8 Ways Paperless Pipeline Outperforms Real Estate Spreadsheets 

Most realtors use real estate spreadsheets when first starting out. 

The reasons behind this are clear: spreadsheets are powerful, flexible tools that are often free (think Google Sheets) or included in popular office software suites (like Microsoft 365’s Excel).

However, spreadsheets’ weaknesses begin to show once your business gains momentum. 

If you’re managing a pipeline of leads and multiple transactions, you need something that can do more than simply hold information and make calculations. 

That’s where Paperless Pipeline comes in. Our software was designed for real estate professionals, helping them to overcome common efficiency and data security issues. 

This article explains why using Paperless Pipeline to manage your real estate business beats using spreadsheets hands down. 

What is Paperless Pipeline?

Paperless Pipeline is comprehensive transaction management software built specifically for real estate brokers, teams, and transaction coordinators. 

It eliminates the inefficiencies of traditional tools like spreadsheets by providing a centralized platform to effortlessly:

  • Manage deals
  • Organize documents
  • Track tasks

With features like real-time collaboration, automated workflows, and built-in compliance tools, Paperless Pipeline simplifies even the most complex transactions. 

Accessible from any device, it’s designed to keep agents productive whether they’re in the office or on the go. 

By streamlining processes and reducing administrative burdens, Paperless Pipeline empowers real estate professionals to focus on what they do best—closing deals and serving clients.

Real Estate Spreadsheets: The Pros

Paperless Pipeline is the better option for most real estate professionals. However, spreadsheets have their pros—here are a few examples: 

✅ A cost-effective option for beginners

✅ Can be used to make complex calculations

✅ Can be used to make useful tools (with a bit of technical knowledge)

✅ Easy-to-use data storage tool

✅ Flexible enough for a range of uses, including:

  • Lead management
  • Tracking and calculating commissions
  • Keeping notes
  • Tracking transactions and closings
  • Store checklists
  • Projecting and reporting sales, cash flow, net operating income and other financial metrics

The Downsides of Realtors Using Spreadsheets

The problems with spreadsheets occur once your brokerage begins to grow. You’ll likely be dealing with multiple:

  • Staff members
  • Deals
  • Processes
  • Spreadsheets

This complexity causes problems like:

Data duplication

Let’s say someone makes a copy of a spreadsheet and starts working from it instead of the original. Now you have two versions of your data—and both are wrong.

Inconsistencies

Individual staff may record data differently. This is a nightmare when it comes to merging data or creating reports. You waste time fixing these inconsistencies.  

Gaps and mistakes

Some of your staff may not be as meticulous as others. This can lead to wasted time chasing missing or indecipherable information. 

Difficulty tracking tasks

Using spreadsheets to track tasks relies on people to update them. If they forget to do this, then transaction management becomes challenging. This can lead to critical tasks being missed and transactions falling through. 

Wasting time trying to figure things out

Because spreadsheets can do so many things, they can be complex. Even doing simple things can be difficult if you’re unfamiliar with them. 

Documents and other external resources can go missing

You can’t store documents and other external transaction resources in a spreadsheet—meaning it’s easy to lose them. You can link to their location in the cloud, but what if they are moved? 

Audit panics

Sooner or later you’ll be told to present your transaction history and documents to auditors. If you’re using spreadsheets, you’ll likely experience several days of panic. You’ll spend your time merging data, chasing missing documents and information and trying to fix errors in time for the audit. 

Worse still, it’s difficult to prove what changes were made to your data, as well as why and when. This makes it difficult to prove accountability to auditors. 

You probably recognize these issues if you run a brokerage and use spreadsheets to manage your processes. 

In the next section, we explain how Paperless Pipeline solves all of them.  

8 Reasons Paperless Pipeline Beats Spreadsheets Hands Down 

Paperless Pipeline is a game-changer for managing real estate transactions.

That’s because, unlike spreadsheets, it is purpose-built to solve the challenges facing real estate brokerages—like juggling multiple transactions, staying compliant, and keeping everything running smoothly.

With Paperless Pipeline, you get a centralized system that keeps all your data in one place, so you’re not wasting time hunting through scattered spreadsheets. 

It’s built for teamwork too, letting your whole team collaborate in real time without worrying about overwriting information or losing track of changes. 

Plus, it takes care of repetitive tasks automatically and offers features designed just for real estate, like commission tracking and compliance management.

The result is simpler, faster, and far less stressful transaction management. You’ll spend less time juggling spreadsheets and more time closing deals, scaling your business and delivering great service to your clients.

Let’s look at some of the benefits it has over spreadsheets in detail:

1. Enhanced document management

One of the standout features of Paperless Pipeline is its ability to streamline document management. 

Unlike spreadsheets, which can only link to documents, Paperless Pipeline provides a secure cloud-based central repository where all transaction-related documents can be uploaded, organized, and accessed directly.

Documents that can be stored include:

  • Contracts
  • Disclosures
  • Inspection reports
  • Closing statements

These documents are not just stored—they’re categorized and associated with specific transactions, making them simple to locate whenever needed. 

This eliminates the frustration of hunting through email threads, local folders, or cloud storage platforms to find vital paperwork.

And because they’re centralized, there’s no need for anyone to make copies. This avoids problems arising from duplicated data. 

2. Simplified compliance and audit trails

Paperless Pipeline makes maintaining audit trails for all transactions easy, ensuring compliance and painless audits.

Every action is automatically logged and time-stamped, creating a real-time audit trail. This covers all actions, including uploading a document, marking a task as complete, or revising a transaction detail. This transparency ensures compliance but requires zero effort from you and your team.

As mentioned previously, all documents are stored in a centralized location and linked to their corresponding transactions. This makes it easy for you to find them during an audit.

3. User-friendly interface

It can take years to learn to use spreadsheets effectively. Even then, their capabilities are limited. 

Paperless Pipeline’s interface is designed to be easy for real estate professionals to learn and use. 

New team members can be onboarded quickly, promoting higher adoption rates among agents.

Also, we foster a supportive user culture, ensuring our customers get the best out of Paperless Pipeline and assisting with common questions and new features. Plus our support team is available daily to answer your questions.

4. Automated checklists and reminders

Spreadsheets can’t do anything beyond storing information and making calculations. It’s up to you to remember to use this information at the right time.

This leaves space for deadlines to be missed or important tasks to be forgotten.

Paperless Pipeline helps you avoid this by automating transaction management.

For example, it can:

  • Generate reminders for due dates
  • Update task checklists
  • Auto-fill critical information
  • Make automatic commission calculations

Paperless Pipeline also sets required fields so critical information isn’t missed. For instance, if a user forgets to add a status to the transaction they’re working on, Paperless Pipeline will warn them and stop them from saving it. 

5. Commission management

Calculating commissions and ensuring they are paid to the right people at the right time is an ongoing headache for brokers.

Spreadsheets are great for making basic commission calculations. But things become complicated when you cross commission thresholds or need to pay different splits to several agents. 

Paperless Pipeline’s Commission Module makes this easy. Simply tell it each agent’s commission split, plus any fees involved and it automatically calculates everything for you. 

You can then issue a commission disbursement authorization to all parties in just a few clicks—how many spreadsheets do you know that can do that?!

6. Integration capabilities

Spreadsheets often involve you having to copy and paste large quantities of information into other tools and software. Not only is this slow, but it also increases the likelihood of error.

Paperless Pipeline integrates seamlessly with the platforms and tools your team already uses, including:

CRMs: Leads from your CRM can quickly and easily be converted into live transactions.

Cloud-based document storage systems: This includes Dropbox or Google Drive. Agents can directly upload, organize, and access transaction documents within the platform, creating a seamless workflow without switching between tools.

Digital signature tools: Your agents can continue using their favorite digital signature tools, like DocuSign.

Accounting software: Closed transactions can automatically be recorded in accounting software packages like Xero to ensure you stay in the IRS’s good books!

These integrations enhance productivity and ensure data consistency across systems.

7. Permission management

Most modern spreadsheets enable you to set who can view and edit them. But it’s often not flexible enough for modern brokerages.

Paperless Pipeline takes this to the next level, enabling you to set different levels of access.

For example, you can choose to give different permission levels to brokers, admins and agents. You can also ensure certain parts of the business can’t see transactions at all—this is useful if you have multiple branches or business areas and want to keep them separate. This is also useful during audits, as you can prove your data is secure.

8. Time and cost savings

This is an overall result of all the benefits above. By reducing your team’s admin requirements, Paperless Pipeline helps you achieve significant savings in time and operational costs compared to spreadsheets.

It’s affordable too. Unlike other transaction management systems, we offer unlimited users and charge based on how many transactions you close—meaning you pay less during the tough times. A brokerage closing 40 transactions per month will pay just $200.

This price includes all the setup and training you’ll need and unlimited storage.

Ready to Improve Your Brokerage’s Efficiency? Switch to Paperless Pipeline

Spreadsheets like Google Sheets and Excel are great for real estate professionals who are just starting out. 

But if you’re running a busy brokerage, then you need a purpose-built, intuitive platform that simplifies workflows, enhances collaboration, and ensures your brokerage runs smoothly—no matter how complex or busy things get.

If you’re tired of juggling spreadsheets and dealing with inefficiencies, it’s time to make the switch. With Paperless Pipeline, you’ll save time, reduce stress, and provide the seamless service your clients expect.

Take your real estate business to the next level. Register for a two-week free trial and experience the difference for yourself!