I am told I am an electronic junkie and a geek.  I anxiously await the newest gadget and spend hours learning how to use them.  I guess we all have our own take on technology. I love new technology, UNTIL IT CRASHES 

Having lived through more computer crashes in my office than I care to remember ( all of which cost me huge sums of money) there are days when I wish for the more simplified way we used to do business.  Typewriters are relatively easy to fix.

While I do love the ease of using computers for all things related to putting a closing package together, I remind people every day that you must also know how to do everything manually just in case. Do you have any idea how many "processors" have no idea how to read a HUD-1?  They take what the computer spits out and assume that it is correct.  What if they had to do a HUD-1 on the typewriter and manually make adjustments for such thing as taxes, etc. do they know how?  What if they have to prepare a Deed or any other document "from scratch" can they?  I believe that all staff members need to know how these documents are created so that they can better understand the document that the computer spits out. I also believe that all members of my staff need to know how to do take a file from opening to closing.  Cross training has become a lost art and I find it disturbing when I call into an office for information relating to a particular aspect of a closing and I am told that I must be re-routed to the committment department, HUD-1 preparation department or title clearance department.  This is bad business in my opinion. A call to my office will get you to ONE person who knows everything about the file in question. (in the worst case you will be re-routed one time, to ME)  I don't like to be redirected to voice mail hell or run around hell and thus refuse to subject my clients to that.  But that's just the way I see it.