Not soon enough for me, but it seems that the Manhattan real estate market is becoming less of a paper wasteland. Finally managing agents and co-op/condo boards are taking into consideration the ridiculous amount of paper that is being wasted in the application and home sales process.
In the past 2 weeks, we have had multiple attorneys thank us for sending them offering plans, financial statements, and purchase applications in electronic format. But we’ve been doing that for a long time. More exciting than our paperless efforts are those like this. At least one building that we know of is requesting applications, which can often be hundreds of pages of tax returns and supporting financial documents, on CD. I’ don’t know for sure but 5 reusable CDs seems like a smarter option than more than 1000 pieces of paper. Other buildings are also adopting more green policies by developing websites for prospective purchasers to retrieve documentation as well as submitting those completed applications in electronic format to board members for their perusal.
Anyone who has attended a closing or sold property in Manhattan knows that we are a long way from even putting a dent in the amount of paper that is wasted in a real estate transaction. And for what…so the bank can store this paper in a warehouse in Iowa only to tell you that they have lost it when it comes time to sell again thereby charging you more money to make more paper copies of those that they lost.
Kudos to all of the agents, their brokers, property managers and building boards who have reduced their paper usage exponentially. For those who haven’t, shame on you.
