NSA job price ranges

Beginner's Questions
1

Hi there! I hope this question belongs here. I am a new notary and on X Marks the Spot platform, they require your asking price for the following jobs:
Loan signing
Full Purchase
Reverse Mortgage
Extras for EDOCS
Loan Application
Cash Deal

I’m in Texas (if that info is helpful). What is the range of acceptable asking prices for these jobs- and what is a Full Purchase? AND as a new notary, I feel like I should ask on the lower end with prices for now? Advice?

3 Likes
2

Carol Ray has a fee cheat sheet that you could ask to use.

3

Not sure how the platform looks, I’ll usually browse around what the average rate is on that site by other notaries and set a similar price myself.

4

I am in CA and I base my fees on several factors, which I calculate for in an excel spread sheet. Obviously I don’t have a specific address until I accept the assignment, but I have a able with an estimated number of miles to reach the city I am going to (I don’t live in a huge metro area so I travel out of town for a portion of my signings as well).

  1. of pages- almost everything I get is EDOCS, and the average number of pages I have to print is 150, so I start with a $15 print fee.

  2. distance to travel: this is two parts

    • Miles to travel: I include the IRS 2021 mileage rate of $0.56 per mile. So if I am traveling 30 miles I would include $0.56 x 30 miles = $16.80
    • Time to travel: I want to account for the time it takes to travel somewhere. This is almost non-existent if I am traveling under 10 miles, but I charge minimum wage in CA (which is $13 for employers who have less than 25 employees and I am self-employed). I just calculate a minute rate ($13.00/60 min per hour) and then multiply by the number of minutes I travel. Sometimes this can range depending on the specific town because some are mountain roads and some are freeway. Lets say for the 30 mile trip it takes me 34 minutes to travel then ($13.00/60) x (34)= $7.36. Then take this number and times it by two to account for the time it takes to return to your home location. $7.36 x 2= $14.72

  3. Base Notary Fee: I try and keep an hourly average of about $20 per hour (as I have only been taking jobs since April). Most signings consume about 2.5-3 hours of my time for several reasons.
    Time to print- 15 min
    Time to review and flag- 30-45 min MINIMUM. I have found signers names spelled wrong (as in there were two signers with different last names and their last names were swapped) and since Title companies demand PERFECTION it really is essential to properly examine the documents, familiarize yourself with them and flag where the signers need to sign or if they need to check a box, initial, or complete sections.
    Time at the table- 1.5-2 hours. Most signing companies will have you say that the signing appointment should take an hour. That is fine if all your doing is a point and sign signing. Some title companies state that its not your responsibility to explain the documents. Other state you should NEVER do a point and sign. I find that when you give even a brief explanation of documents, or if there are multiple signers, if the loan package is excessive long (200+ pages), then the appointment is going to take you a little longer.
    Time to Scan documents: SO SO SO many companies require scanbacks these days, and that usually accounts for about 15-20 additional minutes.
    Time to courier to FedEx: I try and always drop docs on my way home if possible (I have a portable scanner so I can scan docs at the table if possible) but it can take me 10 minutes to do this.

This usually averages out to just over 2.5 hours so I incorporate a $50 NSA fee into my fees. This is actually shorting myself since most of the time I go over the 2.5 hour mark, but I am also struggling with contracting companies low-balling fees.

To summarize the example of a 30 mile travel job:

  1.  $15 print fee
  2. A $16.80 Mileage
    B $14.72 Travel Time
    C $ 50 Base Notary FEES
    TOTAL: $96.52. I would round this to $100 cause gas prices have been going up and I usually spend more than 2.5 hours on a single signing.

So some locations that are upwards to 70 miles from my home base (about an hour away) I will charge $175 to go to that area. That said, those jobs are rare because they don’t usually want to pay that much and can find someone else who will take it. When asked I usually explain that prices go up the farther away the work is and provide them with a table showing my prices to each town. Since most of what I do is refi’s this usually works well. I always tell them I am willing to negotiate prices based on specific factors of an assignment, but I would need more details of the assignment. (# of print pages, package type (HELOCs can be simple but I find that often purchasing, or sellers packages take just as much time as a refi, and reverse mortgage take FOREVER), specific address, etc.).

While you might not need to go to such a specific extreme with your calculations, you may want to consider these factors.

4 Likes
6

Thanks for actually providing a helpful, detailed answer!

7

Hi, I’m new and also in Texas, and am so glad you asked this question. I was registering with a signing platform last night. It asked that same question. I was confused with the terms loan signing and full purchase. I tried searching thru the forums and couldn’t find any information. I also searched online and found no difference.
Do you know what the difference is between them? Best wishes for success!

8

This is super helpful. Thank you for taking the time to do this. I always need a system to help me sort my fees for business and this is so well thought out. I appreciate you!