Real estate transaction management system
First Claim
1. A real estate transaction management system providing communications between a buyer, a seller, and at least one service provider involved in a real estate transaction, the system linked to a plurality of remote computers over a network and comprising:
- a. at least one databases, the at least one databases including a listings database containing information about a plurality of properties;
b. a central computer communicating with the at least one databases to provide a plurality of customized workspaces, the plurality of customized workspaces comprising, (i) a buyer workspace accessible by the buyer at one of the plurality of remote computers, the buyer workspace including a buyer searching option and a buyer notice option, the buyer searching option providing the buyer with the ability to search for property information in the listings database and the buyer notice option providing the buyer with the ability to view messages from and send messages to other workspaces of the plurality of customized workspaces;
(ii) a seller workspace accessible by the seller at one of the plurality of remote computers, the seller workspace including a seller notice option providing the seller with the ability to view messages from and send messages to other workspaces of the plurality of customized workspaces;
(iii) a service provider workspace accessible by the at least one service provider at one of the plurality of remote computers, the service provider workspace including a service provider notice option providing the at least one service provider with the ability to view messages from and send messages to other workspaces of the plurality of customized workspaces.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A real estate transaction management system comprises a plurality of databases in communication with a central computer. The plurality of databases includes a listings database containing information about a plurality of properties and a transaction database including information about a plurality of real estate transactions. The central computer provides a plurality of customized websites for the participants of the real estate transactions, including agents, buyers, sellers, and service providers. The customized websites may be accessed by the respective parties using remote computers connected to the central computer using the Internet. Each customized website provides a communications tool for sending messages and receiving messages from the customized websites of the other parties. The customized websites of the buyer and the agent further provide a searching tool for allowing the buyer and the agent to search the listings database for properties that may be of interest to the buyer. The buyer'"'"'s customized website also provides the buyer with the ability to submit a loan application using the system. During the negotiation and closing process, each of the customized websites provides a form completion tool which allows the parties to access various transactions forms. The system automatically completes relevant portions of each form based on information stored in the transactions database about the party'"'"'s particular transaction. Services required for closing, such as inspection, title report or appraisal, may all be ordered from the service providers using the transaction management system.
145 Citations
42 Claims
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1. A real estate transaction management system providing communications between a buyer, a seller, and at least one service provider involved in a real estate transaction, the system linked to a plurality of remote computers over a network and comprising:
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a. at least one databases, the at least one databases including a listings database containing information about a plurality of properties;
b. a central computer communicating with the at least one databases to provide a plurality of customized workspaces, the plurality of customized workspaces comprising, (i) a buyer workspace accessible by the buyer at one of the plurality of remote computers, the buyer workspace including a buyer searching option and a buyer notice option, the buyer searching option providing the buyer with the ability to search for property information in the listings database and the buyer notice option providing the buyer with the ability to view messages from and send messages to other workspaces of the plurality of customized workspaces;
(ii) a seller workspace accessible by the seller at one of the plurality of remote computers, the seller workspace including a seller notice option providing the seller with the ability to view messages from and send messages to other workspaces of the plurality of customized workspaces;
(iii) a service provider workspace accessible by the at least one service provider at one of the plurality of remote computers, the service provider workspace including a service provider notice option providing the at least one service provider with the ability to view messages from and send messages to other workspaces of the plurality of customized workspaces. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A real estate transaction management system providing communications between an agent, a client, and at least one service provider involved in a real estate transaction, the system linking a plurality of remote computers over a network and comprising:
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a. at least one database, the at least one database including a listings database containing information about a plurality of properties;
b. a central computer communicating with the at least one database, the central computer providing an agent workspace accessible by the agent at one of the plurality of remote computers, the agent workspace operable to, (i) list identification information about the client;
(ii) search the listings database and provide property information contained in the listings database; and
(iii) create a client workspace for use by the client at one of the plurality of remote computers, the client workspace providing the client with the ability to send notices to the agent workspace and search the listings database. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A real estate transaction management device connected to a plurality of remote computers to provide communications between a plurality of parties involved in a real estate transaction involving the sale of a property, the plurality of parties including a buyer, a buyer'"'"'s agent, a seller, a seller'"'"'s agent, and at least one service provider, the real estate transaction management device comprising:
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a. at least one database, the at least one database including a listings database containing information about a plurality of properties and a transaction database including information about the real estate transaction and the plurality of parties;
b. a central computer communicating with the at least one database, the central computer providing (i) a listing means for allowing the seller'"'"'s agent to add information about the property to the listings database;
(ii) a searching means for allowing the plurality of buyers and the plurality of agents to search the listings database for the property;
(iii) a form completion means for allowing the plurality of parties to access forms required for closing the real estate transaction, complete the forms, and store the completed forms in the transactions database;
(iv) a communications means for sending messages between the plurality of parties;
(v) a service request means for allowing one of the plurality of parties to order services from the at least one service provider; and
(vi) a document viewing means for listing the completed forms required for closing the real estate transaction and allowing the plurality of parties to view the completed forms. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 39, 42)
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22. A real estate transaction management system providing communications between a property seller and a plurality of property buyers, the system linking a plurality of remote computers over a network and comprising:
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a. at least one database, the at least one database including a listings database containing information about a plurality of houses;
b. a central computer communicating with the at least one database, the central computer providing (i) a plurality of buyer workspaces respectively accessible by each of the plurality of property buyers at one of the plurality of remote computers, each of the buyer workspaces including a searching tool, a bookmark tool, and a buyer communication tool, whereby the searching tool provides the buyer with the ability to search for information about houses within the listings database, the bookmark tool allows the buyer to save information about houses in the listings database to the buyer workspace as bookmarked properties, and the buyer communication tool provides the buyer with the ability to send an offer to the property seller on one of the bookmarked properties and receive messages from the system indicating that an offer has been made by another buyer on one of the bookmarked properties;
(ii) a seller workspace accessible by the seller at one of the plurality of remote computers, the seller workspace including a seller communication option providing the seller with the ability to receive offers from the plurality of buyers on one of the bookmarked properties.
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25. A real estate transaction management system for assisting a plurality of parties to a real estate transaction in closing the real estate transaction, the real estate transaction management system comprising:
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a. a transaction database containing information about the real estate transaction and the plurality of parties;
b. a central computer communicating with the transaction database, the central computer providing (i) a list of documents completed for closing the real estate transaction; and
(ii) a transaction closing meter providing a visual indication of work completed toward closing the real estate transaction. - View Dependent Claims (28, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41)
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29. A method of providing communications for a real estate transaction involving a plurality of participants, including a buyer, a seller and a at least one service provider, the method comprising:
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a. providing a buyer website accessible by the buyer at one of a plurality of remote computers, the buyer website including a buyer searching page and a buyer notice page;
b. providing a seller website accessible by the seller at one of the plurality of remote computers, the seller website including a seller notice page;
c. providing a service provider website accessible by the at least one service provider at one of the plurality of remote computers, the service provider website including a service provider notice page;
d. providing the buyer with the ability to search for information about a plurality of properties using the buyer searching page;
e. providing the buyer with the ability to view messages from and send messages to the seller notice page and the service provider notice page using the buyer notice page;
f. providing the seller with the ability to view messages from and send messages to the buyer notice page and the service provider notice page using the seller notice page;
g. providing the at least one service provider with the ability to view messages from and send messages to the buyer notice page and the seller notice page using the service provider notice page.
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Specification