Going Paperless: eOriginal Introduces Its Technology For The Real Estate Industry by Lesley Hensell The real estate industry is getting the idea – when it comes to making a hit on Wall Street, business-to-business electronic commerce is where it’s at. Just a few weeks ago I wrote a column in which I said I was tired of all of the auction Web sites out there. Since that time, several new and established companies have introduced more viable methods for profiting on the Web, as well as impressing investors. This week, eOriginal Inc., a pioneer in secure paperless e-commerce transactions, announced it will introduce its patented technology to the growing online mortgage and real estate industries. This will enable the secure creation, execution and transmission of electronic versions of mortgage-related documents over the Internet. The process will eliminate the use of paper-based contracts associated with loan closings and real estate transactions. eOriginal recently completed a pilot program in Florida that delivered the first end-to-end electronic mortgage closings in history using the Internet as a communication and distribution channel. The system demonstrated savings of $750 per originated loan and reduced the time of loan closing to market delivery from 45 days to five hours. (Wow!) “The real estate and mortgage industries have slowly embraced the Internet because personal relationships have traditionally driven the sales process,” said Joe Bryant, senior vice president and general manager of the real estate division for eOriginal. “Now, with the incredible growth of online activity, that is no longer true. Our process of creating unique and legal negotiable electronic documents is a natural fit for paper intensive industries such as this. With partners such as online mortgage providers and real estate exchange portals, we plan to make our Electronic Original(TM) solution available throughout the industry.” The eOriginal business model is designed to improve a company’s overall savings, quality and accuracy on virtually any type of business transaction. These efficiencies provide businesses with the opportunity to increase their e-commerce capabilities, overall market shares and revenues through time and cost reductions. On the RFP side of real estate, Stonehaven (AMEX: RPP), a Minneapolis-based real estate company, has created an online marketplace for the real estate industry through the RERFP.com (Real Estate Request For Proposals) vendor bidding and auction service. RERFP.com is part of Stonehaven’s SPACElink e-commerce real estate solutions that the company is developing with its subsidiary NETLink International, an Internet consulting and web development company. Stonehaven plans to launch RERFP.com nationally on April 2. One of a few companies targeting the confusing RFP process, RERFP.com allows landlords to reduce operating costs by centralizing all vendor relationships online. Landlords can communicate and transact business with vendors over the Internet, eliminating the need for multiple face-to-face meetings. Requests for proposals are posted online and the bidding process is also conducted via the Internet. Venture One Real Estate, LLC, a national commercial real estate brokerage firm, will be the exclusive marketing agent for RERFP.com. Headquartered in Chicago, Venture One sells more than $300 million worth of property nationwide each year. | 
