Interview with Joe Montag_manager, Timios title: an excellent title agency– growing!
BACKGROUND AND BASICS ABOUT TIMIOS:
“Our CEO and management team worked at another title company. The CEO had left in 2008, and the company closed down; 600 people were without a job.
The CEO started Timios with 6 people; we now have 170 employees. We make sure everyone gets paid in a timely manner. We pay biweekly– everything. California, Texas, and the Midwest and East coast are our biggest areas, but we are expanding everywhere. And we are nationwide.
HOW WE HIRE A NOTARY:
When we interview a notary on the phone–and we interview every notary–one of the things we try to do is use acronyms– like the TIL–to be sure they are experienced. For example, we might ask you to “pull the signing HUD, and they might need an approved TIL.” If the notary does not respond in a way that shows familiarity, we dig deeper and ask point blank, “How many signings have you done?” We are not necessarily looking for a great deal of experience, but we are looking for an intelligent response. We would hire a new notary–particularly people from the mortgage industry. Also, for example, we know that notaries in California have passed a good exam and know something. In Texas, it costs less to be a notary, so the people may not be so good. A new notary may know nothing at all, so in Texas we may look for more experience, or quiz notaries a bit more.
OUR STANDARDS FOR NOTARIES:
We talk to every notary who signs up. We also have a special system for preferred vendors– experienced notaries we have worked with. If you come late, have problems with documents–we will rank you lower in the system, and then eventually suspend you. But this does not happen a lot. If notaries show up in flip-flops or poorly dressed– not good.
We have 50 closing specialists who are escrow officers and call the notary when everything is ready to go. They give them their phone number and any specific instructions right before the job. If the closer feels there is a problem with the notary–the way they answer the phone–they will question the notary and say “Is everything ok?” If the notary does not answer well or seems rude or not clear-headed– we may cancel the closing. I tell my closers, “Use your gut.” We are very careful.
The processors are escrow assistants, and they also schedule appointments. The processor will pull up notaries on our list by zip code, ranking, and price. We do not exclude a notary who is the most expensive–but they better be a 99 in ranking. For that, they have to have been on time, have great recommendations from borrowers, and have no errors. If they miss a signature and go back and correct it–no problem. You don’t show up late without calling ahead. It’s about communication, and the willingness to work with us to get it fixed. Sometimes a notary will miss an acknowledgement and then charge us to go back and fix it! We pay; we are not going to argue–but then, we will not use that notary again.
WHY NOTARIES LOVE WORKING WITH TIMIOS:
We provide contact information for the notary, and are always available. We also send out an instruction sheet. When we recruit a notary, we use 123notary all the time– and we ask the notary if they have conducted loan closings, what counties they cover, can they print docs from our website. Everything is done by logging into our website; that way we can see when they downloaded and printed, and when the signing is complete. There is no fee for notaries to sign up with us. We do tell a notary what we pay on average in the area. We do not ask that they lower their fee, but we do say what we generally pay.
All our processors and closers get training. They have worked their way up; we do a lot of on-the-job training. Many processors start out in support, and many closers were once processors. We tend to have long term employees; our turnover is low. We are growing, and we grow organically.
We do not want to be so big (like some of the big name underwriters) that we cannot communicate with people. All the big underwriters set up their own agencies, and they keep their business so there is almost a monopoly, and you get to the point where service isn’t important. We want to address the industry from a customer service view; the client might be the borrower, the seller, the real estate agent, the mortgage broker– and the notary. We want to serve ALL of these. We try to make everyone happy.
We give very clear expectations. And it has paid off. We are trying to build our database. We do not want any negative comments about Timios. Our name, Timios, means “honest” in Greek. It means we have integrity. We are trying to bring that back into the industry.”
You might also like:
Interview with Title Source
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=6553
Interview with a Title Company
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=3724
Low Ball Signing Companies
Low Ball Signing Companies
Notaries are always complaining about low ball signing companies. My advice is to just say yes or no. As long as its quick and they pay you, you have nothing to lose, but your dignity. Sometimes a quick $40 is not so bad. If it takes you an hour or slightly more for the whole affair, that is not bad pay. Just don’t take a low ball job and have to do fax backs, and wait for two hours while the borrower reads each phrase of each page and asks a million questions.
Tough times are here
We are living in tough times, and people in foreign countries live on a quarter of the income you have. They have simpler habits and smaller cars or mopeds. They eat less meat and more beans and rice or “Rad Na” if they live in Thailand. Its better to take what you can get and save up for a rainy day. I used to work for very little. When I was booked, my prices would go up. When things were slow, I would accept jobs for very little, no matter what. My bills didn’t care how many dollars per hour I made. My mistake was not to ask for high amounts of money. Some people and companies will pay you double what you think they will. Just ask. If they say no, then take less if you have to. Its better than starving.
Your lives are not that bad
Assuming you don’t have a health emergency and are not having your life threatened by your local gang, and assuming that a tsunami didn’t visit your neighborhood, your life is not that bad (I’m guessing). As a world traveler, I see how middle class people live in India. Broken roads, clunky cars, the other drivers’ purpose in life is to run you off the road and kill you, food that gives you dysentary, traffic from hell, salaries 20% of what Americans make, expensive rent, cab drivers that always try to rip you off. Just crossing the street in Pune, India is an ordeal that most of you will never have to face. Additionally, they have terrorist attacks on a regular basis and its not safe for women to go out after dark. Few of you have any of these situations to contend with. So, count your blessings. Even in America, I know many who work for minimum wage who ride a bicycle to work through dangerous areas. If you own a car, you are doing better than my bicycle riding friends who can barely pay their rent.
Forum posts on the subject:
The text below is written by notaries, and does not represent the viewpoints of 123notary.com
If you accept $50 signings
If one accepts $50 signings, then it’s obvious one has not taken into account everything that is involved in the signing, from consumables to time to depreciation of equipment ……
http://www.123notary.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2993
Vital Signings
……If you want to support Vital signings be aware YOU will not make any money. After a dozen signings I calculated I made $18.00 per signing. They get the bucks, you don’t.
The best micro-managers in the business. What a pain. They can’t pay me enough to work for them again.
If make an error, they take away YOUR fee and make you pay their fee as well….. (scroll down for this one)
http://www.123notary.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=26
Firma Signing Solutions
…..So, you can imagine how hard my chin hit the floor when he quoted $35.00 for the whole thing! The low ballers fail to remember what all it takes to become adept at this job, you have to know what you’re doing. You’re not “just a notary” but a certified signing agent, which takes training and education to fully understand this process. I will just decline the job if the price doesn’t meet my fees, it’s just not worth it…..
http://www.123notary.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3170
Fax Backs
…. (scroll to the bottom) Has anyone else had jobs recently where they want the whole package faxed back? I have had two from Nations Direct. Of course, as usual, they are low balling the price and then state that the whole package needs to be faxed back. Both times I have told them I will not do a job for their low price, especially with all of the fax backs. Yesterday, for example, they asked me to go 30 miles away with edocs and fax back the whole package for $70. I don’t think so.
http://www.123notary.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3902
Question 2 Price Formula
……Rule of thumb: The lower the offer, the bigger th PITA it will be. It never fails….when you agree to a lower fee, docs will be late, the closing will go awry somehow, you will have a ton of fax-backs and need permission to ship…AND…you’ll wait at least 60 days to get paid the low ball fee. HONEST !! ………
http://www.123notary.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1872
Tweets:
(1) Notaries are always complaining about low-ball signing co’s. Don’t complain, just say no!
(2) We are living in tough times. Maybe those low-ball signing companies keep you from starvation!
(3) Read real stories about four low-ball signing companies.
You might also like:
Good signing companies – a thorough list
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=21091
Getting what is due! A clever plan!
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=3221
Bounced checks, Collection Agencies, FBI reports!
http://blog.123notary.com/?p=1765