Today I was asked to come work in a title office, but wasn’t sure what to expect or charge. My contact said she would pay me $50/signing and she had one for 11am, 12pm, and 1pm. My initial thought was that is not enough, but for a beginner maybe it is. So, I went and things didn’t go well. They hadn’t received docs for the 11am or the 12pm signing, one of the escrow officers was already in with the borrowers when I arrived, and to top it off I stayed there for 3 hours and didn’t get paid anything. The reason I didn’t get paid was I wasn’t able to complete any signings. They had some errors on the 12pm docs and was waiting for the corrected version. I had another appt at 3pm that was 30mins away so I had to leave at 2:15pm. A waisted day! With all that being said, my question is do you charge by the hour and at what rate? If this happened to anyone else would you have charged something for your time and travel?
Have never done this, but think they generally pay at least double what you were offered. Due to the mess you encountered, I’d think real hard before agreeing to do this again.
I have never done this… but I would think of adding a clause to be paid per hour or a cancellation fee per file, in the event the closings do not occur.
Question: Do you work for the title company? Or Are you an independent contractor?
If you work for the title company and filled out an application then they should pay you hourly.
If you are an independent contractor, self-employed then you should tell them how much YOU charge.
So if you do take that job at the bottom basement rate it hurts the market for us all. Consider what your minimum is and pass on the basement offers that come in. When you respond with confidence that you command higher fees for a reason you may lose some offers but I am certain you will get what you are asking for. Stand tall.
Prior to COVID-19, I conducted a lot of closings in escrow/title offices, and most everything closed, happily.
I think this was pretty bad they didn’t offer you something for your time and trouble. They have the ability to compensate you, but opted not to. I wouldn’t repeat this again, without some sort of prior arrangement for your professional time, travel, etc.
I never accept those $50 gigs who ever they are from. There is a price for expertise for loan signings and if you are good, that price never compensates for that, even if you don’t print copies and have gas expenses for travel. Signing services are the worst culprits for paying less when in the office for signings and they are still collecting the much more Notary Signing fee listed on the settlement statement.
I get $250.00 for signing at escrow’s office. Things happen but if they haven’t received docs yet, they will not have me come in until they have them and have figured the file.
