Save a tree, kill a realtor

OK not really.
Realtors are fine.

Where I am going with this is here.
We just had Earth day, remember? We talked about how many of us use "real" shopping bags, and recycle. Cami wants to become the queen composter.
I do believe one person can make a difference. And we are a bunch of one people.
Why then, when you make a bid on a house, is a shit load of paper generated? Wanna kill a tree? Make a bid on a house.
And thats just the BID! Something that may not even go through!
(Yes, we made an offer. On this house. No jinx, no jinx!)
The amounts of paper this generated was staggering to me. The contracts are horribly long, and boring. And confusing. Its almost like divorcing someone you were never married to. "Buyer pays for this, seller pays for that" ect ect.
What happened to the day where we could go up to the house we wanted, and trade it for our mule, a bushel of corn, and our firstborn child?
Or at least simply say "here is what we will offer, take it, or leave it".
My realtor would have had me baking cookies for the seller if she thought we could get away with it. She even had me write him a personal note thanking him for letting us view his house, and telling him what we liked about it! (He is a difficult seller, and prone to emotion, supposedly. We want him to "like" us. He needs to like us so that he will agree to the offer we just made. And the offer we just made? Pretty much what he is asking. (Because he is asking a really reasonable price for the house.)
People keep telling me "this is just the beginning". I get that. I am going to be signing contracts in triplicate until Mustang Girl graduates from highschool probably. But why?
Here is my idea. Computerized contracts, with just one piece of paper. The signature page. The hospitals are so keen on becoming "paperless" that we manage to chart, and give care plans to all our patients using a computer, that does not involve paper. Why not realtors? Granted, because of silly people wanting to see things on paper, the whole chart is printed evenually anyhow (don't even get me started) but if we kept updating an offer on a house electronically, and then, MAYBE printed the final contract at the end of the bidding war/process/torture, who would it hurt? Certainly not the trees. Oh, did I mention there is a really pretty dogwood tree in front of that house?

*bear with me folks, I am probably going to be very boring while we are house searching*

In other news, we are leaving for a short trip at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow morning. So I am going to toss up Mieography Friday, AND Short Story Saturday this evening....
unless my realtor has other ideas.......