FedEx Service Alerts:

“Severe weather and other events can interrupt your transportation flow, often with little warning. By choosing Service Alerts you can be alerted when these events may affect FedEx shipping services…” (FedEd notice)

Before you sign up for the Alert Service – even if it’s ‘sunny and mild’  – try sending directly through Zapsign.com – the first global e-Signature station. Anywhere in the World – legally executed – 2 minute round trip! BTW, No Cost with Free Membership if you sign up before December 31, 2011. Happy Holidays and Cheers to your ability to close more deals quicker in 2012!

Less than 5% of the today’s real estate agents (most responsible for getting the deal started) have taken their business to the next level and have incorporated electronic signatures into their workflow, contracts and agreements. An E-signature is the ‘glue’ that connects all parties and documents over the Internet-100% paperless with secure real-time execution. There is no longer the need to drive all around town to chase down signatures or to find a fax machine (95% of consumers have Internet access and only 5% have fax machines at home) or to pay for expensive overnight deliveries. As a long time real estate veteran I can recall those calls late on a Wed aftrenoon that all parties must meet at 10:30am Friday in some office typically 20 miles away from no where in order to close the deal (on the East Coast still deploys face-to-face sit down closings-which in reality become a long winded 11^th hour art of negotiation session). Buyers, Sellers, their agents and all the ‘suits’ –personal attorneys plus the banks attorneys and title attorneys had to re-arrange all their schedules – crazy. Talk about stress – last minute day off at work for principals, running around finding  last minute baby sitters, running to banks to get cashier’s checks, etc..

Imagine if all you had to do was open your email, type in your name on contracts, click consent and submit? I think we would all agree that this would definitely be the ‘better way’. Although the E-Sign Act was signed into law by President Clinton back in June, 2000 it has taken many years of collaboration and ‘buy-in’ for all the Industry participants to get on board with a complete electronic and paperless transaction: Agents, Title, Escrow/Settlement/Closing agents, County Recorders/Registrars, Lenders, Attorney Generals, District Attorneys, Secondary Investors, MERS e-Registry, Desktop Title Lien Search and Secretaries of State. The sense of those of us that were  trying to solve ‘the pain’ in this high-liability transaction is that we needed to sit down with all these folks and get them to agree to accept these legally binding documents. As you can imagine, this was not an easy chore and has taken twice as much time than we expected.

As the Industry continues to ramp adoption it is important to understand most vendors were started by ‘technologists’ in search of an opportunity while others, solving the pain, compliance issues, garnering Industry wide certification, brought to the table extensive domain expertise, know-how and collaboration skills to have all parties to raise their hand  - “I’m In”. Welcome to the future – the all digital real estate transaction.

The time is ripe for the  Lenders ‘C-Level’  Suite to step up, put a stake in the ground that these issues should never be tolerated – and move forward with an all-electronic and digital transaction – eliminating the associated fraud associated with human error, back-dating, white-out, cut and paste signatures, substitution of  false documents, etc. Secure ‘tamper-resistant’ document processing technology has been available for years – tested, live and certified (by all Industry participants/leadership-sans Lenders) - gurading against such ‘all-so-common’ instances of fraud and outrageous manipulation. The article further mentioned a Huffington Post quote from University of Minnesota law Professor Prentice Cox, a former Assistant State Attorney General, adding: ” When criminal prosecutions are done for robo-signing, I would hope the target of those prosecutions would be the people who designed the system and profited from it, not just the low level people doing what they were told.” Read More…

A friend just sent me the Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement speech and, although I have read this many times before, I am reminded once again that life is precious and we should all follow our heart. Please take a moment to read, share and remember this visionary’s Life Lessons -Well Done Steve!:

Life lessons: Steve Jobs on Steve Jobs
Posted by:

CNN.com
business producer, Kevin Voigt

Editor’s note: On June 12, 2005,
Steve Jobs gave a commencement speech at Stanford University that summed up his
life lessons. In memoriam, Business 360 publishes the full text of that speech.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of
the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be
told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I
want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three
stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then
stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So
why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young,
unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She
felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything
was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that
when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a
girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of
the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?”
They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my
mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated
from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only
relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to
college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a
college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class
parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I
couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life
and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was
spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided
to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the
time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute
I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me,
and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on
the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy
food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get
one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I
stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be
priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy
instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on
every drawer, was beautifully hand calligrapher. Because I had dropped out and
didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class
to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about
varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what
makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle
in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my
life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer,
it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first
computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single
course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or
proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely
that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would
have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might
not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to
connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very
clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only
connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow
connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny,
life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all
the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I
started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10
years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion
company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation —
the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired.
How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired
someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the
first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to
diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of
Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had
been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I
had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the
baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and
tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I
even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to
dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not
changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I
decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from
Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of
being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less
sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of
my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT,
another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would
become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated
feature film, Toy Story,
and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable
turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we
developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene
and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been
fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed
it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m
convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.
You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is
for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the
only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the
only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet,
keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when
you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better
as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If
you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be
right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33
years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If
today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do
today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days
in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve
ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost
everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or
failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what
is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I
know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already
naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30
in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even
know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type
of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than
three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in
order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your
kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a
few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be
as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a
biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and
into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the
tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed
the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out
to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had
the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s
the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now
say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but
purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t
want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one
has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely
the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the
old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long
from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so
dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s
life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other
people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own
inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and
intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything
else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog,
which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named
Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with
his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and
desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid
cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google
came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great
notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and
then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s,
and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of
an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on
if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay
Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry.
Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you
graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

As electronic and digital signatures affixed to contracts and agreements continue to gain adoption, seems like everyone is now  jumping on the bandwagon. We also read where a Mortgage vendor,  now claiming expertise, is offering this solution for Free, huh? Same compliance questions – who has certified or willing to accept these as binding?

When it comes to Real Estate and Mortgages, our 30 year old domain experience has advanced our vision for a complete digital, electronic and paperless real estate and mortgage transaction over the Internet. Having collaborated with Industry experts and pioneers for complete ‘buy-in’ we now enjoy at least a 4-5 year head start  and provide the Industry’s  ‘Holy Grail’ - a pure electronic end-to-end solution – from opening to closing (and beyond).

In another example, the real estate promissory note is probably the highest liability document any consumer will ever sign (representing the asset and in some residential markets that could translate to a $ 10 million or more risk) yet many so called e-Signed experts have not even approached, no less been certified by, the required compliance agencies, huh?

Not all e-Sign vendors are alike – ask the questions.

We introduced our ZapSign division this summer to alleviate some of the overwhelming burden shouldered by the USPS. Today, we offer the first Global, eco-friendly and purely automated contract delivery service - first class, registered receipt, round trip, and legally binding e-Signature service in less than 5 minutes (members pay only 99 cents). Send sales agreements, contracts, NDA’s, Applications, HR docs, etc. from anywhere to anywhere, no extra charge.  Signing at the airport, on the golf course or while traveling abroad - on your smart phone or tablet – price included..

The Postal Service has lost $7.9 billion in the past two years. It has borrowed money to pay its bills. Mail volume fell 4.5% last year and the Postal Service expects a bigger drop this year.

Most Americans understand that this is not your Daddy’s Postal Service and we’ve known for generations this has got to change. A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll suggests that most support cutting back mail services — closing post offices, trimming delivery service — rather than raising stamp prices or using taxpayers’ money for a bailout.

Now is the time for all good men (and women) to come to the aid of their country… Don’t Mail it -  Zapsign it!

WILKES COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® ‘INKS’ DEAL WITH SETTLEWARE®

Innovative ‘Pay As You Go’ e-Signing Benefits All Real Estate Association Members

North Wilkesboro, NC  - August 8, 2011  – Settleware Secure Services, Inc., the pioneering e-Sign leader to the Real Estate Industry, is pleased to announce that Wilkes County Association of REALTORS® (WCAR) has licensed both its innovative e-Signature technology and US patent for the benefit of all WCAR members.

“We are pleased to partner with Wilkes County Association of REALTORS® and its’ visionary leadership to provide relevant e-Signing technology to all Association members, enabling each member to take their business to the next level” says 30 year real estate veteran and Settleware President & CEO, C. Richard Triola

“The Wilkes County Association of REALTORS® is proud to add Settleware e-Signing as a membership benefit to our REALTOR® members.  e-Signing is a safe, quick method of signing documents that will assist our agents and clients with their transactions.  Providing Settleware e-Signing as part of our Wilkes County Association of REALTORS®  membership,  not only enhances the professionalism of our members, but also provides their clients with a secure, fast method of signing documents ” stated Viva Aldrich, Executive Officer, Wilkes County Association of REALTORS®.

Over the past decade Settleware has been leading the charge to deliver the first and only real estate electronic and paperless transaction – from opening to closing – completely over the Internet. “We realize there were several choices available and appreciate the Wilkes County Board’s extensive due diligence and selection of our unparalleled e-Signing service, expertise and offering,” Triola continued.

“We fully understand these trying times and the challenges that our real estate colleagues face on a daily basis. With this offering, no Agent will be left behind and all will have the immediate benefit of processing legally binding, compliant documents in real time – more efficiently meeting critical time frames and eliminating the heavy paper use they currently experience with each and every transaction.  It’s hard enough these days to close a transaction without having to chase documents and signatures not only across the county, but also to clients who live out of town, out of state, or may be away on vacation or business.  With technology such as Settleware e-Sign, the business of buying and selling real estate continues as easily as it would if all parties were sitting together in the same room” continued Aldrich.

 ABOUT SETTLEWARE

Created by REALTORS® Settleware Secure Services, Inc. has been spearheading the initiative to facilitate a complete electronic and paperless real estate transaction over the Internet since 1999.  Today, Settleware is the leading provider of e-Signatures, e-Notarization and e-Recording workflow to the Real Estate/Mortgage Industry and offers the Nations first and only patented and complete electronic real estate/ mortgage transaction, from the initial purchase offer contract – to Escrow/Settlement – to the County Recorder – to the Secondary Investor.  Settleware has served as the catalyst for a pure end–to-end pure electronic and paperless real estate/escrow transaction, spending years collaborating with Industry pioneers and experts to gain Industry wide ‘buy-in’. Settleware is the first and only e-Sign solution provider that has been certified by County Recorders (e-Recording), Secretaries of State (e-Notary), Fannie Mae (e-Notes) and MERS e-Registry (e-Vault), Wells Fargo (e-Disclosures) and One West Bank. (e-REO)

The company offers a secure signing solution that provides document tamper sealing, roles and permissions access and secure digital encryption algorithms that can authenticate the source of a digital signature as “valid” while providing one of the Industry’s first certified e-Vaults. The company’s innovative and patented software, offered as a service subscription-based model (SaaS), seamlessly connects all participants and contracts in the real estate/escrow/mortgage transaction. Settleware is offered through MLS, REALTOR® Associations and Broker-owned companies to benefit over 1 million members nationwide. To learn more how Settleware can take your business to the next level call 888.632.3833, email info@settleware.com or visit www.settleware.com.  Join the discussion by subscribing to the Settleware’s blog at www.settleware.com/blog and become a Friend on Facebook.

 ABOUT WILKES COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

The Wilkes County Association of REALTORS^® strives to be the premier trade association dedicated to the professional development of its membership.

The purpose of the Wilkes County Association of REALTORS^® is to encourage professionalism through information and resources to better develop, support, protect and guide both members and clients.  This is the result of innovative programs, locally focused services and advocacy for ethical business practices and individual property rights for all Wilkes County citizens. WCAR is constantly striving to set the bar on high quality care and attention to detail in each and every real estate transaction.  If you decide to be a Buyer or Seller here in Wilkes County, WCAR members take very seriously their role in assisting you with your real estate property needs.  For more information, please visit www.wilkescountync.com.

Contact:

C. Richard Triola                                                                                 Viva Aldrich

Rick@settleware.com                                                                         wcar@wilkescountync.com

2901. W. Coast Highway, Suite 200                                                     717 Main Street

Newport Beach, CA 92663                                                                   North Wilkesboro, NC 28659

949.289.3299                                                                                      336.667.9331

Visionary electronic and digital signature leader offers first patent pending and automated ‘Pay As You Go’ virtual signing station, ZapSign. Now anyone can electronically sign contracts and agreements in minutes, from anywhere to anywhere, without any contractual commitments like similar services require.

Sign up for FREE Membership Today www.zapsign.com

Read More:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/6/prweb

“eSignatures will reduce the volume of lost paperwork, reduce signature fraud, reduce the time required to close a loan and may lead to lower borrower costs,” the letter said.

MBA has long advocated modernization of FHA as part of its policy agenda. The letter noted the past 15 years has seen a trend toward automation of the loan application and underwriting process. Most lenders now have automated processes that allow applicants to apply online and to supply information to the lender electronically. Additionally, much of the processing is performed by lenders using online processing and underwriting tools. Ordering appraisals, credit reports and verification of deposit balances is frequently performed by automated, online processes.

“This automation makes it easier for the consumer to provide needed data to the lender, reduces the application to closing timetable, minimizes the potential for lost documents and generally reduces the costs incurred by all parties,” the letter said. “Lenders have experienced increased productivity and a reduction in costs after implementing internal automated processes.”

MBA said eSignatures would reduce costs for activities such as printing and mail couriers for both borrowers and lenders. “These benefits eliminate many of the annoyances of a paper-based process, including lost or inconsistent documents,” the letter said. “In addition, consumers would have greater flexibility and convenience within the home buying process because they would not have to change documents and related signing processes if they changed from a conventional loan to an FHA loan. All of [these] benefits ultimately result in lower costs for the consumer, as lenders pass on savings to remain competitive. Additionally, borrowers experience a more seamless and satisfying homebuying process.”

MBA said FHA’s acceptance of eSignatures would align the agency with other government entities, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been accepting electronic signatures on loan documents for several years.

“Conforming to accepted industry standards on all documents would expedite the mortgage process, reduce lender costs because processes could be replicated and fulfill consumers’ growing preference for conducting electronic transactions,” the letter said. “Notably, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and the Truth in Lending Act rules recognize the use of electronic records to meet disclosure requirements.”

The letter also noted most mortgage lenders that have automated the loan application process make use of electronic signatures for other forms and consumer/lender interaction, citing control mechanisms used conform to the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act passed by Congress and signed into law in October 2000.

“Accordingly, controls utilized to protect consumer and confidential data include encryption, tamper evident seals of e-signed documents, two-factor identity verification and other controls required under the ESIGN Act and industry custom,” the letter said. “MBA’s members are currently using such controls, and would continue their use in any FHA eSignature process.”

To address concerns raised by FHA about mortgage fraud, MBA said it believed processes built in the “e” world could mitigate many issues currently in today’s paper process.

“Many electronic mortgage systems incorporate additional borrower authentication capabilities that well exceed the standard of the traditional notary asking to see a driver’s license for validation,” the letter said. “For example, some systems prompt the borrower to respond to authentication challenge questions to establish true identity. In addition, tape recording, on line session recording, and audit trails further safeguard the e-signature process in the event of litigation. These safeguards are not only beneficial to the lender and FHA, but also provide convenience and protection to the homebuyer. Many commercial businesses have long adopted these security standards so consumer awareness and education would be minimal.”