First Sigining tomorrow REFI, please help

I have my first refi tomorrow. Not receive the docs yet but I have lots of un cleared things. please help me to get more confidence.
here are the questions I came out with so far.

  1. Can I fill out a notarial journal and certificates ahead of signing to save time. I am in CA, and I read that I need to use a separate line /per signature. There are 2 borrowers, so I might use 30 lines in my journal…
  2. How to organize staking? can I staple or better just use binder clips?
  3. Should I leave all notarial documents at the end or perform all first? how you handle those?
  4. Is there any resource, where I can get closer look at the documents in the refi package, with some highlights, explanation?

please advise if you have any other remarks in this regard.
thank you all in advance.
A.M

Two things that you asked that jumped out at me

  1. All loan docs must stay in the exact ir they are received. Do not shift docs around.
  2. Never and I stress, Never, staple anything. Use a binder clip or clipboard to hold docs.
    As for prefilling out docs before going, well you will have to ask the signing company who hired you. They will let you know.
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bmcnotaryrepublic had good answers.
If you haven’t yet, it would be good to take an online Signing Agent class. I like the NNA Signing Agent course but there are others. Your state might even have something helpful. It helps to be familiar with the basics.

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Disagree with this in the sense of do not ask the signing company - they will have no clue; you can partially fill out your certs, but do not sign or stamp until you’re with signers. Question is how do you know how their names are going to appear until you see their ID? Further, my understanding is your journal will also need to contain the addresses on their ID - you won’t know that til you get to the table.

This is why I still cannot fathom how any notary who keeps a journal can honestly state they can complete a refi, start to finish, in 20 minutes. Identifying and journaling can take half of the right off the top.

As to order of docs, you should leave the docs in the order received, but you can use post-its to flag the docs you want to present first - in my procedure it was CD, Note, First Payment Letter, Security Instrument, NORTC. For notarizations, notarize as you go along - but just make sure you do your notarizations in front of your signers (I believe that’s required under your CA law).

I also agree that, based on the most basic questions you’ve asked, you need a good signing agent course if you’re going to follow this career path - I’d suggest Notary2Pro - and you can search them here to see the feedback about them.

Good luck - I hope all goes well

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Don’t take shortcuts. For every signature you notarize, a line needs to be filled out in your logbook and signed! In some cases I left out repeated information such as addresses and added them when I returned home. It is only recently, after double checking, that I use “ditto” marks for addresses. My state allows that. So, for that reason I take extra time to make sure the information I write the first time is clear and legible. Good Luck.

  1. Breathe!
  2. Keep documents in order
  3. I have a Ciati journal. I can prefill some lines, like noting the title of documents that require Notarization. Everything should be completed in front of the signer.
  4. Take an extra copy to leave with the borrower always!
  5. I only discuss the pages that require a signature. Most packets contain papers for the Settlement Agent and can be skipped, unless it requires signatures from the borrower or initials.
  6. You should never prefill anything on the documents!
  7. Definitely take a signing agent course before you pick up another loan closing.
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