Eliminating manual inputting errors, dramatically improving office productivity, and servicing clients faster and better. These are the reasons why Barry Kaufman is so passionate about Assyst Real Estate.

An excellent complement to electronic registration and conveyancing, Assyst Real Estate streamlines the processing of mortgage transactions. Documents can be produced and available for signature within 10 to 15 minutes of receipt of information. A more efficient office translates into a better client experience.

According to Barry, “before Assyst Real Estate was available, the processing of a mortgage transaction under a paper system could take up to twice as long as it does now. My clients can have their loans processed in a short time to meet their lending needs, helping to make the entire process a more positive one”.

Assyst Real Estate renders the processing of mortgages in paper form obsolete by automating traditional forms of delivery such as mail, fax and courier. This has resulted in significant cost savings for Barry’s firm.

Assyst Real Estate also provides a competitive advantage to lenders who use this technology. Security and protection against fraud is enhanced by the use of an electronic signature issued only to lawyers. Required reporting can be completed immediately after closing. And there is an added cost saving in pursuit of delinquent reporting.

“I have used Assyst Real Estate since it was introduced to the market and have found that it has aided my practice and my assistants' work in smoothing our real estate transactions,” enthused Barry. “I am very satisfied with the solution and recommend the use of Assyst Real Estate to all parties connected with the real estate industry.”

”Stefanyshyn law office has been involved with Assyst Real Estate for more than 2 years now”, said Richard Stefanyshyn, president of Stefanyshyn Law Office. “The biggest advantage of the Assyst Real Estate online solution is the ability it gives us to manage files faster, with considerably less paperwork while achieving a level of lawyer-client service that would not have been possible beforehand.

There was virtually no learning curve for the staff as it is extremely user friendly and does not ’bog down’ the legal assistant. It is simply a matter of reviews and corrections to produce an official recorded document in a minimum amount of time. The reporting features are also very simple, straightforward, not to mention environmentally friendly as it allows us to greatly reduce our use of paper.

For a law office like Stefanyshyn, managing a large volume of real estate transactions demands a powerful solution that helps streamline practices wherever possible. Assyst Real Estate allowed us to do just that by providing ‘at-a-glance’ listings of active construction loans, current residential mortgage purchases and refinancing by client name. Tracking the files to completion is both easy and convenient for everyone involved.

We have found everyone at TELUS to be highly professional, knowledgeable and helpful. We cannot say enough good things about the administration and the customer service. Their response time to our suggestions and inquiries has been not only expeditious but of excellent quality. We would highly recommend Assyst Real Estate to any law firm looking to increase its productivity and decrease its workload for its support staff and lawyers” concludes Richard Stefanyshyn.

A self-confessed and well respected technology guy in B.C., Akash Sablok finds new applications exciting, but refuses to implement anything that does not improve the way he and his team work. So it isn’t surprising that when offered a fast, accurate, and electronic solution to receive mortgage instructions from financial institutions he would be the first Notary Public in the province to sign on. With Assyst Real Estate, Akash has found that he can streamline the process for managing real estate conveyancing, saving himself time, paper, and the potential for errors.

Before using Assyst, Akash would receive his instructions from the bank via fax. These documents were as large as 40 legal size pages and, often the transmission was terminated before the entire document came through resulting in a call having to be placed to have it re-faxed. If a document was misplaced or lost, it would have to be sent again resulting in frustration and time wasted. Now, with Assyst Real Estate, Akash receives his mortgage instructions online. He saves his documents electronically, makes changes to them directly from his desktop, and keeps them indefinitely. Because the information is provided by the bank, it only needs to be reviewed for errors and omissions. Once complete, the mortgage is printed on regular sized paper, double-sided, and is ready for signing by the client.

“Assyst Real Estate has completely changed the way we receive mortgage instructions from our financial partners,” stated Akash. “The convenience, ease of use, and integration with BC OnLine has allowed us to improve efficiencies and save time.”

In the future Akash hopes that further integration between Assyst Real Estate and the BC Land Title office will take place. But in his words, “I know they are continually improving Assyst Real Estate and I’m sure this idea and many more will be incorporated soon.”

Gerald E. Masuch, Masuch Albert LLP says "Our firm, comprised of 9 lawyers and approximately 33 support staff, has been active in the Calgary and Edmonton real estate markets for more than 35 years. We’ve been involved with Assyst Real Estate since the beginning of their activity, both during the testing phase and once the system went live in May of 2009. Our staff is thoroughly impressed by the efficiency of the online solution, and enjoy working with it. The Assyst Real Estate solution keeps our real estate team smiling! In addition, it is our experience that our firm’s productivity has increased during this time period – primarily for the following reasons:

• the solution is instantaneous, both for receipt of instructions and for reporting;
• It is well laid-out and easy to navigate, and initial training was comprehensive;
• the documentation is current and accurate without having to re-produce information and/or documentation from our own real estate systems;
• the documentation can be requested and the file can be reported from one’s own work-station vs. having to make several trips on the same file back and forth to the fax machine;
• time savings (on a per-file basis) using the Assyst system vs. preparing the documents manually (approximately 15 to 20 minutes);
• no duplication of documentation is ever necessary: once a file has been reported, the lender is also notified of that information immediately (where the lender’s reporting department has “misplaced” your reporting package months later);
• superior technical support from the TELUS specialized representatives;
• the cost associated with using the system is easily explained to our clients and they understand the benefits of using the system. We bill the cost our as a disbursement, and we rarely have any enquiries (and we have had no objections) about this disbursement. "

Paul D. Gagné’s practice—one of Québec’s largest—is in Gatineau, a stone’s throw from the national capital. His firm employs 17 notaries or partners and 36 employees. The practice’s revenue is in the millions of dollars annually. Assyst Real Estate allows the practice to turn files around faster, more accurately and more professionally.

When Paul D. Gagné started out in 1973, he knew technology was the way to go. Working on a plain Selectric, then an electronic Brother and an IBM Display Writer, he put together electronic templates of notarial documents. In 1981, he revived the Chambre des Notaires’ technology committee and became its first president.

At work, his driving force remains the same—performance. In his words, “My goal was to transform the profession from the sole practitioner to organizations recognized for offering high quality, professional services.” Mr. Gagné and his colleagues can certainly attest, “Mission accomplished.”

For Dawn Schaldemose, it’s all about speed and accuracy. Working in a busy B.C. law firm exclusively dedicated to handling real estate conveyance, Dawn knows exactly what it takes to complete a mortgage from instructions, to document creation, to approval, to signing - the steps involved can be time consuming – especially when relying on the lending organization to drive the process. Often this could take days, but all that has changed with the recent implementation of Assyst Real Estate.

According to Dawn, “with Assyst, the manual keying of data into forms is a thing of the past. Now I simply have to open a web page and all of the documentation surrounding the mortgage is immediately available for review and if changes are required they can be submitted electronically. For me this simplified system has accelerated the processing of mortgage transactions and reduced the amount of paper I have to deal with. It’s a true win-win for everyone involved.”

Dawn is particularly pleased with a number of additional benefits derived from using the solution. All reporting is now electronic, simplifying her reporting and reducing the amount of paper in the file. And because everything is web-based, she can turn-over a file within a matter of hours, providing increased customer service to her firm’s clients.

“I truly believe that this is an important milestone in revolutionizing the way conveyancing is managed. The wide-spread adoption of electronic forms and automated processes is the next step for the future – one I hope all financial institutions will get on board with.”