File sharing for real estate agents: a handoff plan by job
File sharing for real estate agents, job by job: listing media by link, floor plans that expire, buyer IDs by request.
File sharing for real estate agents comes down to three jobs, and each one needs a different kind of link. Listing media goes from the photographer to the agent and the seller. Floor plans and disclosure packets go to buyers, and they should stop working on a date you choose. Buyer ID and proof of funds come back from buyers. This plan gives each job its own handoff, so a large shoot does not sit in an email thread next to a photo of a passport.
Tarkle covers all three jobs in one place: you share files by link, you set an expiry date or a one-time download on a transfer, and you collect buyer documents with a file request. The pages your sellers and buyers open can carry your logo and colours.
This article is not legal advice. Rules on how long to keep buyer documents, who may see them and how to store them vary by place. Check with your broker or a lawyer before you decide on retention.
Job 1: Listing photos, drone and walkthrough from photographer to agent and seller
The photographer's job is to deliver everything once, in a shape the agent can forward without rework. One link with the folders already in place does that better than three emails with attachments.
Ask the photographer to build the delivery with four folders: Photos, Drone, Video and Floor plans. Put the set in one transfer and send the agent one share files by link link. You pick files or folders, get one link and send it anywhere, and the person downloading does not need an account. The agent can forward that same link to the seller instead of re-uploading anything.
Size is the first thing that breaks. A listing package with drone footage and video can pass 1 GB quickly. Free supports uploads and transfers up to 1 GB each, and Pro and Agency support files up to 200 GB. Send large files is the page for a big shoot: it sends files up to 200 GB with one link on Pro and Agency.
Sellers can look before they download. Preview files in the browser opens more than 100 file formats without downloading them first. If video is a regular part of your deliveries, how to deliver video to clients covers the video side in more detail.
Keep the originals and the web-ready exports in separate folders inside Photos. Check your MLS's own upload rules before the photographer decides what to export, since limits differ by system.
Job 2: Floor plans and disclosure packets to buyers, with an expiry date
Floor plans and disclosure packets are not secret, but they should not circulate forever either. A packet from March should not still open in October, when the price or the terms may have changed.
Send these as a separate transfer from the listing media, so buyers never see the seller's raw photos by accident. Then set an expiry date. Link expiration sets a date after which a transfer or request link stops working. The offer deadline or the end of the open house week both work as that date.
If you want buyers to look at a floor plan without offering a download, a view-only transfer lets people look at files without offering a download. For a document you want opened and used once, a one-time link stops working after its first download. If someone needs a second go, you can issue a fresh link.
Then check transfer status, which shows whether a transfer was delivered, viewed or downloaded. When a buyer's agent says they never got the packet, you can look instead of guessing.
Name each transfer after the address and the audience, such as "14 Oak St disclosure packet, buyers". You will find it in a year, and you will not send the wrong link to the wrong group.
Job 3: Buyer ID and proof of funds through a file request
This is the job that goes wrong most often. Buyers photograph a passport or a bank statement and send it as an attachment, or in a text, and now it lives in three inboxes and a phone. A file request collects files from anyone with one link, into the folder you choose, so the documents land in one place.
Write the instructions, such as "photo ID, both sides, and your most recent proof of funds", and choose the destination folder, for example one folder per property or per buyer. Tell buyers to send only what you listed.
Then set the limits. With deadlines and size limits for requests you set an expiry date, and the link stops accepting files after it. You can also set a size limit in MB or GB for each submission. That limit is the total size one submission can carry, so a buyer whose upload goes over it cannot send that batch. It is not a limit per person or per file.
Give the request a date a day or two after you actually need the documents, so a buyer who is slow to gather them still has time. Closing the request yourself works differently from the deadline: a closed request does not finish an upload, even one that was already running. Once the expiry date passes, a buyer who opens the link cannot start a new upload.
Tell buyers what you will do with the documents and move them to wherever your brokerage keeps transaction records. Whether to keep them, and for how long, is a question for your broker or a lawyer.
Give the request a plain title with the property address and the date you need the documents. Buyers upload faster when the page tells them exactly what to send and by when.
Before a pocket listing goes live: add a password
A pocket listing is shared with a small group before it is public. The risk is a forwarded link. Password protection requires a password before anyone can open a transfer. The recipient enters it once, and the browser remembers it for 30 days. A single file or folder inside a share can also have its own password. Changing the password locks everyone out again, so you can reset access if the group changes.
Send the password by a different channel than the link, such as a text or a phone call, and never in the same email. A password is a speed bump, not a guarantee, so give it only to people who need it. Transfer status shows whether the transfer has been viewed or downloaded.
Make the handoff look like your brokerage
Buyers and sellers are more likely to open a link that looks like it came from you. Tarkle puts your logo, colours and favicon on every transfer page, request page and portal. Custom transfer links let you name a link, like files.yourstudio.com/t/brand-assets, and they are available on Pro.
Free includes a custom domain and custom branding. On Free, a small Powered by Tarkle line stays on your pages, and Pro removes it.
Set up file sharing for real estate agents today
Ask your photographer to deliver in four folders: Photos, Drone, Video and Floor plans, as one link.
Put floor plans and disclosure packets in a separate transfer with an expiry date set to the offer deadline.
Create a file request for buyer documents with a destination folder, a deadline and, if you want, a size limit for each submission.
Add a password to every pocket listing transfer, and send it through a different channel.
Check transfer status before you chase anyone, and ask your broker how long to keep buyer documents.
Start on the Free plan, which is for one person and includes 5 GB of storage. Files over 1 GB need Pro or Agency.
What to remember about Tarkle
Tarkle handles the three real estate jobs in one place: a link for listing media, an expiry date or a one-time download for floor plans and disclosures, and a file request for buyer documents. Free is for one person with 5 GB of storage, and Pro and Agency take files up to 200 GB. Start for free and try it on your next listing.