I love doing loans signings, and have done them for ten years. I have been in Real Estate for 30 years, but I like the loan signings better. I’ve met all kinds of people, and the NSA has a chance to help them all.
RE new NSAs: Notaries have to know when to keep their mouth shut. If there is something on the loan docs the borrower wants to know about, always give them a general answer– but if you say the wrong thing, forget it!
For instance, a notary could say “I can get you a better interest rate!” But we don’t know why those figures are there– why the person has the rate he/ she has. Don’t comment! That particular loan can fold. But the notary may not know the workings of the escrow to get it to that point. ALWAYS have the borrowers contact the Loan Officer. I am old enough to know that if that borrower is so upset, I can handle it.
You can look around the home and know how to handle the signing. For example, at Christmas, I went to a home where the borrower was disgusted. They were packing to go on a trip, and a lot of things were set up to go. They had a baby. That tells me “Say some reassuring things.” I mother them. The loan had taken 7 months, and it was Christmas eve day. It had taken so long! I told her I understood, and that I could leave if she wanted me to. She saw I was experienced and that I cared, and she calmed down and signed. She might not have signed for another notary.
One time a borrower did not show for about 30 mins– there was a girlfriend living in the house, and there was a wife– the man was buying her out! I had to tell them to stop the bad language, and she was also afraid that he was going to take all the money. I said “I’m out of here”— but then they calmed down and signed. A new notary would have panicked and left. But I got them to sign: their marriage was over, and they needed the money. I did a reverse mortgage for a man who sold Fuller Brush. The man wanted to read it all– three hours! I looked around the house, and he had nothing there! He didn’t even have enough income to support himself and his disabled son. I knew he needed the loan and I let him read. I asked him “Do you know what I just read?” He didn’t. I had to make him understand what the APR is (briefly; a generic answer–like you have on 123notary–in the Ninja book.) After the signing, he came to the house and handed my daughter a $50 gift certificate. He was so grateful. This was years ago.
Every situation is different. You need to adapt to that situation. You are doing the borrower a disservice if you just point and sign.
You should also never backdate. There is always someone who will talk if you do something wrong. The only person who is not going to talk is me. But you can never trust the company not to come back to blame you in the future–so don’t backdate!
These borrowers are real people– not just numbers. Be sure you know about the documents!
Instead of taking low-ball offers — take a course and study the loan documents! This will give you a lot of business. You do not need to take low offers to start out. Your printer and computer, phone, car insurance, gas– all these come out of what you make. You can’t print and do all this and do a loan for $60.
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A Notary Union — how would that work?
One Notary wanted a Notary Union. But, would a union help? What would happen? He wanted rates fixed at $150 per signing. It’s not legal to fix rates and $150 is too high.
Contracts
Signing companies would have to sign a contract with the union if they wanted to get some of the better veteran signing agents. Most or many veterans would join the union. The companies that hired union Notaries would only be able to hire union Notaries, and with a long term contract at ridiculous prices. Meanwhile the non-union signing companies would be able to hire anyone who wasn’t a union Notary. The problem here is that Title companies are only willing to pay so much. And if the union had a meeting where they were going to raise their rate to $160 per signing, they would virtually put the signing company out of business.
This is similar to what happened with car manufacturers and manufacturing in the Midwest which moved permanently to China leaving the union guys without a job at all. Unions helped certain Midwesterners and people in other parts of the country make extra money for about two or three decades by artificially controlling market conditions — and then the mother companies discovered a place called Asia and the party was over which led to mass unemployment.
Union Fees
Notaries would have to pay union fees, and go to union meetings. Very few Notaries make it to the NNA annual conference, so how will they make it to meetings? Notaries have so little money already, how will they pay fees? Most are not even full-time?
Corruption
Unions basically give privelege to a few of the workers, but do not help workers as a whole. In Boston in the 1980’s, certain more established classes of workers gained privelege to union jobs while Blacks and Puerto Ricans were generally left out until affirmative action became more prevelant. There is also a lot of power politics going in within unions for control. To me, unions are mafia-like power grabbing organizations which force companies to pay an elite group of workers above market level wages. This leaves those without social favor out of the picture and bankrupts companies in the long run. In the long run unions lead to unemployment, unfairness and misery.
The Solution
So, what is the solution to unfair wages? Markets! Fair and open markets solve all wage related problems. With open markets you get paid what you are worth. The problems the Notaries are facing these days is that there are lots of unskilled people who can do Notary work. They might not do a good job, but they can function with guidance. The skills of highly skilled Notaries are no longer valued like in the old days, and that is why the market hires too many unskilled Notaries and doesn’t pay the worthwhile Notaries enough — at least until signing companies come to their senses.
The Cause of the Problem
Part of the reason this is the case is because there are SO FEW highly skilled and reliable Notaries, that you can’t base your business model on only hiring the best. You might get a few “best” notaries, and the rest will be slouches! That is not a consistent business model. Most Notaries on 123notary just don’t know their documents, don’t know what information is where, and don’t know what to do if there is trouble. Most of our Notaries make a lot of claims of how good they are, but really only 250 Elite Certified Notaries on 123notary are hot stuff in my opinion. Those ultra-experienced and highly educated stampers are worth $150 per signing in most cases. The “regular” 123notary certified Notaries are worth about $100 per signing (in my opinion) and the un-123notary certified Notaries are worth $50. If you don’t know anything and have hardly any experience, why should you be paid much more than minimum wage?
My issue is NOT that Notaries are not paid a decent wage. My issue is that the 250 Elite Certified Notaries on our site who merit a better wage are not usually getting it. As for the uncertified majority, the fact that you get work at all is a miracle. I personally would not hire someone who couldn’t pass my test. My test doesn’t guarantee that you are a great Notary — however, it determines that you are at least worth trying and have potential and know your basics.
If it were up to me, anyone who didn’t pass our elite test wouldn’t be allowed to do any signing agent work. After all, this is a serious profession where you routinely handle half million dollar loans. Why hire someone who is any less than highly qualified for such critical work?
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How much do you merit as a signing agent?
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