What if you could close without so much paper?

hese days, you can use a computer to order an entire wardrobe without trying on clothes first. You could earn a college degree without ever setting foot in a classroom. Or buy a car without stepping onto the lot.

But while so many transactions can be completed electronically, buying a house has remained rooted in the world of paper -- reams of it, in fact, as anyone who has sat through a tedious closing ceremony could attest to.

The real estate industry has been slow to adopt change, and homeowners and buyers are still wary of putting such important financial information online.

``The technology is there," said Mark Lesswing , vice president of the National Association of Realtors' Center for Realtor Technology. ``It's mostly making everybody feel comfortable with the process."

Already buyers and sellers are doing much on their own to speed the process along the electronic highway. Consumers often begin house-hunting by shopping listings on the Internet, using search engines, for example, to zero in on potential properties by geography, price, and other variables. Sellers, meanwhile, are posting pictures, even virtual video tours online, and using mapping functions and other computer aids to highlight a property's amenities.

Now, other pieces of the home-buying transaction are moving online, too.

Brokers in the Massachusetts Association of Realtors can use Transaction Live, a system that allows buyers and sellers to post key documents, such as inspection reports and disclosures, on a central site that all parties are given controlled access to. A purchase-and-sale agreement can be posted, for example, and simultaneously reviewed from different locations by the buyer, the seller, and their lawyers. The system also tracks deadlines and can alert users to complete pending tasks.

The idea, brokers say, is to still the cycle of blurry faxes that has become a common characteristic of buying a house, and to keep the process more organized. It's a service that brokers say many customers are asking for.

``The buyers and sellers are more computer-savvy these days," said broker Corinne Fitzgerald, who is based in Greenfield.

Transaction Live, however, is limited. It doesn't process mortgage approvals or convey payments, for example. Perhaps most symbolically for buyers and sellers, the tiresome need to manually sign so many documents at a closing is not yet eliminated, in large part because electronic signatures are not widely in use.

Still, the realtors association estimated that more than 2,300 transactions have been put online since April 2005, when it launched Transaction Live. The system is used only by the association's members, although other brokers may use different online systems. Right now, customers interested in using the system would have to ask brokers if it is available.

So far, Massachusetts is one of the few states where realtors associations have launched statewide programs that make it possible for buyers, sellers, brokers, and attorneys from all over to be working off the same document set. In other states, groups of brokers might get together to use individual management systems that can be different from group to group, Lesswing said.

Jen Bresciano used the online transaction system to manage some of the paperwork for the home she and her husband bought in Greenfield last year. She said it was far more convenient, for example, to review revisions to their purchase agreement online.

But Bresciano conceded she had some initial qualms about how many people would have access to her files.

``It felt like my information was at everyone else's fingertips," she said.

While she ultimately had no trouble, Bresciano said she wasn't sure she'd feel comfortable with a transaction conducted entirely online. She prefers the formality of sitting down for a final face-to-face, and worries there still could be security issues .

Indeed, with cases of identity theft and computer fraud becoming more well known , many consumers may be hesitant to put the largest transaction in their lives onto an accessible computer system.

Lesswing said there are ways to verify the identity of computer users through, for example, thumbprint scans. That is also a potential means of handling an electronic signature, Lesswing said, along with technology such as the electronic boxes shoppers sometimes use to sign for credit card payments at retail check-outs.

Lesswing concedes that there will always be concerns about hackers' tampering with documents, which will likely make people think twice about buying a house online. But he still believes the process will be electronic sooner rather than later.

``Is it coming?" he said. ``Absolutely."

It is unclear exactly how soon, however, given that so many companies and parties are involved in a housing transaction , and all need to be in agreement on the standards and tools used to computerize the system. For example, Harry Gardner, senior director of industry technology for the Mortgage Bankers Association, said national standards for such things as electronic notarization, to prove that documents weren't signed under duress, and electronic deed recording need to be worked out before the mortgage process can become paperless.

In Lowell, the Middlesex County North Registry of Deeds has been piloting a system that allows borrowers to file a record of their mortgage over the computer, said Richard Howe, register of deeds. Borrowers scan the document in remotely and send it to the registry, which loads the information into its system.

The lending community is slowly preparing for paperless transactions as well.

Steve Adamo , president and chief executive of Citizens Mortgage Corp., said his company would consider providing support to customers for electronic closings if he finds they want the capability.

Meanwhile, brokers who have used Transaction Live said it helps track when documents were received and viewed, which can be used to resolve liability issues.

``We have a permanent record of what we've done, what we've said," said Jeff Hall , an associate broker at RE/MAX Advantage 1 in Worcester.

His office has managed hundreds of online transactions since last summer, and has hired someone to scan and upload documents to the system. Handling those documents the old-fashioned way would have entailed faxing them around to all the parties involved.

``It would have taken a tremendous amount of time and effort," Hall said.

Cathy Cook , who bought a house with her husband and two children in South Deerfield, said the system reminded her when certain tasks needed to be completed. That was especially useful as she prepared to move her family to a new home.

``When you're packing . . . you can't keep track," she said.

Emily Shartin can be reached at eshartin@globe.com.