I concur with arod.ns1004
Even if you ask to up the fee, they would do it. Good Luck!
For the signer copy I usually delete all the instructions. They don’t care what it says they just want it right.
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I agree, once I did not print the appraisal because they had it, basically lost that title company, because they got upset over it. At best, ask for a higher print fee, and ask if you have to print it to be sent back, or just once for the buyers. It gets ridiculous with entire insurance packages, appraisal, tool kits, 12+ pages of instructions….they forget we are not large enough to buy our paper in pallets, and the price of a case is almost doubled. The profitability margin is really much lower than it was 20 years ago. 50 pages of non essentials really makes me mad, just have to remember for the next time.
I give a basic price for a job, then when the documents come in and the page count goes over that pricing (which I have let them know up front what the limit is), I then message or call them back to let them know my fee must go up or they find another notary. Usually I am already having to drive an extended distance and they think they can tack on those pages for free. I tell them no, it is driving that they are paying for in the first place.
Reverse Mortgages are a beast of their own, the application takes a minimum of two hours to do, they never have their paperwork together. Then the closing is always over 200 pages due to all the duplicate paperwork that has to go in. I charge appropriately, I have had to drive over 200 miles in one direction for one and 240 pages for that one, so yes I charged close to $400 for that signing.
They are paying you for your stamp, your paper, your toner, your printer wear and tear. Your electricity, your time, your vehicle wear and tear, fuel, your patience with the signers. Your insurance, your bond, all of these things are all at a cost, make yourself valuable.
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Appraisals and disclosure booklets should not be in the signing package IMO. They are almost always at the end of the package so fairly simple to exclude. Every once in awhile the Lender or Title Company sneaks in a required document for signing at the end, so I always double check. I could argue that there are various RESPA rules and related that would support my contention, that these documents should have been provided directly already, particularly when it comes to loan signings. I don’t print them for the signers, and I do not send them back to the Lenders, and I have precedence documented with the SS about same, every time it. I haven’t ever been dinged for not printing/returning appraisals and booklets, nor the occasional 30+ page insurance policy….I just check with the signers during my confirmation call to confirm there isn’t something odd going on…and ask them if they already have these items….the response is always, “yes they have them already”..
Maybe some signing agents are just in the wrong business.
“Maybe some signing agents are just in the wrong business”.
Clean thoughts on a dirty wall…..
Most everyone was in a different business before they became signing agents. That’s part of the problem, in my opinion. There is no sense of “unity”. It’s more a sense of we’re all out for ourselves. We didn’t “choose” a career as a signing agent. We defaulted to it because of our circumstances at some point in our lives, where it seemed to make sense to become a signing agent. That is not meant to say anything negative about being a signing agent. It’s just a hard truth that we all ended up doing that work for various personal reasons. The thing is…..we all did it individually, not as a collective decision. That’s why, I believe, there is an “everyone out for themselves” attitude that prevails among us. It’s also why, in my opinion, the lenders, title companies, and signing services can so easily take advantage of us.
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Isn’t that the truth but they have to grip somewhere
@johnsonps306 and @earl226 no, most of us run our businesses as our business…we’re not employee-minded individuals nor are we sheeples, something hiring parties seem to forget.
I can appreciate what a pain it is to have to print out all of these secondary documents - most of which have already been provided to the borrower (keep that in mind). Should we have to do it? No. Do we do it?? Yes - but not unless we’re paid for this @service rendered.
Why do you think a second copy is required, so the signer will have a copy. If I recall you don’t do loan signing.
So folks who get that package and ask for more money and don’t get it and give the order back - you do that with some companies you get taken off their list. That’s the truth. Everyone complains about the job requirements and blames it on having a business owner mentality. What a load.
Not sure what you mean by the first sentence, @earl226 . Signers always got a copy from me. As to the second sentence, be accurate - I don’t do loan signings any longer. That is after a 30 year career doing real estate closings.
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Just what I said it the law the signer gets a copy.
You actually suppose to charge more when they send extra documents.
That maybe true, but like in my case, my community didn’t have a brick and mortar office notary that would do everything under the law for the state and travel, that’s where I came in. I am an Accountant and added the service to my office, my county is small and you need to do many things to keep in business as everyone thinks they can be a bookkeeper with no degree, just like everyone thinks it is easy to be a notary. Accountants have to clean up bookkeepers work, and signing agents end up cleaning up a base notaries work a lot of times.
On some Mortgage Connect orders they will put a note that the signer was sent their copy electronically so only one copy is required. Doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen.
I had a new experience with something like that last week. I had one that had a “Document Separator Sheet” in between almost every lender document. What a waste of paper.
That’s why I don’t do reverse mortgages. Too much work for too little money.
I’ve had 200+ page “signing” packages where half of it was fluff. I just tell them anything beyond the core docs costs extra, otherwise I’m not printing it.
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