I have been told many times in a closing notaries make SO MUCH money. I don’t even respond to it anymore. People want to think they’ve been had or something. It’s ridiculous.
@jennjoneis When this scenario has arisen in the past, I usually will let the signer(s) know that the Title/Escrow Companies [T/ECs] have specific requirements regarding the professional services provided for execution of the document package.
At that point, I ask the signer(s) to reach out to their T/EC or Loan Officer [LO] regarding the input they received from their realtor.
I simultaneously will reach out to the T/EC myself (in writing) to apprise them of the scenario presented from the realtor to the signer(s).
The End Result has invariably been that the T/EC corrects the misunderstanding & the Signing Appointment moves forward as scheduled.
This situation is completely within the bailiwick & responsibilities of the T/EC.
Also, in bank branches, they say we have notary in here, …I’m a notary… always I answer, well, the title co., hire a notary who is a 3rd party with no any kind of interest in closings.
I wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate but I called the signer and explained a breakdown of the different services that mobile notaries provide. The signer was impressed and said " Okay let’s go with your pricing, because it sounds like you will get things done correctly. I don’t want any delays."
Ive been a real estate broker for 42 years. It never ceases to amaze me just how uninformed some agents are. That agent must never have attended a closing at the title or escrow company.
Just let the signer and realtor know that notaries have to be trained “certified” to do loan work. They cannot use any notary they like as have to be vetted by the title company/ Signing service. We are BGC’s and get certified yearly which costs money for your safety. Even most banks stop notarizing loan documents, including their own, they hire an outside signing agent.
I’m sure the realtor likes hearing that he should work for free because their friend’s realtor didn’t charge a commission (at least not THAT high).
So much bad gossip going around in what we do, and leave it to a professional to create more of it!
No notary can notarize documents they benefit from. A realtor should know that. A realtor gets paid on a transaction he can’t notarize anything about that transaction.
Sometimes the ALTA statement has a band called Notary Fees or something similar. It might be as high as $600 where we get a fraction of that. When a signer gets mad about that fee I explain that is a general fee for notary services of which a notary is paid a portion. I also say if I could earn $600 a pop, I would only need to do a few a week to be happy.
YAY