Posted by Becca on 2/21/05 12:31pm
Msg #21626

Negotiations

When I sign a contract with a company, do I have to go with their prices or is it "ok" to negotiate my own? Also can I negotiate for more later or am I locked into the contract?

Reply by Mike/NJ on 2/21/05 12:46pm
Msg #21628

Cross out where there fee is listed and intial. Otherwise if you send them a signed contract they can hold you to it.

Reply by CaliNotary on 2/21/05 10:42pm
Msg #21750

And of course the other option is to not accept certain signings if the fee isn't acceptable to you. I've found that when there's a fixed fee in the initial contract they're usually going to be reluctant to pay any more than that unless they absolutely have to.

I would send a list of the areas that I am willing to do for that fee with a note that you cover a wider area for a higher fee.

Reply by Art_MD on 2/21/05 12:48pm
Msg #21629

You are an independent contractor.
You negotiate your own rates.
If at some time you feel that youneed to increase your rates, you can.
All independent contractor contracts have a cancellation clause. Make sure you read it.

Your rates can be very different than someone elses. A lot of factor enter into determining rates. SS and title companies don't know all the factor in an area. In MD we have licensing requirements which can cost up to $1800/yr. This has to be recovered so our rates may be higher than just over the border 15 miles away in PA.

If you set rates by county - some counties can be 100+ miles across - depends on area.
Mostly time is the factor. I live in the burbs. If you live in LA or another large city, the 30 minutes it takes me to go 25 miles might take you an hour+.
Also, how much competition do you have?

Art

Reply by fiKS on 2/21/05 1:02pm
Msg #21632

Art, tell me about the $1800/yr licensing. Just curious what other state requirements are.

Reply by Art_MD on 2/21/05 2:26pm
Msg #21645

We have to be a licensed title insurance producer to do refi's.

$100K bond 500
Continuing ed 500
initial state app'd course 500
testing fee 85
license 58.

There is talk about $250K E&O required by the title companies since we rep them at the table.
Thats ~ $500/yr.

Art

Reply by fiKS on 2/21/05 6:26pm
Msg #21707

That's quite a bit of a commitment. The advantage to that is that you do not have every Tom Dick and Harry contacted by the NNA wanting to become an SA!

Reply by Becca on 2/21/05 1:42pm
Msg #21635

Thank you Art! That is what I needed to know! I have some competition but not a bunch!

Have a great day!

Reply by Ted_MI on 2/21/05 10:06pm
Msg #21741

Becca,

Are you referring to a contract you have signed or a confirmation you have received from a company? Whatever the circumstances may be, I would suggest you reduce whatever verbal agreement you enter to writing and transmit it.

Yes for sure you can negotiate for more, although if you already have done the work you have lost your leverage. But it can be done. On a signing I had, a price was mutually agreed upon, the purchasher (it was a purchase mortgage of a time share) backed out but then he got sufficiently massaged so he was back on board, and as you can imagine all this took more of my time, more emails, etc. So I inquired of my contact whether she would be willing to pay me a bit more. It was I believed a reasonable increase, and she agreed.

Reply by Becca-WI on 2/22/05 6:48pm
Msg #21875

Hi Ted-

Actually I haven't signed up for any yet or done any work. I am a new Notary and know I do not have the experience to ask for higher prices but later down the road I might want to rethink that with time!

Thanks for all of your input!