As printed. Most signers have seen these docs on line until they are sick of them. I explain as we go along if necessary.
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For returning to title or lender, I place them exactly as sent, unless I was asked to arrange them differently.
For the signing, I find the two most critical to start with are those that might invalidate the person in front of me from proceeding even after I’ve checked their ID at the start of the meeting… the Patriot Act (since some lenders require more than what we need as notaries and if it cannot be completed correctly there’s the possibility with some lenders that they will not accept the rest of the signing) and lately, the COVID-19 disclosure where they attest that the pandemic has not hurt their finances from when they first applied (lenders are also paying very close attention to these, and have been communicating in their instructions that they consider this a show-stopper making the rest of the signing moot)… after this we get into those that cover the deal itself, where this time it’s the borrower that can perhaps find a show-stopping issue: CD, Alta, “big picture” docs to make sure there are no ugly surprises. I then like bringing up the RTC, not to start speed signing, but to put them at ease that they will have way more time to find any issues even after I leave. It sets a nice tone for the rest of our meeting, and you won’t see them wanting to read 5 pages of IRS instructions in front of you.
If you want to save a bit of time while still being thorough, place all of your jurat-needing docs together… so you can have them go over all of them, then either swear them in “as to these three specific documents in front of you that you just reviewed” or you can swear them in to the first one, then point to the next one asking “and to this one?” wait for the “I swear/ I affirm” then the next one, and so on… so as to not fail in carrying out your duty. I’ve seen both of these methods used in court when judges receive a stack of indictments from a member of the grand jury, but I’m no lawyer, so follow your state’s rules above anything else.
Going off on a tangent, some of these things might sound “stuffy” but while I am totally on board with being a stickler for the rules, I don’t see them as meaning I have to behave like a funeral director either. You can do all of the above with a friendly disposition while keeping things light-hearted (yet still professional; educational even) and you accomplish what we’re all after: a smooth efficient signing where we can hold our heads up high knowing we didn’t cut any corners.
HTH
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ID Verification, Patriot Act (if included), Signing Affidavit, CD, ALTA, then leave the rest of documents in the order received - and if there is a Survey - I put it last so the borrower can fill out while I check the documents for completion.
That’s exactly what I do. Some instructions even say must be returned in order received.
In order received and I will use notary rotary when necessary for dividing according to page size then combine in the order listed off notary rotary pdf counter…… I don’t think I have had any problems with proper order as long as I return them in order received
I keep the documents in the order they were sent to me. Most title companies and lenders (whether or not the docs come via a signing service, or direct) want the docs kept in order. And so, by far, the easiest way I’ve found to make sure that’s not an issue is: to just keep the documents in order. If someone says something like: “I want to review the numbers”, I respond with something like: “That’s all in the the Closing Disclosure and Settlement Statement, and they’re in the packet. This will all go quickest if we just go through the packet in order, if that’s okay with you.”
I’ve never had any one object.
The one exception to this is when the title company / lender asks for scanbacks of select documents. In that case, I pull those out, use the provided checklist to be sure I have them all, and then return the docs with those (scanned back) documents on the top of the packet. Sometimes the instructions say to to do that, but even where they haven’t, I’ve never had a complaint for doing it that way.
Ordering and reordering documents would take way too much time and effort, imo, and in my experience, it doesn’t make any difference for the buyers / borrowers / sellers, as long as you explain the general purpose of each document when you get to it.
Also in my experience, a good 90%+ of all signers don’t want much explanation, in any case. This is either because they’ve seen and reviewed all the key details already, and/or they know there’s going to be a bunch of documents they don’t really understand - and they just want to sign, and be done with it.
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Agreed! I just had a signing where there were 180 pages of docs and the lender wanted 88 pages scanned back within 2 hours. It was a royal PITA to pull those 88 and get them back in the order in which they came, specially with the signing 45 minutes from my home office.
Most clients (title/escrow companies, lenders, etc.) are adamant that the documents remain in the identical order they’re sent. So, I’ve always honored their request.
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Regarding the signers’ copy of the documents though, I do alter the sequence of the documentation. I place the documents in the following order:
Two sets of the Notice of the Right To Cancel [NORTC] (after the signer copies are executed)
Closing Disclosure
First Payment Letter
Note
Mortgage
=> I place them in this order for the occasion wherein the signer requests verification of their numbers prior to beginning the signing. This is a rare occurrence; however, it’s also very convenient for the signers after-the-fact to have that data gathered on the top of the stack of documents for easy reference.
At the onset of the signing, I do bring this change of the order (of their set of documents) to their attention to avoid confusion. Without exception, they express gratitude for the thoughtful ordering of their document set.