Has anyone accepted positions where you go out and take pictures inside and outside of a house? Sometimes I see them requesting room measurements and pictures. Often stating the assignment takes 20 to 30 minutes. The one I saw come through yesterday was by accredited notary services that wanted pictures as well as documents notarized. I have also seen assignments like these come through stating they will send the notary in lock box to put on a house.
I haven’t accepted any of these different assignments because it’s usually pretty vague in the text. So does anyone have experience they can share with me about this type of assignment?
The fees are usually so low for inspections, I don’t mess with them. If it takes 20 to 30 minutes and then you add driving time to and from, the assignment is over an hour and I see requests all the time for $30 to $60 for inspections, numbers don’t compute.
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@acenotary23 Concur 
percent! 
This is also my direct experience with these types of potential Orders.
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What they are trying to do is replace a $400-$??? licensed Appraiser with a $50 notary. Taking pics, rm. measurements is going to take way more than 30 minutes by itself. Placing a lock box falls under Property Preservation…and these folks are paid both hourly + IRS mileage to do that and they are also subjected to lowball cattle calls, getting docked pay because somebody thinks they should have taken way more pictures & waiting weeks for earned money–just like we are.
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I take some from ProxyPics. But they have to be convenient for me because the fees are low. So if they are on my way somewhere I’ll do them. I rarely do Metro Inspections because the fees are just too low. I’ve done stuff for Aspen because some of the assignments pay really well. The pictures can take 15 minutes but there’s always a questionnaire. They pay immediately so I pick up a few hundred a month doing them. Just filler work.
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@Arichter Absolutely correct!
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@Arichter Absolutely correct!
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TO ALL NOTARY CAFE MEMBERS:
As I often express, always counter-offer any Fee that is below your individualized Schedule of Fees for the professional services to be provided, the Time required, and the amount of Travel.
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It’s usually a case of an owner wanting to waive an appraisal and the lender wants proof the house is still the house with no major damage. Lots of HELOC don’t pay the big closing costs but the lender wants to know the house is intact. It’s not an appraisal.
I have taken two assignments similar to this. A real estate agent from Florida hired me and paid me well. I believe it was something like $75 for 30 min of work and around the corner. The second one was from Invester Bootz where the home was 2 min from my house and paid a low fee however they still have not paid the bill. I am not taking anymore if those jobs. The minimum should be $85 with distance to be considered.
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I appreciate your feedback, Scott.
Apparently I don’t know how to reply to each you individually to thank you for your feedback. So thank you all for your insights. I really appreciate it.
Sharon McGill
@acenotary23 
Thank You! (for coming back with your update)
In case you haven’t yet created your own individualized Schedule of Fees for the Professional Services you provide to clients, please take some time to Review this direct url link to a Notary Cafe thread that’s a Guideline for Creating Your Individualized Schedule of Fees
Yes I recently accepted an assignment that included wet signing a contract and listing agreement, only 2 notarizations, taking photos inside and outside of the property, and taking measurements. I have done the wet signing of documents with this company before, but had never done photos and measurements and was a bit apprehensive about it. After talking with the scheduler about it, she said they provide “sample photos” of what they expect as well as specific instructions, and you can use your iPhone for both photos and measurements. She also said the measurements didn’t have to be exact. So I decided to take the assignment. l had no idea how much to charge for the other two services. I know now that I will take into consideration, the property type for sure, as well as demanding a higher fee. I really enjoyed the assignment as the client was extremely nice and appreciated the work I did. It did however take a lot more time because the property itself was expansive, including the main house, a barn that was converted to a two story Airbnb, and a 4 car garage. I took over 60 pictures just to be sure I captured what they were looking for. I didn’t want to have to go back. The company accepted the photos and measurements without a problem.
These types assignments definitely are a good service to add to your notary business, but just make sure you understand the assignment and get the appropriate compensation.
NOTE: Arichter’s statement is accurate as noted within the excerpt above.
@anna2 Thank you for sharing your direct experience. That’s one way to determine, in general, the potential scope of those types of Signing Orders [SOs].
As I often express, “Know Your Worth!” Concur with your assessment to obtain the: “appropriate compensation”
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It’s actually not 100% accurate. It’s not replacing an appraiser. I’ve looked into this at length for WA State. An appraiser has to take the data provided and do a report as the licensed person who can do that.
Are they paying less overall? I expect so. But it’s misleading to state they are replacing an appraiser. They aren’t necessarily replacing an appraisal.