I am on the same page. I will be starting to negotiate more. Gas is up almost $1.00 per gallon and minimum wages will be going up in July 2020. So, if everyone did the same, we could all get paid better. But you will always have those who are willing to work for free. Look at the paperwork, they are charging $150 to $200 for the notary fee.
So notaries! Wake up! Stop working for nothing. The need us more than we need them.
Hugoā¦mouth please; please amend your post and delete the expletive in the last sentenceā¦thereās no place for that here.
Thank you
I upgraded my equipment : https://www.bestbuy.com/site/brother-mfc-l3770cdw-wireless-color-all-in-one-laser-printer-white/6265826.p?skuId=6265826
For now, when I make some profit from this job I will invest more!
But I will still not accept signing under $125 !
Thank you all for sharing your opinion and experience!
I donāt respond for anything below $150 for Signing +$50 for Edocs printing. Total $200 for me to touch my SUV, laser printer, cell phones, shower, clothes, insurance, etc. etc. This is not a Charity work. 
Respectfully, because one is taking $75-$85, and āassumingā they are working for āfreeā is irrational considering you know nothing about anyoneās business structure, situation, and location (and the signing details itself for that matter) other than yours. There are several occasions where I have the opportunity to complete 12-15 signings a week averaging $80-$90 a piece (REFIās due to the current demand). Anyone turning down a potential $1,500 for the week in this situation because its not āworth itā is just foolish regardless in my opinion. Yeah, gas is $4 a gallon in CA, but $2 a gallon by me. You may live out in the 'boonies" with no paved roads, while I am sandwiched between 3 major metro cities, all within an hour from my location. Too many variables in this business for one to determine whether another is working for free or not. I would also advise those to stop looking at the ānotary feesā on borrowers statements, as you are not only sharing that fee with the signing service that escrow/title hired, but your sharing that fee with the platform the signing service used to hire you (no its not free, which is why a lot of signing services are now creating their own signing agent platforms). All 3 of those fees are covered under that ānotary feeā you glare at. And just like us, they are running a business and need to make a profit also (surprise right?). So again, I recommend to stop looking at the individual assignments, and look at your business operations and figure out how to make those assignments work for you, because you will NEVER see the assignment not go to the lowest bidder unless its an ASAP signing because its not realistic for those trying to make a profit.
Exactly! Not charity, and even charities organizations have a logistic on their money received and their expenses.
3 things you should think about re that printer:
Hugoās comments might be harsh, but on the point.
Maybe so, but Hugo must not be making any money, at least not as much as some of us who donāt look at the individual signing to determine if our business is going to crumble or not. Trust me, if Hugo was told he would get 10 $85 Refiās over the course of the next week, he will take every single one of them, and it will be very hard for him to convince anyone otherwise. But because we are not ātoldā or guaranteed what we will or will not get, you take what comes your way to get āsomethingā out of it, other wise you get the sum of ā0ā at the end, patiently waiting for your client to take a loss just to give you a gain.
But you are doing the same thing, assuming heās not making any money 
In conclusion, we all have different kind of expenses, I āguessā. I canāt take those $40-$85 offers because gas alone is $4 and distance is 20-30 minutes minimum.
We all get our work from the same sources as described in multiple threads and topics on here, so unless Hugo is getting title direct work, my āassumptionsā are much more realistic then his.
Have no choice, right nowā¦ I am not using printer /scanner only for this type of work. I do unfortunately need color printer, but this one is definitely faster than my old HP. Little steps forward.
There are no hard and fast rules for pricing, since we all live in different market places. If you are rural, your transportation costs are high and your calendar is hard to fill because of driving time. There is usually less competition and the demand for your services is higher. If you live in a suburban area, your transportation costs are less, you have more time to accept appointments but your area is usually saturated with other notaries, so individually there is less demand for one particular notary. For those who have taken Econ 101, the price point is determined by the point where the demand curve intersects with the supply curve. (High supply, low demand, low price. High demand, low supply, high price.
Also a direct fee is always higher than a shared fee, so you are always going to get a lower fee from a signing service. If I told a signing service that I will not work for under 200 dollars, they will tell me that I wonāt be working. I donāt have the right to tell other notaries how they should price, but they should know what their monthly business expenses are and know what the breakeven point is for their business. As long as your average costs and prices are setup right, you know what profits will be. I have found that taking an offer below my price point for one closing usually does not affect my average profit, if most of my closing come in at or above my price point. If I had to give advice it would be to know your marketplace, know your costs and make sure your averages come in at a desired level.
Totally agree. Wouldnāt expect to see signing agents who posted that they refuse to take a signing below a certain amount ālikingā this post, but nonetheless, this concept is what I have been posting all along (without the ECON 101 of course). Very well put.
Lmfaoooo HELL NO!!! I would not do 10 refis for $85. I work directly with a few escrow companies. I get the full $250, and I do commercial loans which are a lot smaller. Because of these dumb fees, I took myself off of snapdocs and many signing services. Ive been much happier, less stress, and actually been making more money in less time. 3 hours prep work to make $85? No thanks! I can make $65 in less than 10 minutes doing individual notaries. I average $500 dailyā¦most of the time without loan docs.
So guess what the signing agents that donāt have the luxury of working directly with title/escrow companies (which is most) have to do? And 3 hours to āprepā for a signing??? Just curious, how did you get escrow direct work with that extensive amount of prep time?
Couldnāt agree with this more. I do get that passing up $85 (or $850/week) would be tough - but Iād rather do 5-6 $150 signings in a week than ten $85 signings. Those $85 signings cost the same in terms of time and consumables as the $150 ones do - so doing the same amount of work for half the feeā¦no thanks.
You think the work was just handed to me? I went out of my way to network, visit offices, go to seminars, conferences, sign up on mailing lists, whatever I had to do. See most people donāt want to do the work of going out there.
I pick up docs from the escrow office and then return them via FedEx. So I donāt do any printing. A good bulk of the time theyāll even highlight where they need to sign.
Yes approx 3hrs prep for those getting from snapdocs or signing serviceā¦30 mins to print 2 sets. 30 mins to drive to signers homes. 45 mins to an hour to sign (youāre lucky if you can do it in 30 mins). 30-45mins to drive back home and drop docs at FedEx. An additional who knows how much longer if you need to scan all this back first. So all in all almost 3 hoursā¦for $85? NI THANKS!
I gave a brother mfc L5850DW
I added a second draw for kegal ā¦dn loaded Adobe and i use hi yield cartridge from brother tn 850
About $109.each
I set at toner saver and get near 9000 pages
AND ITS an all in one scanner copier printer
Im part time about 20-50 signings month
Opinions on FEES are divided between the ones that encourage to accept low ball offers and the ones that encourage to say YES to higher offersā¦ meanwhile our contractors are having the last laugh.
