I have seen an increase in scheduled signings canceling recently. I have had 6 signings cancel in the last 6 weeks. For lack of identification, one of the 2 signers having dementia, and not being able to communicate why they are signing and so on. Is anybody else noticing an increase of canceled appointments for similar things as this in your region? I had a signing this past Friday where the signing contact information was for the investment group buying the property not the couple selling it, which is who I was meeting. I thought it odd, but spoke with the investment rep and eventually got a number for the man signing with the caveat that they are hard to reach on the phone. To complicate matters the wife was in the hospital so the signing would need to occur there, no problem really other than space to sign. After not hearing back from the man on this “rush” order and trying to reach the wife in her hospital room, the investment rep calls me back and I explain to her that I need to confirm with the signers before leaving for he appointment. She asked me if I can just go anyway without talking with them and I explained that I needed to confirm they had a valid id for the signing. She says, “she needs her id to sign the papers?” The man has left the hospital at this point and has gone back home to see if he can locate her id, when he calls me and says that it was not in her wallet or purse. He then goes on to tell me that he thinks she has dementia or alzheimers becasue she has “torn our house apart.” I immediately let Title know what was going on and let the service know as well. I recevied an email this morning that the signing had been canceled. Which was the right thing to do considering all the uncertainty around her mental health and the lack of proper id. I had already canceled the signing from my schedule before they even notified me. The question I have is why in all of the process to get from agreeing to buy the property to the signing day nobody had even though to ask for id. Simply asking for id up front, which they should all be doing in my opinion would eleminate a lot of the canceled orders I have seen. The other part is the signers being honest up front and disclosing if one of them has a diagnosed medical issue that “may” prevent them from signing. I lost out on about $800 in these orders and much more since I had turned down other work becasue these were already scheduled. What are your thoughts?
I have noticed canceled orders because documents aren’t ready. Upon being re-assigned these cancelled orders I have learned that signers receiving CD’S that do not reflect what their conversation with a loan officer indicated they should request are refusing to sign. I had 4 of those in April.
Not seeing it much here in SW Ohio.
I have experienced more cancellations in the past months. I’m in California. It’s extremely frustrating especially when I get the notification as I’m approaching the signer’s home. Just this past weekend, I’ve had to shred 3 large packages, each package nearly one ream of paper to include borrower’s copy. I was so frustrated this weekend, I had to take a deep breath and think about something more positive. At any rate, that’s the nature of being self employed.
I invoice for printing and shredding.
Cancellations and no-shows are inherent aspects of this industry. Unfortunately, we are unable to double-book assignments to mitigate this impact. I am unable to keep track regarding assignments missed due to cancellations. Thank goodness for print and trip fees!
I work for a Lender, I can say with certainty that loans in progress are having an uptick in appraisal issues. That being said, deals that reschedule to close may have to redisclose thereby canceling the closing due to fees and other charges on SS to stay compliant …That being said MLOs are lazy. Knowledgeable LOs and Signing Agents are far and few between. Due to this overflow in ne1w snd inexperienced notaries msking Signing services are a thing to stay unfortunately. However, you can still try to create a relationship with your local title company. Most are unpleasant because they have to babysit the LO for closing docs, and they need to babysit the notary who in most cases has little to no experience…Focus on the title companies, make notes who you close for, go market them directly, you will make more money and they will save money…Title company’s have a list of GOOD local notaries. Food for though.
I also see closing scheduled without the documents being ready.
At the table, I keep hearing “these are not the figures I was told”.
There’s been an uptick in fireworks at the table for me. People getting angry because LO’s are not being accurate just eager to close their deal.
What’s an MLO. That’s a new one.
This is disappointing, had two cancel for today and they were very high paying but with no documents and a 2 hour drive it’s actually sort of a relief. Turns a very high mileage day into a more managable afternoon. No documents means no printing costs so I’m glad I haven’t had cancelations en route somewhere.
The hardest part is when a signer keeps texting after I’m canceled from an appointment. They hear more about their appointment from a canceled notary than their own loan officer.
Bad form.
I agree. I had a signing cancel this week because at first the husband, who’s wife is in the hospital couldn’t find her id, then he said out loud that he thought she had dementia or alzheimers and that caused Title to cancel the signing. Since then I have heard from him at least twice and the buyers, who is an investment group about the signing. I keep telling them the order is canceled and you will need to go through Title to get any more info on when or if they reschedule the signing. The buyer called me again yesterday and said Title wanted them to do a POA for the wife and wanted to know if I could do those. She sent me the POA and it had already been filled out and signed by the wife and the husband. 
I explained to her that the poa had to be signed in front of the notary. I feel like I personally know these people at this point. It also feels like something shady may be going on with this one.
MLO = Mortgage Loan Originator
oh a docs preparer LOL
A bit more to it than that. From Copilot search:
A Mortgage Loan Originator (MLO) helps clients secure financing for home purchases or refinancing by guiding them through the mortgage application and approval process.
Key Responsibilities
Mortgage Loan Originators serve as the primary liaison between borrowers and lending institutions. Their main duties include:
5 Sources
Work Environment
Qualifications and Skills
4 Sources
Career Outlook
I was half kidding and don’t need to know actually.
I’m in Florida, working in property management I’ve seen a lot of Closings being rescheduled due to Lenders requiring more insurance coverage than provided. In other words a Questionnaire requested having a closing scheduled date, once the Questionnaire is completed the Lender comes back requiring more information leading now to a different closing date.
I am new to the signing business about 3 months in and not one signing yet!
Do you think that’s Florida specific on insurance? Hadn’t heard that before.
Cancellations have been a pretty steady percentage of signings over my course as a signing agent. I haven’t really experienced any real spurts or dropoffs. Pretty steady as she goes. Most of the time, I’m never told a reason why they’re cancelling. A good portion of them are due to late docs and rescheduling. On several occasions, I had to cancel because of other commitments rather than take the new day and time that they wanted.
Not sure if it’s just Florida but it is a common problem when purchasing a in a Condominium Association as most are required to have Hurricane coverage.
That makes sense, but isn’t everyone aware of that before the close of escrow? I don’t understand why it would cause a last-minute cancellation.
I’ve actually only had 1 cancelled and it was due to the signer not accepting the paperwork from escrow.