Link a deal to your transaction platform

Your workspace can use a transaction platform for its deal files. The deal and the transaction stay in step, but nothing changes without a person. Changes from the platform arrive as suggested updates that you accept. Changes from the deal go to the platform only when you select Update.

Some platforms are in testing. While a platform is in testing, only some people can use it. Everyone else sees Coming soon.

Before you start

Create a transaction from a deal

Select Open in the section to prepare and sign documents on the platform. Signing happens there.

Link a transaction you have

Select Link existing. Search by name or address, choose the transaction, then select Link. A transaction that is linked to another deal can't be chosen. One deal links to one transaction.

Find and import from your platform

Search Deals or Contacts, and results from your platform show under your CRM results. Their section has the platform's name, such as From dotloop. The workspace search lists them too, marked with the platform's name.

Search reads a copy of your platform account. The copy updates once a day in the background. Each search also checks your most recently changed transactions. The first copy takes a few minutes. Until it finishes, some results can be missing, and deal imports wait for it.

What the section shows

• The transaction's name and status, in words.

• Who linked it, and when it was last checked.

• How many of its people are on the deal, for example People: 2 of 7 on the deal. Select it to open People.

• The transaction's offer, inspection and occupancy dates, when it has them. These are for your information. The contract says which deadline each date is.

The section has three buttons: Open, Check for changes and Update. The other actions are in the More menu: Add a document, Link again and Unlink. A platform that lets Berchtold copy documents also has Copy documents there.

The person who linked the deal checks it, updates it and adds documents. They use their own account. Other people on the deal see the same section without those actions. A workspace admin can also unlink it.

Changes from the platform

When the transaction changes, Berchtold checks it. Changes usually show within minutes. Berchtold also checks every few hours. Select Check for changes to check now.

Each change becomes a suggested update on the deal. This covers the stage, the price, the contract date, the closing date, the address and new people. It also covers the earnest money, who holds it, each side's commission rate and the property's list price. A commission rate is a percent of the price, for example 2.5. Find them in Next steps at the top of the deal. New people show in People as Suggested. A person who is also in your email shows once, with both sources. Each suggestion says where it came from and quotes its words. Nothing changes until you accept. A suggestion you dismiss does not come back unless the value changes again.

Each check also compares the transaction's people with their contacts, by email. This includes people already on the deal. A name, phone or company that differs shows under the person in People. Select Use to save it on the contact, or Keep contact's. After you keep the contact's value, Update can send it to the platform. See Work with deals and transactions.

If the transaction lists HOA dues, the disclosures checklist shows them with its HOA question. You still answer the question.

The sync status of each field

On a linked deal, each field has a sync icon at its end. The icon compares the deal's value with the transaction's value from its last check.

• Green, with a check: the deal and the transaction have the same value.
• Yellow, with a warning sign: the values differ, or only the deal has a value.
• Gray, with a dash: the field is not synced. The platform has no such field, neither has a value, or Berchtold did not compare it yet.

The price, the contract date and the closing date are compared at each check. So are the earnest money, who holds it, and each side's commission rate. The stage, the property's address and the people are compared too. Fields that the platform does not have, such as financing or your own fields, are gray.

Select an icon to see both values and when the platform was last checked.

Use the platform's value

When the values differ, the window has Use dotloop's value (the button names your platform). Before you select it, read the notice in the window:

• The platform's value replaces the deal's value. The deal's history keeps the old value.
• The value is from the last check. If it may have changed since, select Check for changes first.
• A new contract date moves the deadlines counted from it. A new closing date moves the closing deadline. Tasks and messages due from these dates move with them.
• Nothing changes on the platform. To send the deal's value to the platform instead, use Update.

A suggestion for the same field in Next steps closes when you use the value. The stage, the address and the people do not change from the icon. Use their suggestions in Next steps and People, or Update.

You need permission to edit the deal. An outside transaction coordinator can use the platform's value only for dates and earnest money.

Documents

Documents lists every file in one table: the deal's own files and the transaction's documents. The Source column says Uploaded, or the platform's name.

The transaction's documents stay on the platform. Each one shows as In the platform. Select Open on its row to see it there. Berchtold reads the names of the documents. It uses them for the disclosures checklist and the earnest money receipt.

Some platforms let Berchtold copy documents to the deal. Then Berchtold copies each document and picks a category from the folder and file names. A new version is copied again. A copy that you delete from the deal is not copied back. Files over 25 MB are not copied.

To add a deal document to the transaction, use Add to on the document in Documents. You can also use Add a document in the More menu next to Transaction in the header. Choose the folder, then select Add. The platform takes PDF files.

The current version of each document

A transaction can hold the same document more than once. For example, it can hold a blank form and the signed copy. It can also hold a rejected counteroffer and an accepted one.

Berchtold groups the documents by what they are. It shows the current version of each one. It reads only the names, folders and dates. The row says why it is current, for example Current version: fully signed. A counteroffer that is in effect says In effect. Each counteroffer and amendment stays on its own row.

Select Older versions on a row to see the other versions under it. If Berchtold chose wrong, you can change it:

• Select This is the current one on an older version.
• Select Not a duplicate if it is a different document. It gets its own row.
• Select Undo to let Berchtold choose again.

You need permission to edit the deal. The deal's history records each change.

Update the platform from the deal

Unlink

Select Unlink and confirm. The transaction stays on the platform. Documents already copied stay on the deal. Suggestions from the transaction stop.

When something needs attention

• Sign-in expired: connect again from the section or from Your connections. Checks wait until you do.
• Updates are off: the platform stopped sending changes. Connect again to turn them back on. Until then, Berchtold checks every few hours.
• Not confirmed: the platform did not confirm a new transaction. Select Check for changes. Berchtold finds it, or lets you create it again after a few minutes.
• Checks stopped: the platform did not return the transaction, for example because it was deleted. Select Check for changes to try again, or unlink it.

You can turn notices about these on or off in Profile settings → Notifications → Linked transactions.