Patent ID: 7818219

Claim:
A method of generating on line a contract for a real estate transaction for a particular real estate property and managing a workflow for the contract, the method comprising: collecting and storing, on line and in electronic form, transaction specific information for a real estate contract, the transaction specific information including identities of parties and agents involved with the real estate transaction and a contract price for the real estate transaction; calculating, by a computer, a recommended security deposit based on the contract price; receiving, at the computer, a confirmation that a security deposit has been made by a party; providing, in an electronic format, a real estate contract form; automatically populating, in the computer, the real estate contract form with at least some of the transaction specific information; after receiving the confirmation that the security deposit has been made, automatically generating online, in the computer, responsive to populating the real estate contract form, an electronic file corresponding to the real estate contract for the real estate transaction; sending concurrently, using a web-based service, a notice of the generated electronic file corresponding to the real estate contract to parties and agents in the workflow for the real estate transaction; changing a portion of the transaction specific information in the real estate contract; sending a notice of the changed transaction specific information to next parties in the workflow depending on which party in the workflow is responsible for the changing, wherein read access to the real estate contract is granted to the parties in the workflow, and wherein read/write access to the real estate contract is granted to the buyer and the seller.