Hello everyone,
I am a notary signing agent and am thinking of starting my own signing service.
Any thoughts on previous experience with this would be great? How to’s and Do’s and Dont’s?
Also, what are some things that notaries would want to see from a signing service? Error Rate? If your a preferred notary? How to become a preferred notary?etc
Right out the gate - do you have
Title company connections that will provide you a steady stream of closings?
Capital - your notaries should not have to wait for you to be paid to get their fee - so you’ll need sufficient capital to float your company while keeping your notaries happy or, quite simply, you won’t have any notaries willing to work with you. Also, you’ll need to have enough to float you through the drier times.
Can you guarantee your notaries payment within 30 days (and uphold that guarantee)? For reasons, see #2.
How long have you been a notary and notary signing agent? Notaries will be referring back to you from the table for answers to their questions - and you need to be spot on with your advice and guidance.
In all honesty, there are enough fly-by-night signing services popping up every day and most notaries are tired of them. Direct work is preferred…unless you can pay really really well - not $85/signing>
Think hard on this
Thank you for the reply.
I appreciate your input!
I do have a lot of those things. The biggest hurdle I face is getting the title companies business. Mainly because I just moved to a new city so networking with these title companies is going to be new.
I definitely have capital. Have set aside about $30k for notaries. I want to be a different signing service and pay the right way. I would love to pay notaries a lump sum by direct deposit. I feel like that is a more efficient way. That way notaries have some predictability!
Keep in mind the Real Estate Market is slowing down. You may find it difficult to get this launched at this time. You’ll be competing against other SS that have been around for a while. You may want to market your SS to more than TCs and Lenders. Consider Law firms or Legal Support Companies (Paralegal services).
I’d say $30,000 will get used up very quickly. How did you arrive at $30,000 as being adequate reserves?
2 of 2 responses: You don’t need to disclose your numbers to the public, but what have you set aside for paying your staff (I’m thinking you can’t run a SS by yourself. What have you set aside for telephone expenses, for information security expenses, for a platform where notaries can securely upload documents, for E&O insurance, for advertising/marketing, for Google clicks, and …
Well from just math really…
Let’s say I get business right out the gate (unlikely but possible) and am doing 3 signings a day, averaging 72 a month.
If I pay notaries, let’s say $100, for easy math. I’d be paying $7200 a month before trip/print fees. Let’s say those trip/print fees equal another $500 a month because we’re not doing that many signings at this point.
With 30k saved up, I could, theoretically, be able to pay notaries for about 4 months without making any money. And that’s with paying every month unlike a lot of companies.
In reality, I would make money and I’m confident I could become profitable in those 4 months to where the business bank account has more than $7700 in it. So at the very least I would be sustainable.
Understandable. The 30k was just for notaries though. All the other expense fall under different line items
Javonn - I see this is from July. Did you start your Signing Service? What is the name of it and what state are you located in?
I am curious to know if you opened the agency yet. I am thinking the same here in SW florida
