Yep, it was the era of Ninja loan!(no income, no job, no assets).
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IMO: people will still be buying and selling.
The Refi folks may wait for economy indicators whether to max out their equities in order to get max cash out and pay the current/potential higher interest rates or cut their budgets and try to say afloat with low interest rates that they current hold.
Congratulations!
I know one thing that during this Pandemic a few group or economic sectors got rich. And we all know the dark storm is coming over the horizon where we will have lots of foreclosures, short sales, and people will be desperate to unload properties cheap. Those people who got rich during this pandemic will sit on cash and wait to scoop up those properties low and wait for the next boom to unload for big profits! Remember the movie “The big short”.
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Bingo! Exactly…I concur. 
HAHAHAHAHA!!! This made me laugh out loud!!
If you are fortunate and live in a highly desirable market there will still be trailing business in purchases and seller packages. Our area has very low inventory for available housing coupled with several new housing projects. Refi’s have fallen off, what remains seem to be exotic packages that require lots of extra effort and have an increased risk of making errors. The signers themselves are late converters, people who were hesitant or unable to refi early and are now trying to catch the end of the wave before rates go up. They tend to be distrustful or inexperienced and you can rely on spending extra time at those signings. There is also an increase of having multiple signers as families are pooling resources to purchase or refi a home.
The beginning of February when the rate hike was announced meant a few days of shocked silence. That and possibly companies getting their tax documents ready meant nearly no work at all. Lately the volume of my business has been purchases and sales followed by HELOCs. The last few years, HELOCs start popping up in January through tax time.
I don’t have many options at my age to start over in a ‘real’ job but companies were still hiring at full-tilt last time I looked. Inflation may dampen those opportunities and the war in Ukraine will impact inflation as well. If someone is thinking about jumping ship and going the 9 to 5, earlier is better than later.
There will always be general notary work and not everyone wants to go in to a UPS store. Their notaries aren’t always available and due to the low volume of work they experience, many times are baffled and hesitant in providing the service. But there will simply not be the income there used to be unless the Fed lowers the rates again to stimulate the economy. The decision to raise them was pre-Ukraine.
We might still have March to work before we hit the trough. Much better to have something else lined up if you are able.
Best of luck,
J
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I must be slow on the uptake…but I’m saddened by the truth of it all.
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Loyalty, what is that?
The only way to survive is through direct with titles, lenders and builders. Try those.
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I’ve been getting tons of calls for full time work…if something is good I’m taking it…
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I also work as an MLO, I see the industry from the lending side as well. What you say is true.
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But isn’t that conflict of interest having the Escrow Officer do the notarization as well? Shouldn’t it be an uninterested party to the transaction be the notary? Am I missing something?
No, it isn’t…the escrow officer does not have a financial interest in a closing. They are paid a salary, and do not benefit financially from a closing.
A loan officer does, obviously - as does a realtor, broker, etc. Because they usually get paid a commission upon the close of escrow.
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How were you able to do 7 a day? Please enlighten
To start, I live in a very busy metropolitan area, and I live downtown here which puts me in the middle of many, many zip codes within a 10 to 15 minute drive if not less. That’s a huge factor, because many folks here are rural and drive much further- but they also command higher fees, so I’m betting it’s a wash if they do fewer? Can’t really say for sure, I’m going by what has been shared here, and from discussions with schedulers, title, and lenders.
I’m fortunate, because my experience working with loan and escrow docs (former escrow officer for 20+ years, I have done thousands and thousands of signings) means I know the docs very well…I literally could throw the docs up in the air, then pick them up and put them back in the same order they were sent to me, LOL!!! SO, it typically only takes me about 30-45 minutes for a refi or purchase with 2 borrower’s. I usually started my day at 9 am and booked in 1.5 hour increments, with my last signing at 7:00 (give or take 30 minutes). I’m also pretty darn accurate, so many clients with whom I have a relationship don’t require me to do scanbacks since they’d rather I return docs same day-and I live 8 blocks from a FedEx that has a final pickup of 7:15 pm for west coast packages. Again, logistics are an advantage to me!
Also, when I confirm, I let the borrower know there is a chance I can be early, and most are fine with this too which allows me to shave even more time off sometimes and would occasionally let me squeeze in another last minute signing…or get home early enough to walk my dog. 
If you are seeking ideas about how to fit more signings in each day, my BEST ADVICE IS TO KNOW YOUR DOCS. So much of this job is in your presentation and if you are super confident with the docs, the borrower is super confident in you and that significantly speeds up the signing. And I am a very “social” notary…I carry dog treats, talk to the borrower about current events, etc. which makes for a more fun day all around but if I wasn’t a yakker, I could get a signing done in probably 30 minutes or less.
I wouldn’t recommend that someone who doesn’t know the docs front and back book themselves this tightly-when I first started doing these independently as opposed to as an EO, I spaced them 2.5 to 3 hours apart until I had a surefire method to my madness.
Ahhhhh these have been fun days, for sure!!! I worked 8 hours at a regular job today and did 1 signing tonight, and made about 20% of what I was doing when we had our heyday-but all great things end, LOL.
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…everything you said is absolutely positively 1,000,000% SPOT ON…except for 1 thing! You’d be surprised at how many recruiters call me on, what I felt, was a terriblly formatted and written resume…and so many were interested just based my past 4 years working as a notary…honest!!! I felt the same-that I wouldn’t have many options-but surprisingly, now that many positions are remote or hybrid, companies are looking for maturity and experience…thinking there have been issues with productivity? Not sure…but I’m serious!! I was shocked! And they are GOOD JOBS too!!
Don’t sell yourself short!! The best and highest quality calls came from the site Indeed.com, BTW…I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised!! The job I took is in the Healthcare industry, and YES it’s a huge cut in pay but it is super stable with full benefits, still is decent pay, lots of potential for growth (and a very good salary with it!) and I’m done at 4:30 every single day - so I can sneak a signing in the evenings to keep my finger on the pulse of the industry. Give it a whirl!!
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Which means you get all your docs a day or 2 before? And docs are never late? Must be nice. You’re awesome
I’m curious about it here in North Texas too! DFW is bursting at the seams with buyers and realtor.com forecasts predict it might be another rough year. Sure rates are rising, but we still have a lot of demand. In fact a lot of our buyers are moving from California.
Thank you, Angela. I have still to try having my resume on Indeed and other such websites. Being done at 4:30 means I could finally join the ranks of the dog walking neighbors, instead of giving them a wistful glance as I’m dashing off to the hill country or the last gasp FedEx!
I’m glad to hear there are still decent jobs out there and I’m motivated
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I AGREE ESPECIALLY THOSE FOLKS WHO DON’T NEED IT TO FEED THEIR FAMILIES
I feel sorry for the newbies taking jobs for $70. traveling 50+ miles each way and scan backs
I countered at 175. never heard from them.