March 2020 - Notary Blog - Signing Tips, Marketing Tips, General Notary Advice - 123notary.com
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March 30, 2020

Do you know what you are getting yourself into?

Filed under: Carmen Towles — admin @ 8:46 am

It never ceases to amaze me how many folks get into this business and don’t know ANYTHING about it. All folks seem to know is that someone came to their house with their loan paperwork and on the surface it looks easy enough and they burst out, “Hey, I could do this too! And then proceed to ask; “How do you get into this business?”. And they actually expect you to give them all the little details of the ends and outs of how to get into the business so they can TAKE all of your business. Never, once thinking that this might be improper because why would any of us really want to train our own competition? But some of us do (being nice and all that) but end up regretting it later due to our own demise.

I was reading a notary forum post about how easy we make it look and that we need to stop this because all we are doing is saturating our areas with more and more notaries. It’s all about supply and demand. Lets face it there is no real demand for us notaries in this profession. There is some work but it is being spread to thin and the pay is at an all time low. And those of us that have been in it awhile refuse to work for peanuts. Many have taken part time jobs to supplement there incomes. Many have just thrown in the towel altogether and moved on.

The other contributing factor in over-saturation is that you have several places that offer loan signing classes with no regard that they are consistently over saturating the market with notary signing agents that will NEVER see any work. Just this week alone I have spoken with notaries in various parts of the county that have been at it for months and still no work. Or if they do have any at all it is in limited supply and the pay is paltry to say the least.

Moral of the story is that you need to check out whether there is a real need for signing agents in YOUR area. And whether this is a professional you can grow and profit from BEFORE you lay out the cash to get started.

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March 29, 2020

Two notarizations same document..yes or no?

Filed under: Carmen Towles — admin @ 8:45 am

As I often do, I read the notary discussion boards. It’s often entertainenlightening and full of situations that we are faced with to deal with almost on a daily basis. Most of them you share personally with me but this was a new one. A few days ago, the topic was about a notary that had a document that had one signature but two notarizations on the same page; One, was an Acknowledgement and the other a Jurat. The notary choose to notarize only one (don’t know which one they choose and they shouldn’t have done this but that is another issue) and the underwriter rejected it and sent it back for completion of the other notarial certificate. It seems that they wanted BOTH the acknowledgement and the jurat completed. The notary said NO and stated that it was one signature per notarial certificate. And since they had only signed once she refused to notarize both. And, although it sounded about right because most of us feel that it is one signature per notarization. After all, that is how we charge clients. In this case the certificates are different. One requires a sworn oath to be given and the other is just an acknowledgment on the part of the signer. I still wondered about this. Where is written in anybodies handbook that states that you can’t do one signature and have two different type of notarial certificates?

In my opinion, It seems that the lender and/or title was covering there rear end. Perhaps they couldn’t choose so they just decided to put both.The problem would have been easy if they had the signer sign one for each certificate. What ever the case its a decision that you have to make. It seems the notaries are split on this. I personally have seen this a couple times and I just notarize both. And enter into my journal.The question is what would you do?

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March 28, 2020

Coronavirus – childish understanding of the pandemic is dangerous

Filed under: General Stories — admin @ 9:19 am

I am trying to share some thoughts on Twitter about Covid-19, but I am met with hostile and childish responses. Even the politicians are thinking unrealistically about this. My responses are misunderstood and attacked. How do you reason with people who aren’t logical? It seems futile, but the future of the American economy or life in this nation depends on it.

Here are my predictions.

(a) Covid-19 will infect 100,000,000 Ameriicans more or less
(b)10,000,000 will likely be “registered” officially as infected as most cases go undetected.
(c) 15% of detected or “registered” cases end up with some hospital time, but the duration is not well documented.
(d) Roughly half of hospitalized patients for covid-19 end up dead within perhaps a week to several weeks — in China many cases have dragged on for months.
(e) 6 million people will die in the usa from this disease this time and 15 million will need to be hospitalized over the course of six months.
(f) It is likely that up to 4 million people will need to be hospitalized at the same time. The military and FEMA are able to create this type of capacity, especially if they use ships and trains which are good because you can move sick people to places where there are more doctors and staff.
(g) Lock downs do not end the disease, and it doesn’t matter if you lock down early or late. The fact remains that lock downs cost the USA about 1 Trillion per month at least and that the minute you stop locking down, the disease will catch up to where it was in a month or two depending on how long you locked down.

ILLOGICAL THINKING
People scolded me on Twitter for suggesting that the economy was more important than the lives of humans. I merely said that sacrificing the economy permanently to temporarily delay people’s death did not seem like a good strategy. In the minds of childish people, their philosophy is often:

CHILDISH PHILOSPHY
Death is bad; Lock downs fight virus & prevent death; Therefore lock downs = good. Additionally, we should SCOLD those
who in our opinion value money more than life.

MY PHILOSOPHY
Death is bad; Having a broken economy could cause complete anarchy making the USA unlivable and unsafe to walk down the street without the fear of being beaten, robbed or raped. A broken economy leads to death.

COVID-19 also causes death. Delaying deaths from Covid-19 does NOT prevent death, but only delays death unless a vaccine comes fast. Lock downs don’t prevent death. They only delay disease caused death. But, extended lock downs could cause the death of the US economy which could cause problems that nobody can even imagine. If you don’t believe me, take a closer look at what is going on in Venezuela or bankrupt African nations where anarchy reigns, villages get massacred, and five year olds are given guns and forced to join militia death squads. That could be the future of America if we break our system. Freedom and constitutional rights can also be ended, and in my opinion already have been due to the shut down. The equation is a lot more complicated than the dummies who rudely criticize my points of view on social media.

REALITY OF VIRUSES
Viruses do not just go away on their own. If a critical mass of people gains immunity, or weather changes make transmission difficult, then the virus might just go away. Lock downs in china resulted in a dramatic reduction in active cases. However, now that China is opening up, people from other countries who are visiting them are reinfecting their communities which completely undermines the effort and self-inflicted economic damage the Chinese did. They could be reinfected to the level they were two months ago in just — two months. So, in order to combat this disease using lockdowns, you would have to lock down forever.

The other reality is that in my opinion 6 million will die in the USA. If we flatten the curve using shut downs, then those people instead of dying in six months, will die over a period of time. In theory, if we flatten the curve too much, we might have 10,000 people dying per month over a period of 600 months which would be 50 years. Some idiot on Twitter says that there is no evidence that the disease will last 12 years (I used 12 years in a mathematical hypothetical situation online) and I agree that there is no evidence how long the disease will last. But, with artificial means to limit the disease it could last for years — probably not 50 years. We could flatten the curve and have 100,000 people die per month and then the deaths will take place over 5 years to reach a death toll of 6,000,000 according to mathematics — once again a hypothetical analysis not based on reality.

The bottom line is that many people will die, and using shut downs, we can control how fast they die. At the rate society is willing to let people die –perhaps at a few dozen per month, we will be locked down forever, the disease will never be eliminated since we will have been prevented from gaining immunity, and our economy will grind to an irreparable hault.

Dummies and childish thinkers don’t think the American economy will grind to a halt and think that the economic problems are just temporary. Right now they are temporary, but could become permanent. The Great Depression took 16 years to fix, and if it weren’t for WW2, it would not ever have been fixed. I am speaking in terms of reality and historical precident here.

Shut downs do not prevent death — they just delay death and do long term damage to the economy and people’s life. We may not have a nation if this continues. Nations depend on taxes, money, and credit and if you ruin your credit you can’t perform functions as a nation. America cannot function without a payroll for the military, social services, infrastructure, school, medicare, etc. If you break the system to delay a disease the entire nation could dissolve and cease to be a nation. We would be left with 50 bankrupt states and a nation of paupers which is exactly what my guru prophecized twenty years ago. I am afraid that his prediction will be coming true faster than I thought.

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Facebook policies about politics, and controversial issues

Filed under: Social Media — admin @ 8:43 am

I have had a little bit of trouble with Facebook over the years. It seems they think it is their right to stifle my American freedoms such as freedom of press.

We published an article with a tarot card. This got flagged since the card had several figures in it one of which was a naked doll that had no genitals. This is not offensive and does not contain any private parts, yet was arbitrarily banned. This is censorship, and similar to what is done in communist countries. I feel my rights have been stepped on.

Then, if I write anything about Trump, positive, negative or just commentary, it can get blocked by Facebook. Even photos of the white house can get banned.

All of this unnecessary heavy handed control tactics are very left-wing, are damaging to my click through rates, and also make me feel repressed or oppressed. I love my government, and my government is not doing any repression. Private businesses led by people with intolerant political points of view are undermining my basic human rights. Not fair. Facebook is a utility and should not hamper my freedom of expression.

I just wonder if the government will ever crack down on them.

However, I have another solution. Leave it to the user to set a filter. If they want to see any type of post, then fine. If they want to filter out political, right wing, moderate, or left wing oriented posts, race oriented posts, or whatever else bothers them — let them filter it themselves rather than having Facebook just ban all types of things.

Society has really changed and the new generation doesn’t seem to have American values or traditional values anymore. Hmmm.

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March 27, 2020

If you get the newsletter, but don’t open it…

Filed under: Social Media — admin @ 8:42 am

Our newsletter email provider sent me some notices saying that my open rate was too low for the newsletter. That would affect if my newsletter made it to the inbox for many of my subscribers. So, it is imperative that I improve my open rates.

What I did was to work on having more compelling titles to subject lines. I also removed a lot of subscribers from the newsletter list if they had not opened anything in four months.

So, if you get our newsletter, please open the emails and click on at least one article. That way we can keep sending it to you. And we will try to keep making the newsletter as interesting as possible as well.

Thanks.

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March 26, 2020

Benefits of 123notary from Kate McKinnon. (detailed testimonial)

Filed under: Advertising — admin @ 8:38 am

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1. At least 3 title/escrow companies contacted me to thank me for the
time I’ve given to their Borrowers, at least 2 of whom were first-time Borrowers. I know that many people are overwhelmed from the moment I take documents out. I put them at ease by telling them that “now and in future transactions, they usually need to focus on 3 documents— all other paperwork is in support of these documents.” (I have reviews on 123 that speak to this.)

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2. Continuing on from above, I’d like to add that some notaries’
practice is to “do the signing quickly and get on the next.” I take whatever time is reasonable to make sure the signer is comfortable with and understands the process. In loan signings I am aware this is often one of the major financial commitments in people’s lives and they are understandably nervous; and, that the Client has entrusted me to complete this signing, so I am in essence representing them as well.

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3. From the start of my career as a notary, I learned from 123Notary to do my homework (up front): review the package, flag important and/or unusual things soothes are not missed; doing any other necessary research (e.g., trusts/adoption documents; attorneys in fact, etc.). The more knowledgeable I am about documents and procedures, the better notary I am. Also, I prefer to “re-do” rather than correct and initial. I like for my work to be correct and error-free. Clients notice (as reflected in some of my 123Notary reviews.)

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4. I have taken your marketing advice to heart, and its paying off more and more. I make it easy for people to not only find me, but to make them want to use me.

a. Increasingly my better paying jobs are coming as a result of the 123 website. I anticipate that paying for a higher listing will more than pay for itself with my first two orders coming from it.

b. I instill a sense of security in my client as a matter of course by advising them of receipt of confirmation, meeting/closing with the client, dropping/tracking of documents.

c. Occasionally I contact people who have used me more than once to thank them —in an attempt to keep my name before them without being pushy. Sometimes enclose a thank you note with my invoice and asking them to let me know what I can do to better serve them.

d. All of my marketing materials are coordinated in their look and easily identifiable (business cards, stationery, website, invoices, note cards, etc.).

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5. Both my corporate and individual clients appreciate that I text my photo and/or business card with my photo confirming our meeting. I never knew how impactful this would become. People like to know with whom they are meeting (especially for coffee shop or hospital signings as well as with seniors and single women)…and the “ice is already broken” before I show up.

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6. More and more I’m learning what separates me from the pack:

a. I always ask how they found me. Many answer 123Notary. If other than 123, I encourage them to read my 123 reviews.

b. Doing my research…usually on your blogs, NNA and the internet, bookmarking or maintaining notes.

c. Paying attention to detail.

d. Professionalism in my dress, communications and manners.

e. Being honest in what I do and do not know.

f. Getting back to designated contact(s) after noting issues during the closing. This only happened rarely and in the beginning of my
practice, but I always let Borrower know that we can communicate with their loan officer, etc.

g. Finally, the notary’s client is a person just as we are. I relate to them as such. (This is frequently mentioned in my 123 reviews.)

h. My overall knowledge of mortgage documents, types of residents (primary vs. second), homesteads, trusts/trustees; subscribing witnesses/signature by mark; Apostilles, etc.

i. For me personally, I both hate and appreciate doing detailed journal entries and loose certificates. It takes more time, but my record are perfect and my loose certificates always specify the document name, number of pages and date.

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March 25, 2020

Testimonial from Peggyann about our blog

Filed under: General Stories — admin @ 8:38 am

Life just has a way of getting busier and busier and I have been meaning
to drop you a line to let you know how much I personally appreciate all
the articles you take the time to send. I schedule half an hour every
evening to click on links and read. I recently mentored a new Notary
and I shared some of the information with her, hopefully she will sign
up with you. I have been doing signings for years but there is always
so much helpful information and REMINDERS that you share with us. I
thank you so much!!!!

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March 24, 2020

Good business names vs. Bad and which names get clicks…

Filed under: Advertising — admin @ 8:35 am

Some of the Notaries on our site have registered business names that they do business under. We recommend going to the county clerk and registering a well thought out business name. However, the name you pick for your business can affect the quantity of clicks you get on directories. Some types of names get the business while others just collect dust. The day you register your business has astrological implications as well, but that is a topic for a different day.

After a quick analysis of business names, I have come to the conclusion that the debate is more than just between good and bad sounding names, but between different types of names. There are specific local geographic names, larger geographical area names such as the name of a state, personal names mixed with notary terms, unusual names, and generic or not so good sounding names. It is a little difficult for me in my opinionated state of mind to decide which business name is better than another, so I will rely on clicks to decide.

Please note that clicks vary widely based on what area you are in, how many reviews you have, how good your notes section is, and how well known and popular you are as most people who hire you from a directory already know you.

1. Large Geographical Areas: 2.5 clicks per day average for first three entries. The other two have unusual considerations. Please keep in mind that CA Notary Services has an incoming link from one of its sites to one of its listings, so the stats will be affected based on that link. New York Mobile Notary Services is an organization with several people working for them and they have been around for a long time, and their geographic area is known for getting disproportional amounts of clicks.

The click average for these five entries is 3.28 if you do not take into consideration the abnormalities of the sample data. The average would be 2.5 clicks per day without the two listings that are “statistical anomalies.” I personally do not like business names that use the name of a state simply because the notary can only offer service to a particular part of that state. However, the clicks indicate that this type of name gets clicked on a lot. Jeremy says one thumb up but the clicks say two.

Mobile American Notary & Apostilles
AZ Notary Services
Illinois Public Notary Services
CA Notary Services
New York Mobile Notary Services

2. Personal Names + Notary or Business Terms: 1.9 clicks per day average I think that this type of business name is not bad. However, I prefer catchy unique names that grab your attention and are easier to remember. One thumb up for this type of business name.

Kalation’s Business Services
Roger’s Notary Service
Ellen The Notary
Saul Mobile Notary
Arlene Mobile Notary

3. Names I thought were weak in appeal: 1.35 clicks / day.
My gut reaction to these names matched their overall click appeal or lack of it thereby. Attributes combined with a notary term just don’t work. Putting two initials together with an & symbol did okay with D & D, but we don’t have enough evidence to get any idea of whether it is a good idea to use such a type of business name. Once again, I prefer a catchy unique business name. Two thumbs down for these names (sorry).

925 Notary
Reliable Notary
Prestige Mobile Notaries
Pro Bix Notary
Notary Pro Today
I &S Notary & Wedding
D & D Document
Mobi Notary

4. Unusual Business Names: 1.3 clicks per day.
These names are very unusual, but lack any type of kick to them. Half a thumb up.

All things named notary services.
Sevendocs Mobile Notary

5. Local Business names: 1.9 clicks / day average.
This type of business name is good because it lets the client know that you focus on their area. However, it is a bit generic and not very interesting. One thumb up for this type of business name.

Bakersfield Mobile Notary
Manhattan Mobile Notary & Apostille
Bronx Mobile Notary Service

6. Business names that Jeremy likes most: 2.3 clicks per day.
First of all, I wish there were more business names on our site. I cannot go through the entire site every time I write an article. I only go through the big cities. These are some interesting names in this category. Golden Gate Notary lets you know they cover San Francisco and surrounding areas without blatantly saying it. It is like poetry to my ears. Bay Area Notary does the same thing but has a larger implied coverage area. Neighborly Notary has a warm feel to it. No hassle is a really cool name that speaks to one’s emotional tribulations. A1 is a bit cliche, but gets the most clicks in this category and sounds good if you need a filet mignon notarized. Five Star is a great name and I’m surprised that nobody else used it. The Notary to Call is an awesome name because it says it all, is relatable, but yet unique and catchy. I love these names and hope that people can think of more catchy names. Two thumbs up for the names in this category, and the clicks agree with my opinion in this case.

Golden Gate Notary
Bay Area Notary
Neighborly Notary NYC
No Hassle Notary Public
A1 Notary Services
Five Star Mobile Notary
The Notary to Call

CONCLUSION
I recommend having a business name and spending lots of time brainstorming your options and consulting different people about this major decision. Unique and catchy names win the game, but business names that incorporate geographical terms, especially wider geographical terms seem to be successful as well.

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March 22, 2020

10 things for a Notary to do while under quarantine

During these precarious times, it is possible that some of us will be quarantined, and a lot more likely that our cities will be shut down. People are so insane these days, that they will shut down a metropolitan city completely because there are 40 cases. If you get rid of those 40 cases by quarantining them or quarantining the entire city, the minute you let people from other cities come in, you will get those 40 cases back within days. So, the NYC shut down is very wasteful and damaging to society and accomplishes nothing.

Meanwhile as of March 13, 2020 New Mexico is closing schools. New Mexico has zero recorded cases of the disease, so they are stopping a non-existent transmission of the disease at the expense of hundreds of thousands of children. And what are the parents of these kids supposed to do with their kids at home, especially if they don’t have enough food to feed them? I don’t think local governments are intellectually astute enough to figure this out.

If cases in a particular area are low, testing and quarantining individuals makes a lot of sense. You shouldn’t shut down an entire city or country if there are only a few cases.

But, what are you going to do if you get shut down or quarantined. Here are my suggestions:

1. Study up on Notary knowledge. Read blogs, certification courses, and Notary Public 101 on our blog which is a very popular free course.

2. Re-ink your seal. It’s over due for an inking anyway.

3. Do some stretching. Your hamstrings will thank you. But, what if you are vegan? Would you still have ham strings, or would you have gluten strings? What a perplexing issue.

4. Call clients who you haven’t heard from in a while. Let me know you still exist.

5. Go from supermarket to supermarket to see if anyone has any bottled water.

6. Eat something with garlic, ginger and spices to boost your immune system and to show solidarity with those in Italy.

7. Watch sports matches on television — oops, you can’t because they have all been canceled. Maybe netflix will have them.

8. Take a long walk.

9. Meditate

10. Take cough medicine — unless you don’t need to.

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March 20, 2020

Covid19, Panicking, and the Notary Industry

Filed under: Drama & Tragedy — Tags: , — admin @ 8:17 pm

It seems that the Covid 19 virus is hitting America. The numbers keep changing fast as we are testing more people. Honestly, America had two and a half months to prepare for this outbreak and moved slowly. The President downplayed the danger of the disease as well which is dangerous in itself. Now that the disease is off the leash in America, we are starting to realize that perhaps we should learn from particular Asian countries on how to get a handle on this problem. Testing likely suspects in mass is a big part of it. But, what about Notaries, what should your concerns and actions be?

Be Prepared
It is a problem that people are panicking. This results in unstable business decisions. It also results in stores being sold out of face masks (not a problem in my area yet), hand sanitizer, paper towels, bottled water, and water filters. It makes sense to have a supply at home because these items sell out quickly. I was lucky and got some paper towels and water today which is March 10th although I might not publish this article for a while.

The Stock Market
Stocks are plummeting in value. I understand that cruise and airline stocks should lose some intrinsic value due to this disease. But, banks should not be too affected by this problem, yet their stocks are dipping just as badly as airlines. Even Coca Cola which is a very stable company has lost a lot of ground and they are one of the most stable stocks that exist.

Your Behavior
I heard that the refinance marked spiked and then the phones stopped ringing in the last few days. Interest rates are low and could get lower as the global economy is slowing down due to the disease and due to the trade war between the USA and China. This means more refinances. However, if people are afraid to go to work or leave the house, that means there might not be any business for Notaries. Very few people are infected in America at this point and it does not make sense to avoid leaving the house at this stage. Once we get into late April or May then it might be a much more serious situation and you might face immediate risk.

The 18 Month Rule
Some people have decided to shut down schools or not go to work. Newsflash – pandemics like the Spanish Flu, Swine Flu, and Covid 19 typically last 18 months or longer. So, if you have decided that shutting down your school or playing hookey on work makes sense, ask yourself if you can afford to continue that behavior for 18 months. Sure, if there is an acute outbreak in your particular area, then cancelling school makes sense. But, now, there are only three areas in the USA where it makes sense to cancel school.

The Elderly
If you are 60 or over, or have a lung condition it makes sense not to get on an airplane, cruise ship, go to the movies, go to a convention, or be anywhere where you will be in close proximity to large quantities of humans, especially if the ventilation is anything other than clean air.

My recommendations
I am not a doctor, but I think stocking up on some food and supplies makes sense at this point because the shelves at your supermarket could end up stripped bare at some point. It makes sense to wash your hands regularly with soap and disinfect surfaces in your house regularly. It makes sense to avoid crowds if you can. But, you need to go to work unless there is some pressing reason why you wouldn’t. If you are sick, elderly, or there is an outbreak in your city you might stop going to work for a while. If you are able to work from home that is great and recommended. But, if you have to work at an office, take some vitamin C and hope for the best. You can’t just end your life before it is over.

Loan Signings
Don’t be afraid to do loan signings. There is a chance that the signers could be infected, but a very small chance at this point. Stay six feet away from them and make sure they don’t sneeze on you. Disinfect the table with wipes or lysol. You might check with the borrowers by phone to see if they are coughing or sneezing. Take some vitamin C and garlic and hope for the best. We cannot just shut down society at this point because there is a tiny risk of exposure.

What should the government do?
We should test all those with symptoms in a very efficient way. We should test all that have come into contact with diagnosed individuals. It might also make sense to test all who live in areas with high rates of infections. There is a pecking order for who should be tested. Because if we don’t identify individuals who have the disease, we will eventually have to quarantine all of society at least in particular areas which will be devastating for the economy.

Summary
It is unclear how this disease will affect the notary industry. Personally, I think it will help us with loan signings, and I think the danger to Notaries doing signings is minuscule. Even if your a borrower from time to time has the disease, you are not likely to get it if you take precautions. Continue living your life and take necessary precautions unless you are elderly or have lung issues in which case — alter your life now!

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