Since most real estate agents are already technologically savvy and often work odd hours, telecommuting just makes sense. Corey and I work from home. Everyone in my company does. In Seattle, telecommuting is not only the "green" thing to do, it saves the company a lot of money in overhead, keeps us out of day-to-day traffic, and saves us all on gas and other transportation costs. . We have offices where we have team meetings and can meet with clients, but we don't have to be there on a daily basis.
Each of us a provided a "virtual office." A couple of tools we use are "Docusign.com" (https://www.docusign.net) and "ExtremeFax.com" (http://www.extremefax.com). My company provides these to all of our agents. Docusign is a website developed by attorneys which allows you and your clients to sign documents online. It's easy to use and save your clients and you lots of time and gas. I don't use them to replace face-to-face contact, but when you are dealing with multiple counter-offers, it comes in really handy.
Extremefax and similar services allow you send and receive faxes on your computer. It's environmentally friendly because it saves on toner and paper, saves money, and keeps your documents from becoming illegible after multiple faxes.
I think the key to making telecommuting work, is staying in contact via email in fax with our brokers and fellow agents. Working from home may not work for everyone, but for us, it's fabulous! It may be perfect for you, too!
