Transaction management platform provider dotloop announced today it has signed up state Realtor associations in Nebraska and New Mexico to use its service, and brought on two new local associations — the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches and the Toledo Board of Realtors.
In December, dotloop announced that the Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont state Realtor associations had signed up to use its platform.
One of the key features of dotloop’s platform, the latest version of which was released last week, is the ability for all members of a transaction to fill out digitized forms from a secure location in the cloud. That capability becomes available to agents when the owner of the forms libraries licenses them to dotloop, as the above associations and about 40 others have done.
The ability to license forms, which allows users to fill them out in its software, is a key component of dotloop’s business.
In many markets where dotloop doesn’t license forms or partner with a Realtor association, users still fill out the forms digitally using the platform, said Gregg Larson, CEO of Clareity Consulting, who’s looked into the issue. It’s not clear whether dotloop is knowingly maintaining those users’ form libraries or not, but many have been found on the platform, Larson said.
In April, the California Association of Realtors, which is not a dotloop partner, sent dotloop a cease-and-desist letter telling the company to stop allowing users to fill out CAR forms in the platform.
Dotloop immediately complied, said dotloop CEO Austin Allison.
CAR — the nation’s largest Realtor Association — maintains its forms may be filled out using only software from zipLogix, a company run by its for-profit subsidiary Real Estate Business Services Inc.
Some CAR members, however, aren’t happy with zipLogix’s products and want a choice in their software provider, which has sparked a debate in the industry.
This week, both CAR and dotloop released responses to a June 6 Inman News article about the situation in California.
In CAR’s six-point response, the association said it restricted the digital alteration of its forms — outside of e-signatures, which DocuSign, Cartavi and SureClose have licenses from CAR to operate with its forms — to zipLogix software to protect CAR members from legal liability, and because of security and privacy concerns.
Dotloop’s Allison emphasized in dotloop’s response that “mandating any one solution is not healthy,” as it restricts innovation and choice.
Do you think more associations will open up their forms up to dotloop or other companies? Why? Why not?
