Frustrated in Texas

I have been a notary for a few years through work but have decided to start doing Loan signings as well. I took all the training and what i find is the hardest thing is locating places to sign loans in Texas because of their restrictive laws. From my training and understanding, we have to sign all loans at an attorneys office or a title company. Most title companies had notaries on site and attorneys offices don’t want the possibility of liability. Does anyone in Texas have any ideas of a good way to get an attorney or notary office to agree to allow signings at their offices. Of course, i would offer payment for rental of space. Is it even possible to set up my own office to have signings there. Any advice would be helpful.

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Not all loans…only cash-outs and helocs (unless the law recently changed). What you need to do is find an attorney or title office willing to let you use a space for a nominal fee and include that fee in your fee quote with the hiring party.

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Thank you so much for answering. The bulk have been SBA Loans, which i was told are specific to attorney and title offices since they are government funded. I am in a small rural area, and i guess it has to do with a competition type thing. Most of the office employees are Notaries as well so it has been hard getting past that.

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Question, were you motivated to become a notary by LSS? Does making 100k sound familiar? You could populate Fort Worth with all the Texans that hold a notary commission making it especially difficult to get enough business to sustain oneself.

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Notaries who live in Texas have to be creative.

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I met a notary at a signing with my parents that led me down this path. The work is here, but finding a location to do the signings is the issue. Every office, notary and attorney, has a notary on staff and i suppose they dont want the competition.

I’m also in Texas. The requirement to close in a law office maybe an SBA requirement. It’s not a Texas requirement. Here’s the strange part, I’ve close several SBA loans and was not required to use a law office. Of course this was a couple of years ago so things may have changed.

I’m guessing it’s harder to become a DoorDash driver than a notary in Texas. Which might explain why signings should be done in the attorney’s office or a title company where they always were done. Signing legal papers at your house in front of an unvetted stranger sounds a bit cavalier, doesn’t it? At least that’s what the Texas lawmakers decided.

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I am assuming it is fairly easy to become a notary and I, for one, would not feel safe going to a random strangers house signing anything much less documentation that involves any type of loan… My question was about approach to attorney/title companies that have worked…ie incentives and such.

my guess is whoever created that law wanted to take the unlicensed practice of law (Loan signing agents, Etc.) out of the equation.

Hey Joe, The Texas requirement to close in an attorney’s, Title, or Lender’s office is etched into the Texas Constitution, and it’s takes a move of the All Mighty to change the Texas Constitution. The reason for this was to deter rampant fraud and citizens being taken advantage of when closing equity loans, mineral leases, agricultural loans, etc… While the various laws have changed to protect the consumer, the Constitutional requirements didn’t changed to reflect these changes.

On anther note, the minimum to become a Notary in Texas is “can you fog a mirror”.