Questions for attorney states and NSA

Hello,

I am new as an NSA, but not as a Notary Public. My question is when you are in an attorney state, what are the best ways to gain business on loan signings and the better-paying jobs? Any suggestions? I am ready to get things going full-time as an NSA, just trying to gain signings.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

To the best of my knowledge, IF you’re IN an attorney-only state, you are NOT allowed to do loan signings. It’s possible, maybe, perhaps OK to do a loan signing in your state IF the loan is on property not located in your state. I really don’t know, but that’s the only scenario I can think of that may allow you to do this, but those would be few and far between.

An attorney only state is just that. The Bar Association has convinced the legislature that attorneys should be the only one conducting a mortgage loan signing, either through a title company or an attorney’s office. Some notaries in an attorney only state claim they can take assignments for property out of their state, but this is something that should really be researched, because your notary commission could be revoked if you were found to have violated the law. Do not allow someone to tell you what you can do. Research it yourself! There are several states that are attorney only. Georgia is the one I’m most familiar with. I have signed loans for property in GA, but the borrower must talk with an attorney over the phone before we can complete the transaction.

Massachusetts is also a ATTORNEY state. was not always that way. I’ve been a notary since 1992 but started as a NSA in 2000 and in 2004 the laws changed. As this was a huge kick to my income I started to work with an Attorney. Then they changed the law again to state that the only way MA real estate could be signed in MA was if you were actually an attorney…
Having seen both sides of the law and talking to clients who have dealt with both attorney or notary most of the clients that I have talked to stated that my NON attorney explanation of documents was clearer than the attorney who just pointed and said sign here. AND my biggest beef with attorney’s is they are not required to keep a journal and three of the clients told me that they never asked for there ID…BIG NO NO.

Turning MA to an attorney-only state was the result of the MA Bar suing NREIS - huge lawsuit that eventually ended in MA going attorney-only - and NREIS going out of business.

Actually EO 455 started it THEN they sued…and it was not just NREIS.

Hi! Can you tell me the types of documents that cannot be signed without an attorney in Georgia?

enotarydocs, Please see arichter’s comment on Jul 20th, on this topic. . Also, here is a link from the NNA regarding this issue. GA Senate Bill 365 | NNA.

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I’m sorry, arichter’s comment was made June 2020 not the 20th.

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