Popularity Grows for E-Signature Lease Module 

“E-Signatures” continue to grow in popularity for business transactions in many industries.

The leasing process for apartment communities welcomes this
innovation and the NAA Lease Program, administered by Blue Moon software, makes it easy.

“We get more calls from apartment communities who show interest in our E-Signature Module than any other feature,” says Javier Gonzalez, President, Blue Moon. “The interest is coming mainly from medium- and large-sized management companies and any companies that tend to have a significant Internet presence. I would speculate that within three years there will be more leases signed electronically than on paper.”

The NAA Lease Program, which currently is generating one lease page or “click” every two seconds, is offered exclusively to NAA members. The program last year generated 3 million leases.

There are no additional costs or company size restrictions when using the Blue Moon E-Signature Module. Apartment owners and management companies using the NAA Lease Program’s online product can execute leases electronically whether they own or manage one unit or 1,000 units. The lease is offered in 41 states.

“The big advantage of the E-Signature Module is that you can now execute a lease online without having to print it out on paper,” Gonzalez says. “It’s a greener solution. It also is more convenient for residents, giving them greater flexibility when signing the lease.”
Approximately 800 communities currently use the Blue Moon E-Signature Module.

No additional hardware or software is required to use the Blue Moon
E-Signature Module. Onsite staff will simply need to archive the lease’s PDF files after 30 days and can do so through an ordinary document
management or file archiving system, which most communities already have in place.

“If you want to go to a totally paperless office, you may need more storage space to archive your files and a scanner to convert your paper documents to electronic format,” Gonzalez says.

An e-signature, or electronic signature, is a legal way to accept the intentions of a document. The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) passed in 2000 provides for the use of electronic records and signatures and guarantees that electronic signatures are just as valid as their paper equivalents. NAA attorneys affirm that the Blue Moon E-Signature Module complies with the 2000 ESIGN Act.

Blue Moon introduced an E-Signature Module as part of its Forms Online in September 2009.

“Many companies offer generic e-signature solutions for many types of contracts or documents,” Gonzalez says. “There are only a few companies that have e-signature solutions for residential leases.”

Gonzalez says at least four large management companies (100 communities or more) are currently using or are in the process of implementing e-signature in their leasing process.

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