We’ve posted a few times various things we do at Mile High Urban Living to practice green real estate. One of the key technologies we’ve used for over two years now that’s made life easier for many of our clients are electronic signatures. Electronic signatures were authorized through the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (“ESIGN”) enacted into law by President Bill Clinton in 2000. ESIGN gives electronic signatures the same legal standing as written signatures at the federal level and complements the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) passed by Colorado in 2002.
We use Docusign as our electronic signing technology since it is fully compliant with the laws governing electronic signatures and its web-based solution gives our clients great flexibility.
We’ve had a couple transactions this year where the financing was backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that ran into some issues with e-signatures. It seems the FHA does not currently recognize electronic signatures on real estate purchase contracts though it’s a federal government agency and should be bound by federal law.
This hasn’t been a show stopper and we’ve been able to resolve any issues at the closing table, but it’s an unfortunate example of government bureaucracy failing to keep up with technology and modern commerce. We contacted Docusign the first time we ran across this issue with electronic signatures not being recognized by the FHA and their legal team was extremely responsive and has been working to address this.
Docusign and the Electronic Signatures and Records Association (ESRA) have teamed up to push the FHA to address this issue and to issue clear guidance on the acceptability of electronic signatures to become consistent with federal and Colorado law.
We anticipate this will successfully resolve in favor of the FHA recognizing electronic signatures for real estate contracts and bring this last government holdout into the fold since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac already allow e-signatures.
Stay tuned and of course feel free to contribute your voice to the issue as we strive to keep the real estate experience hassle free and convenient for consumers!
