Sorry for the long post, but I had an âECO101â flashback here. If you read my post the way I intended, just because a company isnât âloyalâ to you doesnât mean they are not aware of your expertise/reputation. They run a business just like we do. âGet your one pound block of butter for the cheapest rate possible!â You want âbetterâ butter, then you pay more. If your the type of person that thinks âbutter is butterâ then you get what you pay for. If you know you sell a better âname brand butterâ thatâs worth more, but choose to sell it at the same price as the store brand, thatâs on you. But if you stick to your higher âname brandâ pricing, you will lose to those who think âbutter is butter.â The key is to not only âmarketâ your butter (by giving as many people a taste as possible), but follow up on their experience with your butter. Advertising is key obviously, but showing them how your butter is made (prep/production time), but also how you make it right should they get a bad batch. Those who sell bad butter weed themselves out, but new butter makers are always standing in line. Now that Iâm off my âbutter boxâ I will say this: there is nothing out there that says you need to only following up with the store (the signing company) on the quality of your butter. You can call the customer as well (lender/TCo). A lot of signing services advertise âover 100 notaries on staff/nationwide coverage.â 9 times out of 10 the lender/TCo has no idea they are sub contracting the work out to us, nor do they care. They hired the signing service, not us. When I complete a signing, I not only notify the signing service, but I notify the LO also, a they are the âtrueâ customer, and they love it, as it may take the signing service a lot more time to notify their client, and this is a âtime sensitiveâ business. If one took the time they spend on complaining about âlow ballersâ and put it into marketing, they would see results. This is NOT 2008 (which was caused by predatory lending practices). What we are experiencing now is INFLATION, which causes people to raise the price of their butter, because the demand for it is down. What I stated applies to EVERY business (whether selling a product or service) and what we do does not exempt us from this.
I have been doing this for 19 years and agree with how you get through it. This is not a stand alone business. It can be a side gig or it can be enhanced by a side gig. Either way it is survivable. Good Luck!
There are some big differences between now and 2008. The demand for notaries in Nov. 2008 suffered a severe drop. There was little out there for anyone. The difference now is that we have all these â100Kâ dreamers with â1Kâ of ability. They are desperate and will take anything they can get their hands on. Several months of downturn and you will get paid later and later since the Signing companies will scramble for business too. The normal market was with a fixed number of service providers and a fixed number of NSAs. When there is a downturn there are two many of both. Those who can identify opportunities and go after them will survive but those who wait patiently for the phone to ring will be doing very little.
Agree. Am seeing a serious decline, too. And I see TCs looking to hire in-house RON notariesâŚa real job!
Itâs totally trueâŚI said this the other dayâŚYou can even feel the bitterness of the SS nowâŚnot sure what in the world is going on.
How do you feel the bitterness of the signing service?
Only if those are beachfront moon rocks.
I see you have a special order⌠
That is really sad to be laid off. You might be right, I get homeowners assuming often I work for title and not independent unless they google me before the appointment.
Ahhhh Florida. Nothing like it.
Itâs not bad at all. It just means a better opportunity for that individual. When I passed my title exam and became a TIPIC in Maryland. I applied to a Title company that actually took a chance on me. I applied to many places in the Real Estate industry and I was able to use my TIPIC license and learn the closing process. Let them know the process and let them decide what they do next. You planted a seed about what signing agents do. You did great!
I say what goes around comes around. Let her know where to look for info and direct her to places to do her due diligence. Nothing wrong with offering help. Being kind and honest is always the best way to go. And there is money to be made in General Notary Work. Always. Much of it is more lucrative time-wise than signings for those of us who are both LSAs and Mobile Notaries Public
@rosofthec Your statement may be true in SOME instances, but nearly all the instances that I have direct experience with theyâre sole support. 
I agree. Sadly things are not looking good. I once was getting $125-150 per closing but now itâs and abysmal $75 for refi- 30 mins or more away. Itâs troubling. Thereâs a few YouTube Notaries encouraging new notaries to accept any offer just to get some skin in the game. They donât realize by doing this itâs driving down the prices in the market. Even my direct clients have changed their pricing due to the downward trend. Terrible! Gas is nearing $4.50 in my area. Iâm hoping the fad will fade. Just venting here.
Itâs been an eye opening experienceâŚsad.
Click link to see why nobody should accept a lower fee. Doing so just drags it down further. Also, pay attention to the examples they give as this site page was done a while agoâŚwhen the âexampleâ was on the low side of normal fees accepted. And now weâre seeing $60 offers! Wake upâŚ
Agreed itâs absolutely true.
I just hope that your not accepting the low ball fees? Are you ok?
Absolutely not! Itâs literally a waste of time and money. I know my worth.