July 27, 2000 -- The Wall Street Journal via Dow Jones
Electronic Signature Is Used In Home Sale for First Time

By Evan Perez

The sale of a three-bedroom home in suburban Fort Lauderdale became the state's first fully electronic home purchase, according to the companies and county involved.

Less than a month after Florida gave official recognition to electronic legal documents, Jose Ignacio Arroyo, a 34-year-old engineer, closed on a $140,000 house in Weston on Monday by transmitting his signature on a promissory note from the Weston offices of Enterprise Title Inc.

Every part of Mr. Arroyo's purchase was done electronically, from his loan application over the Internet with Sunrise-based Mortgage.com, to the recording of the purchase with the Broward County Records Department, to the sale of the loan on the secondary mortgage market via Fannie Mae.

Stephen Bisbee, president of Baltimore-based eOriginal Inc. whose technology was used in Monday's transaction, says tests run by his company have shown electronic closings can be completed in five hours -- compared with an average of 45 days for a paper transaction — while saving an average of $760 a loan in administrative costs.

Mr. Arroyo's loan-closing took less than three hours and he says he saved about $200.

A frequent online shopper, Mr. Arroyo says he wasn't bothered about making such a large purchase electronically. "I'm more afraid of giving my credit card to the clerk at the supermarket," he says.