Paperless Pipeline: Smarter Transaction Management

Dealing with prospects is very time-consuming, and the mountain of paperwork that accompanies each sale can be daunting. Fortunately for you, Paperless Pipeline simplifies this process by digitizing your documents. Read on to learn more.

Related: Check out our complete guide of real estate software platforms to learn about 70+ companies.

What Is Paperless Pipeline?

Paperless Pipeline is a Des-Moines, Iowa based real estate transaction and commission management software started by real estate software entrepreneur Dane Maxwell.

The comapny’s user-friendly platforms helps real estate agents input, track, and control paperwork.

In a nutshell, users can easily:

• Input, track, and control paperwork
• Manage transaction documents after being scanned, emailed, or uploaded manually
• Check on required documents
• Manage the closing process form start to finish
• Follow up on missing signatures
• Track commissions and commission splits on a per-agent and team basis

Ease of use and flexible pricing are hallmarks of this system, which works in real estate businesses of all sizes.

The commission management system automatically calculates realtors’ commissions. It eases the handling of split commissions in transactions involving multiple agents. And it generates production reports for brokers and agents.

Read on to learn more about this platform and how it can help save you and your team time and money during the transaction management process.

Real Estate Transaction Management Features

This platform is multi-faceted, but its main functionality revolves around document upload and tracking. Read on to learn our favorite features of Paperless Pipeline.

Document Uploads

The transaction management component lets real estate professionals upload all the documents they need to complete a deal. Then they can access these documents from any computer or mobile device anywhere using any browser.

Agents can upload documents via:

• Manual entry
• Email
• Scan

Agents can show up for closing without having to lug along any paper documents at all. And yet they’ll know they have everything in order and ready for signing. The tracking and reminding features of Paperless Pipeline make sure of that.

Paperless Pipeline starts from a working documents page. Agents can upload and assign documents to a specific transaction file. They can then review and add notes. They can also collect digital signatures from DocuSign without leaving the system.

The system also helps agents stay organized. Every transaction has a checklist of items that are needed to make sure all the paperwork is complete. The checklist templates can be configured so agents can use the particular document names or tasks they prefer for a closing.

Contracts then get mailed to clients, lenders, and title companies from within the system. Email is also used to communicate with other agents and additional outside parties to the transaction.

Commission Management

Paperless Pipeline’s commission module has two main parts. First, the system generates production reports for agents for periods including month and year to date. Reports give each agent’s key performance metrics. These include:

• Transactions closed
• Cosed listings
• Sales closed
• Pending sales
• Sales volume
• Net and gross commissions

Second, it’s easy to calculate commissions, even in complicated multi-party transactions. Users can track which agent is on which commission system and easily account for fees, multiple agents, and split commissions.

Ease of Use

Paperless Pipeline bills itself as the most straightforward software for managing real estate transactions and commissions. And the software gets high marks from users for ease of use.

Customers report that even tech-averse agents can quickly get up to speed on Paperless Pipeline. Here’s how it works:

• Users upload documents to a holding queue by scanning, emailing, or uploading with a web browser.
• Uploaded documents then get assigned to a particular transaction.
• Transaction coordinators can review the documents and alert agents to missing documents or other errors. When the review is complete, the date and time are logged.
• Custom checklists help track completed documents and highlight those still waiting to be finished.
• The system tracks contract- and compliance-driven due dates and other time-sensitive tasks to ensure all is ready for closing.
• Automatic reminders five days before a closing ensure agents are aware of upcoming closings and whether any documents are missing. 
• When transactions close, the status is changed to closed.

Users can review closed or open transactions at any time from anywhere using smartphones, tablets, laptops, or desktops.

Since the software is cloud-based, it can be accessed from any sort of system with Internet access. This includes Windows and Apple computers as well as Apple and Android phones and tablets.

Paperless Pipeline Plans and Pricing

Paperless Pipeline is reasonably priced and has flexible pricing plans and a trial offer. The 21-day trial offer doesn’t require a credit card and is completely free of charge.

It requires no long-term contract, and users can cancel at any time. They can also change to a new plan at any time. There is no cap on the number of users. In addition to unlimited users, Paperless Pipeline also offers unlimited document store with all plans.

The pricing plans are based on the number of new transactions a company creates per month. There are eight tiers of pricing.

New transactions per month

• 10 –     $75
• 25 –     $100
• 40 –     $125
• 80 –     $175
• 150 –   $225
• 250 –   $300
• 350 –   $350
• 450+ – $450

There is no setup fee. The company doesn’t charge for training the employees who will administer the system. It also offers free setup of agent rosters. Users can cancel at any time, and the company promises to provide them with their data for free upon request.

Paperless Pipeline Pros and Cons

As you’d expect with any objective review, both the pros and cons are taken into consideration. Fortunately, we’ve done just that below.

Pros (things we like)

• Paperless Pipeline online reviews show users give it generally good marks.
• The product is especially appreciated for being user-friendly and easy to learn.
• It’s also distinguished for its flexible pricing and lack of long-term contracts.
• With no limits on users or documents, prices are based strictly on the number of new transactions a company creates.

Cons (what can be improved)

• The product’s simplicity means results in less robust functionality. For instance, there’s no tool for managing multiple offers on properties.
• More complete back-office systems also have tools for managing agents. These tasks include on-boarding new agents and setting goals for teams.

Customer Support

Paperless Pipeline primarily delivers support with live chat. You can also access support via phone and email. The company provides free live training to employees who will be administering the system. Agents get training delivered via video.

Should you need to reach the company, you can do so via one of the below channels:

Paperless Pipeline
5600 Ashworth Rd
West Des Moines IA 50266
Telephone: 8454458404
Email: help@paperlesspipeline.com
Web: http://www.paperlesspipeline.com

Paperless Pipeline Competitors

Paperless Pipeline’s competitors include comprehensive back-office management systems as well as general-purpose document management tools.

• Brokermint is a full-featured real estate back office management system. It has all the features of Paperless Pipeline, plus some additional financial reporting, agent management, and transaction management tools. Brokermint costs about the same as Paperless Pipeline.
• zipLogix offers significantly greater functionality than Paperless Pipeline. In fact, the company has a suite of products that go far beyond transaction management. Some capabilities include automatic form-completion and even web conferencing.
• Dotloop is another transaction management system that many top brokerages use. It lets agents share documents through text as well as email and also tracks transactions by lead source. It is, however, more expensive than Paperless Pipeline.
• Dropbox and Google Drive are low- and no-cost alternatives to using document and transaction management system like Paperless Pipeline. However, these solutions don’t have commission tracking and lack many features such as reminding agents about upcoming closings.

Our Take

Paperless Pipeline provides and easy-to-use, no-nonsense platform. Pricing is reasonable and gets the job done. While other platforms offer greater functionality and more features, this one is just transaction management.

The benefits is that you’re not paying for unused features. For this reason, we recommend Paperless Pipeline for agents seeking simple transaction management functionality, and nothing more.

Paperless Pipeline Roundup

Paperless Pipeline isn’t all things to all real estate companies. However, if you’re looking for an easy to use, reasonably priced management solution for transactions and commissions, this software is definitely one to consider.