1 Creating Your Transaction

Every transaction in Side — whether a listing, offer, or lease — starts the same way: creating the file in the Side App. This is required by Side regardless of how far along the deal is. Files must be entered within 48 hours of agreement for leases, and before compliance submission for sales.

1. On the Side App home screen, click Create Listing in the top left.
2. Enter the property address — make sure to select it from the dropdown that appears. This ensures the address is correctly linked to MLS data and populates the right state forms.
3. Complete the Cover Sheet (see Step 2 below).
4. Once the Cover Sheet is filled out, the Documents tab will become active.

1. On the Side App home screen, click Create Offer.
2. Enter the property address and select from the dropdown.
3. Complete the Cover Sheet, then proceed to Documents.

1. Click the Leases tab in the top navigation bar.
2. Click Create Lease Transaction.
3. Select who you are representing: Landlord, Tenant, or Landlord & Tenant. Choose carefully — this cannot easily be changed after the fact (see the Lease section below).
4. Complete all mandatory fields on the Cover Sheet, then move to Documents.

2 The Cover Sheet

The Cover Sheet is the foundation of every transaction. Every field you fill out here flows automatically into the documents you'll send for signature — so accuracy here saves you significant rework later.

3 Documents & Templates

Once your Cover Sheet is complete, state and locale-approved documents automatically populate in the Documents section based on the property location. You don't need to search for standard forms — they surface automatically.

Active vs. Inactive Documents

Adding, Uploading & Organizing Documents

• Add a Side-provided template: Click + Documents within Active Documents and choose from Side documents or Side templates.
• Upload your own PDF: Click + Documents → Upload. Files must be under 25MB and must not be encrypted or password-protected.
• Reorder documents: Click and drag documents within Active Documents to change their order in the envelope.
• Rename a document: Click the three dots on any Active or Inactive document → Rename. Documents can only be renamed before being sent.
• Move to Inactive: Click the three dots on the document tile → Move to Inactive.

Auto-Tagging New

Auto-tagging automatically adds signature, initial, and date fields to uploaded documents — saving you the time of placing each tag by hand.

• How it works: When you upload an eligible document, the Side App scans it and displays a banner prompting you to auto-tag. Click the banner to apply tags automatically.
• Currently supported: Offer packages uploaded to an offer on a listing. Other document types are not yet supported.
• What gets tagged: Signature, initial, and date fields only. Other field types (text boxes, terms, etc.) must still be placed manually.
• Can you edit after? Yes — auto-tagging adds a suggested set of tags. You can add, move, or delete any tags manually before sending.
• Document not recognized? If Side can't identify the document, the auto-tag banner won't appear. Tag it manually using the Tag option in the document menu.

Document Validation New

Document validation checks your documents for errors before you send — catching issues that could cause compliance rejections or signing problems downstream.

Custom Templates

Custom templates let you pre-configure a set of documents, pre-fill fields, and set a consistent signing order for transaction types you run regularly.

• Templates are shared with all agents in your company by default, or can be set to private.
• Only the original creator can edit a template — if you need changes, coordinate with whoever made it.
• If templates aren't appearing in a transaction, confirm the template was created for that specific transaction type and state.
• When new document versions are released, update your template by adding the new version and removing the old one.

4 Sending for Signatures

When your Active Documents are complete and ready, click Prepare Envelope to initiate the signing process.

Prepare Envelope Options

Setting Signing Order

After clicking Prepare Envelope, you can toggle signing order for recipients. Recipients assigned the same order number receive the envelope simultaneously. The lowest-numbered signer goes first — when they sign, the next recipient is notified automatically.

After Sending

• Send a reminder: Go to Documents → click the bell icon to the right of the sent envelope → edit the message and click Send.
• Edit a sent envelope: You cannot edit a sent document directly. Duplicate the envelope (three dots → Duplicate), make your corrections in Active Documents, then resend. The original sent envelope cannot be updated — it must be duplicated.
• Void an envelope: Go to Sent Envelopes → three dots → Void Envelope. Note: voiding is only available for unsigned or partially signed envelopes. Fully signed documents cannot be voided.

5 Managing Offers Listing Side

Once your listing is live and the Cover Sheet is complete, you can receive and manage offers directly in the Offers tab of your listing.

Adding Offers to Your Listing

1. Open your listing and click the Offers tab in the left navigation (or click Go To Offers from the Cover Sheet).
2. Click Add Offer and fill in the offer details and buyer information.
3. Upload the offer PDF documents in the Offer Documents section.

Responding to an Offer

Open any offer and click Respond to Offer. You have three options:

The Counter Offer Flow

When the buyer responds to your counter, the status moves to Buyer Countered. At this point you can Accept, Reject, Counter again, or choose Respond Later — which updates the offer details and gives you time to review without committing to a response immediately.

After Acceptance

Once you accept an offer, remaining offers in the Offers tab stay visible for reference. If the accepted offer later cancels, you can go back and respond to previously rejected offers. The Closing Date and Sale Price fields (now live in Offer Details) must be updated to reflect the agreed-upon terms before proceeding to Compliance.

6 Submitting an Offer Buyer Side

When representing a buyer, your workflow lives in the Offer transaction. Once your documents are prepared and signed, you generate and send the offer package to the listing agent directly from the Side App.

MLS Autofill

The Side App now automatically pulls property data from the MLS to pre-fill your Cover Sheet — no manual MLS number entry needed in most cases. Here's how it works and what to know:

• How it finds your listing: When you enter a property address, the Side App searches connected MLS feeds and automatically matches it. If found, data populates without you needing to enter an MLS number.
• How long it takes: MLS data typically appears within a few minutes of the listing going live on the MLS. If it doesn't appear right away, wait a short time and refresh.
• What fills in automatically: Property details, listing agent information, and other MLS-sourced data. The following fields will never auto-fill and must be entered manually: Seller's agent license number, seller's agent brokerage license number, APN, and legal description.
• Will it overwrite what I've entered? No — MLS Autofill will not overwrite information you've already entered manually.
• Can I still enter manually? Yes — if the autofill doesn't find your listing or you prefer to enter data yourself, the manual entry option is still available.
• Added photos to the MLS but they're not showing? Photo updates from the MLS can take time to sync. If photos aren't reflecting after a reasonable wait, contact help@side.com with the property address and MLS ID.

Sending the Offer Package

1. Make sure your offer documents are signed and in order in your Active Documents section.
2. Click Generate Offer. A window opens showing all documents sent from the Side App, grouped by envelope.
3. The Side App selects the first envelope by default. Scroll down and deselect any envelopes you do not want included in the package.
4. Select any additional documents to include, then click Generate.
5. Click the envelope icon — if Gmail is your default, you'll be directed to a new email draft with the offer package attached, addressed to the listing agent.

7 Lease Transactions Lease

Leases follow the same general workflow as sales — Cover Sheet, Documents, Compliance, Commission — but have several important differences.

Representation Types

Lease Payment Process

1. Create the lease transaction in the Side App and complete Compliance Review.
2. Upload all required documents to the compliance checklist.
3. Create the lease invoice for payment processing (found in the Documents step of your Side App transaction).
4. Forward the lease invoice to the payer. Ask them to reference your name and full property address (including unit number) when remitting payment to Side.
5. In the Side App, open the property, click Commission Form, and attach the lease invoice to initiate the payment submission request.
6. Side disburses your commission upon receipt of funds from the payer.

8 Referrals All Transaction Types

If you are sending or receiving a client referral, the Referral Fee Agreement (RFA) must be created in the Side App. Referrals apply to sale and lease transactions alike.

Where to Find the Referral Tool

Log into the Side App → click the Community tab → select Client Referrals. You can create sending and receiving referrals from this page, and with the right permissions, can create referrals on behalf of team members.

Creating a Referral

1. Navigate to Client Referrals and select the direction of the referral (sending or receiving).
2. Enter the required details — the referral agreement will be generated automatically with the information you provide.
3. Review the agreement, add any remaining details, and send for signature.

After the RFA is Signed

• If you are the transacting agent: Provide the fully executed RFA to your TC to load into the compliance audit tool. When the transaction nears closing, the TC should include the RFA when submitting the payment distribution request so your referrer gets paid.
• If you are the referring agent: Follow up with the transacting agent to track the status of your referral. You can see the transaction status in the Side App once the transacting agent creates the file — but no other transaction data is visible to you.

New Build Referrals

When referring a client to a builder, a new build referral must be entered in the Side App as an Offer transaction. For compliance, the following documents must be uploaded: a fully executed contract, a Co-op broker agreement (also called Agent Registration & Referral Fee Agreement or Builder Commission Agreement), and the final closing statement/closing package.

9 Compliance Review

Compliance Review is Side's in-app document review process. Before you can be paid on any transaction, your file must pass compliance. This section covers the essentials — for a full walkthrough see the Compliance Review Master Guide.

Starting Compliance Review

1. Open your transaction's Cover Sheet and click "Ready for Compliance Review."
2. Complete all action items on the left side of the compliance screen (e.g. Prepare Listing or Add Accepted Offer).
3. Attach required documents to the checklist on the right side. Required items are marked with an *asterisk.
4. Click Submit — the Side Compliance team will begin reviewing within 48 hours.

Key Rules by Transaction Type

10 Getting Paid

After compliance is complete, the final step is submitting your commission form and receiving your payout. This section is a brief overview — for full details see the Commissions & Payouts Master Guide.

Dual Representation: Representing Both Sides

When you represent both buyer and seller (or landlord and tenant) in the same transaction, the workflow requires a few specific steps.

Sale Transactions (Buyer + Seller)

• Create both a Listing and an Offer transaction in the Side App — one for each side.
• Use the Listing to send documents to the seller and to submit for compliance (checking the "represents both sides" box generates two commission forms).
• Use the Offer to send documents to the buyer, then download and upload those signed documents into the Listing file.
• Submit two commission forms — one for the buyer side, one for the seller side.

Lease Transactions (Landlord + Tenant)

• Select Landlord & Tenant representation when creating the lease — this keeps everything in one file.
• One compliance submission and one commission form covers both sides.

Troubleshooting