Let’s be honest:  there’s ultimately just one reason Realtors keep copies of their records once a transaction has closed.

It’s not because they’re nostalgic, pack rats, or simply too busy to shred or toss old files.

Realtors keep their notes and records – ideally, for six years — in case they’re sued.

Then, all those contemporaneous notes and records (hopefully) serve as exculpatory evidence.

Paper > Electronic

With the caveat that, in over 15+ years and hundreds of home sales, no one has ever sued me (Thank God!), here’s why I think paper records are superior to electronic ones.

One.  Logistics.

Yeah, I could scan all my records and notes and put ’em on a disk — or pay someone else to.  But even if I delegated that task, I’d first have to sort through and organize what needed to be scanned.

Then, I’d inevitably worry about what happened to the disk, years later.

Two. Veracity.

Although I practiced corporate, not courtroom law (aka “litigation”), I know that evidence in a trial ultimately comes down to credibility.

Especially with written evidence, the judge and jury’s focus is, “Are these records truthful?”; “Were they made contemporaneously?” (vs. generated after-the-fact); and, “Did the agent who generated the notes have a system for record keeping that they consistently adhered to?”

Hopefully, I won’t ever need to, but I’ll pit my dog-eared, chicken scratch-filled yellow legal pads against my opponent’s CD’s any time . . . 🙂

See also, “Home Sales, Document Retention, & the Statute of Limitations”; and “Trial Lawyer Stanford Hill (aka, “The Grim Reaper”).”

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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