System for performing real-estate transactions over a computer network using participant templates
View Patent ↗A system for facilitating electronic transactions among participants to a transaction is afforded that comprises a server having a software application stored thereon, one or more databases associated with the server for storing transactional data and documents relating to the transactions, and one or ignore client computer systems connected with the server for remotely accessing the transactional data and documents pertaining to the transactions and for performing particular tasks relating to the transactions. The software application is logically segmented into particular sites for controlling the functionality of the electronic transactions, and each site has a set of associated templates for managing information about the transactions. The templates control the business rules and functionality of the transactions. Preferably, the templates are grouped according to particular categories, such as transaction types, data forms, transaction data, participants rules, services rules, and documents. Each template includes one or more data fields pertaining to parametric data about an aspect of the transaction and wherein each field is associated with a permissions parameter indicating a particular participant's ability to interact with the data maintained in the field. The permissions parameter indicates a participant's ability to view, modify, or delete the data maintained in the field.
1. A computer-assisted real estate transaction system comprising:
a server, a plurality of client computer systems coupled to the server, a plurality of participants using the clients, the participants each having one of a plurality of predetermined roles in a real estate transaction;
a real estate transaction software application stored on the server and operable to selectively display real estate transaction data to and receive real estate transaction data from the participants;
at least one real estate transaction database coupled to the server and coupled to the real estate transaction software application for storing real estate transaction data; and
the real estate transaction software application being logically segmented into a plurality of cobrand sites with each of the plurality of cobrand sites having at least one set of real estate transaction templates for managing information about particular real estate transactions and controlling the business rules and functionality of the last said real estate transactions, the at least one set of real estate transaction templates including all three of transaction types templates, data forms templates, and transaction data templates, the transaction types templates each being provided for a respective type of real estate transaction and determining which of the data forms templates are available for the associated type of real estate transaction, the data forms templates each defining core transaction data pertaining to a particular transaction and specifying field-level access rights by the participants to the data in accordance with a participant's role in the transaction.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data forms templates comprise one or more grouped data fields pertaining to a particular aspect of the transaction.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein each template includes one or more data fields pertaining to parametric data about an aspect of the transaction and wherein each field is associated with a permissions parameter controlling a particular participant's ability to interact with the data maintained in the field.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the permissions parameter controls a participant's ability to view, modify, or delete the data maintained in the field.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the templates are nested within other templates.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the real estate transaction templates further include documents templates which determine which documents are needed for a particular type of real estate transaction and what access various participants to the transaction have to those documents templates.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the real estate transaction templates further include “to do list” templates used by participants and including “to do” items which need to be performed in the real estate transaction.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the server is coupled to the client computer systems through the world wide web, the real estate software application being linked to the world wide web through the plurality of cobrand sites.
9. A computer-assisted real estate transaction system comprising:
a server, a plurality of client computer systems coupled to the server, a plurality of participants using the clients, the participants each having one of a plurality of predetermined roles in a real estate transaction;
a real estate transaction software application stored on the server and operable to selectively display real estate transaction data to and receive real estate transaction data from the participants;
at least one real estate transaction database coupled to the server and coupled to the real estate transaction software application for storing real estate transaction data; and
the real estate transaction software application being logically segmented into a plurality of cobrand sites with each of the plurality of cobrand sites having at least one set of real estate transaction templates for managing information about particular real estate transactions and controlling the business rules and functionality of the last said real estate transactions, the at least one set of real estate transaction templates including transaction types templates, data forms templates, transaction data templates and participants rules templates, the transaction types templates each being provided for a respective type of real estate transaction and determining which of the data forms templates are available for the associated type of real estate transaction, the data forms templates each defining core transaction data pertaining to a particular transaction and specifying field-level access rights by the participants to the data in accordance with a participant's role in the transaction and the participants rules templates identifying types of participants which can be parties to a real estate transaction.
10. A computer-assisted real estate transaction system comprising:
a server, a plurality of client computer systems coupled to the server, a plurality of participants using the clients, the participants each having one of a plurality of predetermined roles in a real estate transaction;
a real estate transaction software application stored on the server and operable to selectively display real estate transaction data to and receive real estate transaction data from the participants;
at least one real estate transaction database coupled to the server and coupled to the real estate transaction software application for storing real estate transaction data; and
the real estate transaction software application being logically segmented into a plurality of cobrand sites with each of the plurality of cobrand sites having at least one set of real estate transaction templates for managing information about particular real estate transactions and controlling the business rules and functionality of the last said real estate transactions, the at least one set of real estate transaction templates including transaction types templates, data forms templates, transaction data templates and services rules templates, the transaction types templates each being provided for a respective type of real estate transaction and determining which of the data forms templates are available for the associated type of real estate transaction, the data forms templates each defining core transaction data pertaining to a particular transaction and specifying field-level access rights by the participants to the data in accordance with a participant's role in the transaction and the services rules templates determining which type of participant can order which of a predetermined number of services used in the course of completing a real estate transaction.