Tired of all the back and forth in a real estate transaction? All the emails, paperwork, negotiation and delays?
Meet dotloop.
Dotloop was born out of one person’s (Austin Allison, CEO) frustration with the process of the real estate transaction. Apparently, lots of other real estate agents agree with him. Since their founding in 2009, dotloop has assisted in over $1 trillion in real estate transactions.
Zillow thought highly enough of dotloop that they bought the company.
Instead of all the back and forth with traditional real estate transactions, dotloop puts everything in one place, so buyers and sellers can see the latest version of documents. They can then collaborate to get the deal done.
Dotloop was primarily designed for real estate agents, but real estate investors should be aware of the platform. They may find it helps them get deals done quickly – especially those all-cash deals with motivated sellers.
What the heck is a loop?
When a real estate agent has a potential transaction, they create a ‘loop.’ The loop is the place where all the documents and records of the transaction are kept…
Think of it almost as real estate social media or a virtual conference room. People can collaborate with all parts of the transaction to make the sale happen.
Each user can go into the loop and see the latest version of the documents – something dotloop calls ‘Version Now.’
Once an agent starts a loop, there are 4 steps to the transaction process:
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Create
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E-Sign
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Submit
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Negotiate
The order makes sense if you think of a real estate transaction process.
To make all this happen and keep everything in one place, dotloop also has to become a cloud-type storage platform and a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, which it does quite well.
Think of all the parties that are potentially connected to a real estate transaction:
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Buyers
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Sellers
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Agents
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Mortgage Lenders
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Investors (private money)
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Home Inspectors
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Insurance
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Title Agents
Bringing all these people together in one place just makes sense.
Dotloop becomes the virtual project manager for this transaction, and does all the ‘cat-herding’ for you.
With all your documents in one place, it’s also easy to put together the paperwork for a real estate transaction quickly. You can set up E-signatures for each document and route the documents to the correct parties.
Dotloop has enhanced security as well to make sure only the right parties see the right documents.
Since dotloop also acts as a CRM platform, you can track all parties to the transaction long after the transaction is complete. All of those buyers you work with may become sellers some day. Or they may know other buyers. Or they may have friends who want to move in the neighborhood. Or they may know someone else who wants to sell.
Networking and staying in touch with people are definitely big keys to running a successful business.
After you complete a bunch of transactions in dotloop, it also has the ability to create reports on the transactions to learn how you can improve your business.
Is dotloop right for real estate investors?
So, dotloop ain’t cheap. They will start you off with a free trial. Then they have a less expensive option for a single user. Trouble is, dotloop is meant for teams to collaborate.
On an individual investor level, though, the single-user dotloop product might work. For just $29/month, a wholesaler or flipper could bring the buyers and sellers into their transaction loop and get the deal done.
One completed wholesale transaction could pay for your dotloop subscription for years to come.
If dotloop is not for your real estate investing business, it still would be a great recommendation for any real estate agents that bring you deals or sell your properties.
Dotloop has a YouTube Channel with lots of instructional videos. Some of them are quite lengthy and geared toward real estate agents. However, no matter which level of dotloop you use, they provide full tech support for their products.
For an overview of all the latest dotloop features (as of the writing of this lesson), check out this video.
Loop in.
Have you used dotloop? Tell us about it.
Simplify – Technology is great, but it’s all over the place. One platform for document signing, another for CRM, a third for Cloud storage... try to consolidate as much of your business in one place as possible.
Stay in Touch with People – Don’t just go to them when you need something. Send them an article they might like. Reach out to see how they are doing without asking for stuff in return. Use a CRM tool to track how you are doing.
Set Up Templates – Have all your documents ready to go. You never know when a motivated seller will pop up. Also set up templates for emails you send regularly. Time is your most valuable asset. Don’t spend it reinventing the wheel.
JP Moses
is a real estate investor in Memphis, TN, with experience ranging from land lording to note buying, rehabbing, and wholesaling. However, wholesaling is the area that he enjoys most and where he bring the most experience and expertise to his students.