RealUmbrella Answers Your Questions
- Is selling or buying a home online right for me? View Answer
- According to the National Association of Realtors®, 80 percent of home buyers begin their home buying process online. It is a natural next step for you to complete the entire transaction online and increase your net profit by thousands of dollars through eliminating commissions. With the RealUmbrella TMS, the entire process is more efficient due to the fact the buyer and seller are working directly together rather than communicating through intermediaries.
- What is the RealUmbrella Transaction Management Solution™? View Answer
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RealUmbrella's easy-to-use online Transaction Management Solution, TMS for short, will guide you step by step through the real estate transaction process, providing you real-time access to all necessary contracts, disclosures, and documents needed to complete a real estate transaction. You are provided a choice of trained third-party service providers such as lenders, title and escrow agencies that a buyer or seller can authorize to view, exchange, sign and upload secure documents. Other features include scheduling of key transaction events and notifications when processes are completed as well as all documents being electronically signed using DocuSign’s patented electronic signature process.
- Is the solution available Nationwide? View Answer
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Initially available in the state of California, RealUmbrella’s TMS is on the move and will be available nationwide.
- What are the fees associated with the RealUmbrella TMS? View Answer
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Sellers may choose from a menu of services that are priced per package. The packages are priced from $349.00 - $949.00. There are no hidden or otherwise extra fees for using the solution and in fact, there are no fees for the buyer.
- I have never filled out a sales contract, are they difficult? View Answer
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The intuitive TMS guides you line by line through the completion of all legal contracts and or disclosures.
- Where do you get your legal documents and or state / county disclosures? View Answer
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The contracts and disclosures that the RealUmbrella platforms uses are from the single largest source of Legal Forms in the country. All forms are updated in real time at the time of a law or requirement change.
- As a seller, how do I determine the value of my home? View Answer
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The value of your home can be determined by a few different ways. If you are looking to refinance your home or pull cash out you would hire a licensed appraiser approved by the bank. If you are looking to list your home with RealUmbrella the TMS provides recent comparable's from the largest data provider in the country so that sellers can accurately determine the value of their home.
- Do you offer tools to help me sell my home? View Answer
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RealUmbrella provides you the latest marketing tools and submits your home on popular listing services such as Google Base, Zillow, and Trulia. We also provide you with the ability to run comparable sales statistics in your neighborhood and geographic area to aid in choosing a correct listing price. Each listing can have an unlimited amount of photos of your property, write a detailed property description of your home, edit your listing anytime, and create property flyers and a Google Earth fly-in. In addition, RealUmbrella provides neighborhood and school demographics and virtual tours. RealUmbrella's listings also appear on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask; where all real estate searches begin.
- RealUmbrella listings are not submitted to a local MLS, why? View Answer
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RealUmbrella is breaking the shackles of traditional Real Estate transactions by eliminating commissions. If your home is submitted to a MLS, it is subject to agent commissions and that does not fit our business model of saving you money. Secondly MLS listings are only accessible to agents with the general public being locked out. By submitting your home to the above mentioned syndication sites your listing becomes accessible to, well, the world; overnight!
- Will real estate agents show my home if I am a FSBO? View Answer
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Yes, this is a common misconception because agents want you to believe your home will not be shown if you are a FSBO. Realtors® are obligated to show FSBO properties if the agents client wants to see the home. It would be unethical for the realtor not to show your home. Agents are obligated to work in the best interest of the buyer, not themselves. In most cases the agent will ask you if you are willing to cooperate and offer a commission if they procure a buyer for your home. It is at your discretion whether or not you want to cooperate.
- Can I save my home search criteria and be alerted by email when a new property comes on the market? View Answer
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Yes, once you sign up as a myUmbrella user you have the ability to save your search criteria. You can also prompt the platform to email you when a new home comes online that meets your criteria. Signing up as a user is free and easy!
- As a buyer, can I physically view a house before I put in an offer? View Answer
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Yes. Buyers will have the ability to schedule tours or individual appointments with the homeowner with our real-time calendar on the homes listing page. For Instance, a buyer browsing a RealUmbrella listing can click on 'Schedule a Viewing' within the listing page; the platform has now sent your request to the seller and the time block is now updated to booked for that hour.
- As a Seller how do I know the buyer is who they say they are before viewing my home? View Answer
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Although anyone may enter the site and search for homes, only registered users have the ability to schedule viewing's and or interact with a listing. Before a potential Buyer may interact with a listing, they are required to go through the Verid ID check, a real-time confirmation of a customer's identity. Verid ID check is used by some of the nation’s largest financial firms. To learn more about the ID check please click here.
- How Do I make an offer on a RealUmbrella Listing? View Answer
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On the homes listing page click 'Submit Offer', the system will guide you through the purchase contract line by line helping you fill it out. Once your offer is ready to submit, electronically sign your offer right from myUmbrella™ interface. Once the offer is signed the seller is instantly notified of your offer via email and text message. The seller now has three choices: accept your offer, counter offer, or decline.
- What about financing, Can I obtain financing through RealUmbrella? View Answer
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RealUmbrella also offers online mortgage services through RealUmbrella Financial Services and NorthStar Financial. RealUmbrella Financial Services and NorthStar Financial seamlessly interact with RealUmbrella's patented TMS, providing buyers and sellers an automated loan process, real-time rates, loan programs, and market updates.
- Can I use my own lender or escrow company? View Answer
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You may authorize any lender or third party vendor to participate in the online transaction. Within myUmbrella you have the ability to invite our approved third party service providers or invite your own. Let's assume you select one of our approved escrow company's. Within myUmbrella choose, 'Open Escrow', a list of approved escrow providers for your geographic area will be display for you. Once an escrow company is chosen, they receive a secure login ID to your transaction and the traditional process will begin. Once escrow is opened, the escrow company is provided with all necessary transaction information seamlessly and effortlessly. The escrow company will upload all necessary documents into myUmbrella allowing you to review, electronically sign and manage all communication between the parties to the transaction.
- What are Financing and Inspection Contingencies? View Answer
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Contingencies in the purchase contract are your escape clauses. In most cases you will have a loan, appraisal, and inspection contingency in the contract protecting you in the event you do not receive your loan approval in time or the home inspector finds a physical problem with the home that changes your mind. The contingency removals are highlighted in terms of days and calendar dates in your purchase agreement. Our software scans the fully executed purchase contract and auto populates the dates in your real-time calendar in myUmbrella. This allows all parties to the transaction to view the contingency removals right from the calendar.
- Is the TMS Secure, What about Privacy Concerns? View Answer
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All data pertaining to a buyer, seller and all documents and messaging is encrypted before storage when extracted for display is decrypted using security tokens. Information never leaves the TMS and thus is not susceptible to malicious entities. The site utilizes industry standard Secure Socket Layers (SSL) that are 128 bit encrypted. As with any online financial transaction such as paying your utility bill, it is common practice to transmit encrypted, secure information. Every single transaction completed in RealUmbrella's TMS is encrypted through a standard known as 'SSL' or secure socket layer.
- Does RealUmbrella sell my personal information? View Answer
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No, absolutely not. We do NOT engage in the selling of personal information to ANYONE, including but not limited to; partners, affiliates, advertisers, real estate companies, or third party service providers.
- Can I market and rent my home on RealUmbrella? View Answer
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No. RealUmbrella TMS is currently only available for sales transactions; however, in the near future our TMS will be available for rental properties. Please check back frequently for news updates.
