperwork around your agents’ transactions. When transactions are handled manually with traditional paper files, assembling documentation for auditors takes enormous administrative time and effort.

Staff must dig through piles of paper documents to identify forms, contracts, disclosures, and other items needed to substantiate a transaction. Tracking down information for one deal could take hours. Now, how much time could it take if auditors want to review 10, 20, or 100 transactions?

A robust transaction management system stores all documents related to real estate deals digitally in one centralized platform. This makes pulling together files associated with a specific transaction quick and simple. And if you need to gather all transactions handled by a particular agent, you can do that quickly, too.

When you have a digital transaction management system that is broker-friendly, like Form Simplicity, it only takes a few clicks to allow you to access the required documentation for auditors instantly. Forget the paper shuffle and avoid getting buried under stacks of files. Digital access means transaction records can be collected and organized in just minutes versus days.

Maintain meticulous transaction records.

Auditors want to see a precise paper trail for real estate transactions. It’s up to brokers to maintain careful records that accurately reflect essential information and events, including time/date stamps.

Without diligent documentation, you risk facing fines, penalties, and other negative consequences if issues arise. Regulators will look for detailed confirmation that you and your team followed policies and regulations correctly, made the necessary disclosures, and completed other essential steps.

A quality transaction management system helps brokers more easily ensure compliance by automatically recording the necessary time/date stamps, tracking document actions (uploads, downloads, shares), and providing a precise audit trail showing who accessed or modified records – and when.

Having a detailed online log gives you accountability and demonstrates to auditors that your brokerage’s transactions are handled meticulously. No more nervously waiting to see if your agents’ paper records line up: with a transaction management system, you have complete confidence that everything is transparent and above board.

Confirm transaction oversight from any location.

Brokers are ultimately responsible for supervising their agents and ensuring real estate deals follow policies, laws, and regulations. However, with agents conducting transactions in the field, maintaining strong oversight can be challenging – especially for busy broker-owners balancing a wide range of responsibilities. It’s simply not feasible to physically monitor every deal in person when you have 10, 20, or 50+ agents working actively with buyers and sellers in an office or across a region.

Online transaction management platforms empower brokers to monitor transactions remotely and in real-time, regardless of location. You can instantly check in on the status of any deal to ensure proper protocols are followed, essential tasks are completed, and nothing is missed.

Perhaps most importantly, you gain reliable transaction oversight from wherever you happen to be. There is no need to play phone or email tag with agents to track down document status when it’s readily visible on your computer, wherever you are. Knowing you can log in and have complete visibility, even from your smartphone, eliminates geography as an audit hurdle.

Support agent productivity and organization.

Disorganized agents potentially create bigger risks and more headaches – especially during audits. Sloppy recordkeeping can raise red flags if crucial documents are misplaced or details are incomplete or unclear. Transaction management technology helps organize disorganized agents, creating accountability and productivity throughout each transaction. And when there is an audit, a more organized agent can simplify audits.

Intuitive transaction management systems like Form Simplicity feature structured workflows that guide agents through key transaction steps and automated reminders to complete essential documents and deliver analytics that provide instant insight into where deals stand.

Transaction management systems boost agent organization, efficiency, and responsibility. Moreover, because records are stored digitally in structured templates within the platform, there’s no shuffling through mounds of paper files seeking specific forms. Agents stay on track, and transactions remain appropriately documented.

The easier your agents handle compliant transactions, the easier the audit. Transaction management enables transparency across your brokerage so that audits can be routine rather than disrupted.

Centralized advantage

Between gathering paperwork, answering auditor questions, providing extra documentation, and monitoring the audit, the administrative burden on brokers can be heavy, often requiring complete focus for days or more. Audits can significantly detract from a broker’s ability to run their business, support agents, and assist clients. Your existing responsibilities don’t stop during an audit, and brokers face bandwidth constraints trying to manage it all.

Because a digital transaction management system keeps everything connected and accessible with each transaction in one place, much of the audit prep is already handled in advance. You move your brokerage from managing a manual paper chase to simply electronically gathering the requested information. Because your system tracks where everything stands, you’ll have more bandwidth to focus on running your brokerage operations even amidst an audit.

Bot-free, human tech support

Bots may have a place in answering routine questions, but when troubleshooting the complexities of a transaction management system, you need human assistance. Only the best tech systems offer live support these days, and getting the help you need when you need it is crucial, especially if you are preparing for an audit.

One example: agents and brokers using Form Simplicity get free, live tech support from the real estate industry’s No. 1 tech support service, Tech Helpline.

So, when you run into a technical roadblock or are unsure how to create a report, create a transaction checklist, or access certain information from your transaction management system, contacting a trained analyst can be a huge time – and personal energy-saver.

Transaction management systems: Your audit armor

A robust digital transaction software can transform how your brokerage operates – especially when it comes to a frustrating audit. You can assemble documentation in a breeze, meticulously track transactions, and promote organization among even the most disorganized agents.

You can “audit-proof” your business with a transaction management system so you can focus on service and growth rather than a stressful audit. A digital transaction management system is your brokerage’s audit armor, giving you peace of mind even if that audit never comes.

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Protecting Your Brokerage: How To Audit-Proof The Transaction Side Of Your Business