Why is no one asking that these ridiculous laws be repealed. Has anyone talked to their assembly member/ senator. Texas is a “YUGE” state, and making people travel long distances is kinda meets the proof of undue burden imposed by state for private business
I agree. I had one notary tell me she did 10+ signings a day. did she expect me to believe that…really. You would need a secretary or two to print docs and drive them to you, and pick up your just completed signing, double check for errors for you and drop the package for pickup. Remember when title companies had to have docs ready day before so they could ship to you, Now they email and many of them drive you crazy waiting for docs to pop up in your email. I can’t believe some accept the $50 signings. Too bad we can’t unionize… that would be price fixing.
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It’s really not that big a deal. It’s not like the borrower has to drive across the state to another city to close. If their lender doesn’t have a local office in their city pretty much every city has at least one title office or attorney’s office - most cities have several, even hundreds. It is no more inconvenient than the borrower driving to a title company to close on any other type of transaction. And it is designed to protect the borrower - to make sure that they understand the transaction and they have someone there who can answer the questions that we as notaries are not allowed to answer by law.
If notary is not paying for the room rental at another stranger ( unrelated attty or unrelated title office), i guess any place is valid. BTW< does Texas think we live in B/W era? How does such questions / issues gets addressed in other states?
Here is a situation regarding pumping gas and gets discussed often in news radio.
NJ state think that one need an attendant to pump gas, as ordinary people pumping gas is considered safe?
NY state thinks public can pump gas, but cannot put lock in handle and wait for auto shutoff?
CT state allows self pump with lock/auto shutoff.
Do lawmakers think people in different states have different risk levels?
Can people in texas make a phone call to lender / title if there is an issue? Is such phone call valid , even if you are in some title/atty/banks office who are NOT in the loan?
Seems like grandfathered laws that never got updated ?
The notary generally does not pay the room fee, although some companies ask the notary to pay it upfront to the location and then they are reimbursed for it in the fee that the signing company pays the notary. I personally don’t do a lot of Texas Home Equity loans anymore because I find them to be a bit of a hassle as a mobile notary signing agent. However, they are a small percentage of the loans that get done and I get plenty of other purchase / refinance business so I don’t miss it at all.
Like most other things every state makes up it’s own laws / rules. I don’t think the Texas Home Equity law is a big deal and apparently many other people in the state don’t think it’s a big enough deal to work to get the law changed. I have no idea what the history of the law is and why it is the way it is, but it seems that you have an interest in it. Perhaps you should pursue a career in politics.
I am agreement. I tried to hold out for higher fees however either my offer was counter bid lower or I simply wouldn’t receive the assignment. With hundreds of hungry nsa’s in my region, not taking assignments when on the table is a foolish.
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I agree. I too tried holding out for a reasonable fee, but I almost starved! I’ve talked to a few schedulers, and they tell me that their companies are more willing to go with new untried notaries at a lower cost, than a sure deal with a notary they know will do a good job at a higher rate. Their reasoning is that they save so much $, and soon those new notaries will be more experienced, and used to accepting lower rates. So far it has worked very well for them.
therein lies the problem. You! You value yourself better then there isn’t a problem You value yourself s low or worse?? no need to continue
Why are you complaining about 2-page signings for $50 when there are lots of offers out there for 180 pages for $50? I’ll take the 2-pagers all day long.
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Where are you located that you can get $150. When I lived on the Oregon coast, I could get $125 but after moving to Idaho, I’m down to $75, but I turn down anything less than that.
I do Loan Mods for one company. Docs are Fedexed to me, I have the flexibility to schedule within a 10 to 14 day period, signers are usually happy to come to my office (saves me travel time/cost). 10 minutes and it’s done, a quick $50. Fits well into my regular signing schedule. I’m with steves11 on this - take all aspects into account when judging a fee. That said, I only do Loan Mods for the ONE company, and ONLY because I am able to keep related costs to a bare minimum.
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Lenders/ Mortgage brokers have MBA
Realtors have NAR, that kinda ( Set ) or Suggested commission at 6% , I dont know any broker who will work for 1% or even 2% comission, If that’s is not monopoly rate setting/ what is ? Why can’t all notaries get together and Suggest Prices that will work/
Wait !! NNA did that already and screwed notaries long before. I don’t give them any business anymore.
BOYCOTT NNA and shut them out of business . Order your supplies for manuals, stamps elsewhere, seals etc anywhere else BUT NNA.
If you want to get fidelity approved notary like me , but boycott NNA, and use another BG check ask me how.
I am one. I get $100 signings from fidelity. True rates dropped even by them… Thats the next project to get rates backup again
I did a cost analysis of my notary business and found that when I did a signing within 25 miles of my office (50 miles round trip) my “hard costs” is $65.05. I’ve been doing this for several years and work in an area where I work loans in a heavy traffic metro area as well as rural loans. If you do the math, I think it’s easy to see why we cannot stay in business at this rate. It really “bugs me” when the assigner says,"but there’s only xxx number of page(usually less than 75) and it’s only xx miles from you. Number of pages is minuscule in the total cost of the assignment. Look at the cost break down in the docs you get. I don’t think you will find a service provider that is getting less than $125.00 for their services. My vehicle is part of my office and requires not only fuel, but maintenance, tires, etc.
I ger all the business I wan and I really appreciate the assigners who understand our side of the business and will pay the $125-$150 I want to get so I can stay in this business, cover my costs, and allow me to make a profit. We need to help each other by STOP TAKING LOW BALL FEES!
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Here is something to make some jealous and some to get encouraged.
I stopped accepting LOW FEES long time ago, I would rather go without a closing for a week or two.
Here are my results, just from snapdocs.
So you gotta know how to be a good poker player, even if you got a bad hand. This below is from the last two weeks of march from SNAPDOCS only. STOP ACCEPTING LOW BALL OFFERS !!
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Kudos. I’m learning that hustle is the name of the game within this industry. Negotiation is key to make profit. Thanks for sharing, this is motivating to state the least:sunglasses:
That’s because the Title Companies, Lenders and Reatlors don’t know our fees are being reduced so low. They see fees on the CD at $150 and more while the notary signing companies are only paying the notaries $50 - $125 (if your lucky). I know this for a fact after working for one of these signing companies in their appointment center.
Ask the dumbA$$ scheduler, whether they go to grocery store and ask to negotiate the price of milk, bread and eggs citing cost of producing these things and then saying that I will set my price. and pay only so much less that the marked price…
I had an interesting situation last week, for a Friday July 5th signing at 8 pm. Navy Federal Title calls me for a signing and says they want to assign to me. They did not mention the fee.
I said , Hold up !! Whats the fee?
She says $100. I told her, I would rather be on the beach than take this fee. So i quote $175.
I told her I charge the $175 and up from the title companies locally and they are happy with my service.
.
She says, “I have been calling notaries , no one is answering” . But !! Let me get back with approval !
I told her. ! What approval? Its the client who is paying !! So Why are you HAGGLING !!! Let the client haggle, NOT you.
SO she comes back in under 30 minutes saying i got fee approved to $125. I told her NO WAY !!
Then she says $140… I say NO WAY
They she SAYS $150 is the max they can give !! I STILL I Say NO WAY !! ( I was tempted to cave in)
You know why I said this !! becoz, they were NOT HONEST TO offer $150 approved price on the second call and tried to downplay me & I need to stick to my principle and show her NOT to do this again. I perhaps made another notary’s day.
I told her good luck and keep calling other notaries. SO SOMEONE got lucky and got offered $150 perhaps.
That was a lesson to her in treating a notary with honesty and professional pricing
They she says, Ahh, Would you like to register in our title company for preferred vendor. . I told her NOPE. Use the same forum ( 123notary ) where she found me originally to find me again
So notaries !! the takewaay is
Define your operating principle & profit & pricing !!
Stick to it , NO MATTER WHAT !!
You need to know when to call a bluff and when to fold !!
Perhaps playing poker often will teach you some art of negotiating and reading people and make you strong willed.
Many title companies are lying to client on closing fee , and then they try to squeeze you for as much profit they can skim. This is an industry wide phenomenon and I intent to put and end to this lying and thieving from both client and notary !!
So now you know!! Stand your ground and demand what you need , else tell them to shove it.
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Good for you. Another takeaway is: a rising tide raises all boats. Let’s get these fees UP.
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You have to use an attorney or title company office for Cash Out in Texas.
If “YOU’RE TAKI|NG THEM” then you are taking a loss and need to get a spine and not accept anything less that $100+