Posted by Gary Boehm on 6/2/08 10:19pm
Msg #249772

Invoicing?

BTW there is a question at the end of all this.

On the one hand: Yea! I completed my first signing!
On the other hand: I hope that is my worst experience ever LOL!

No, it really wasn't all that bad. Printed 120 pages the night before. Take it out to the borrower the next day, nervous as all heck. Go in, friendly chat, START to sit down and before my butt actually hits the seat of the chair he is demanding to see the payoff list. No problem, I know right where that is! What? he says! They're not supposed to pay off this! They're not supposed to pay off my truck! They KNEW that! And where's my Discover Card? And my Visa! This is all wrong, he says.

Great. Make a phone call. They admit that the broker did it wrong. They say the total payoff amount is the same, can we do it anyway? THEY make a phone call, called back. No, we have to do it all over again.

Next day. Nothing heard. Finally I call THEM. Ok emailing new docs package. Printed all over again. What about my fee I asked? They volunteered they would pay me the same amount again since I was doing it all over again (we'll see!). Went back out, got everything signed (I thought).

Next day. Oh! They say they want the wife to sign a couple more of the forms (NOT the notarized ones TG). Not in the Instructions and her name not on these forms but ok. I chalk that up to MY experience, now I know. Go back out again. She signs, he won't come into the room.

Next day. Now one of the "other" lenders decides they want one of "their own" forms signed. Go back out again. Fortunately he is ok with it, just wants to get it over with. Oops, UPS picked up an hour ago? Oh well, fill out the form anyway. What's this? He's running an hour late? Yea, got the package on the way after all!

Wasn't that fun?

Now to my question. Didn't I see a selection on one of the sites somewhere for generating an Invoice? Does anyone know where I can do that? If not, does anyone know of or have have a quick and easy template for Word or Excel that I can use? I can get fancier program or something later but just want to get this one out there tomorrow morning if possible. MUCH appreciated!

And anyone who will criticize whatever I did wrong, please be kind. I am learning and hopefully more importantly I am WILLING to learn. Thank you.

Reply by MistarellaFL on 6/2/08 10:22pm
Msg #249773

http://www.wef.net/iol/

If you use the one that remembers you via cookies, you won't have to fill that part of the invoice out but one time.

Reply by Lee/AR on 6/2/08 10:27pm
Msg #249775

Ya' done good. "They" are frequently sloppy and you kinda gotta 'know' what a non-ob. Spouse has to sign--but there is usually some 'instruction' about that hidden somewhere in the mess they send. ONE thing you need to learn right now & real good: If you screw up, it's your dime/time that suffers. When they screw up, they pay you for your additional work. Unless they are handing you a ton of work AND paying timely, your 'favors' will not be appreciated or even remembered.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 6/2/08 10:27pm
Msg #249774

:You are probably going to want to get a program to keep track of all your finances. I personally use "Quicken home and office. It invoices, keeps track of everything I need for taxes. There is also a free finance open sour=sce program called GNUcash (google it). It also will invoice and keep track of all your expenses, but it is more difficult to use .....

Reply by JanetK_CA on 6/3/08 1:52am
Msg #249794

Welcome to the world of loan signing! Looks like you got a pretty good initiation with your first assignment. But sounds like you kept your cool, so congratulations! What you ran into is not unusual, but next time, you'll be more comfortable dealing with those situations until you finally get to where you just take them in stride.

Reply by CopperheadVA on 6/3/08 5:59am
Msg #249797

I think you did fine! If you learn from each situation, then you know how to handle it the next time it happens. Sometimes docs are very sloppy, and it sounds like you got a sloppy one. As for invoices, I just used one in Excel from Microsoft Office that was on my computer and customized it to my liking. I also created an Excel spreadsheet that I use to track my signings.

Reply by BrendaTx on 6/3/08 6:57am
Msg #249801

Re: Invoicing? Wow

All I ever read is how mean the posters are on this board. I don't get it...this sounds like a very nice thread of encouraging people!

It must be the heat...whiners who are always fussing about NR...well...it's too hot to even think about them this morning.

Everyone have a great day.

Reply by sue_pa on 6/3/08 7:31am
Msg #249804

As usual, I 'don't get it'. If the only thing wrong were the payoffs on the settlement sheet, why did the entire package get redrawn? Isn't Ohio a spousal state? Why didn't the wife have to sign the Mortgage, a notarized document and title affidavits? Although I've done it (including last week), that payoff didn't have to be notarized s- were you compensated for returning with it after the fact? They could have sent it to the borrowers without your assistance.

And, dear Gary, I am soooo sorry to tell you that copntrary to your hopes this will NOT be your worst experience ever, unless you quit by the end of the week (need a smiley here). This was a very mild and common situation.

Reply by Geoffrey Zimmer on 6/3/08 8:20am
Msg #249811

Congrats...you got your feet wet. Here are some suggestions:
1) Before you even meet with the borrower(s), forward them a copy of the settlement (HUD) either by fax or email. The title company is essentially responsible for this, but 99% of the time they do not provide this to the borrower in time to prevent problems. By sending them this information before meeting with them, you save yourself a lot of time correcting/explaining problems to the borrower at the table. By the time you show up, either they're happy with the settlement or have had time to contact the LO/TC to correct any errors. I make it a point to do this before every closing and have rarely had to call to correct or verify settlement amounts.

2)Always try to flip through the loan package just to make sure all the docs are included and also to familiarize yourself with the loan documents....there are so many different variations of each form with the different lenders and TC's, it always good to know the requirements of each form and where the date, signature, and initial blocks are (but never highlight them).

3)After the signing and before leaving the borrower(s), review the entire package to make sure nothing was over looked or skipped. Once you are confident everything is complete, pack everything up and head out.

4)Keeping good records is essential, so create a spread sheet to track all the signings that you do. Having an accounting program is also beneficial so that you can gauge whether or not you are making or losing money. I have an Excel spread sheet that I created to track all my signings & notary work and I also use Quick Books to invoice and track expenses.

5)As you complete more of these you will know what to look for, and before you know it, you will be rolling through these closings like a pro.

Good Luck

Reply by Pamela Hoyle on 6/3/08 1:05pm
Msg #249853

Gary--Intuit offers a free download of QuickStart. It's working well for me...and you can get it going right away. Other than that there are lots of templates in MSWord to create invoices. Before I went to QS, I just used those and numbered them with a 3 digit number indicating year and signing # (i.e. 802 would be the 2nd signing done in 2008). My second signing ever involved a 90 year old woman, her caregiver and a 16 year old poodle who humped my leg everytime the caregiver (who was the borrower) left the room to attend to the 90-year old...it took me 3 hours and then she exercised her RTC....

Reply by Gary Boehm on 6/3/08 8:14pm
Msg #249909

Re: Invoicing? THANKS everyone!

Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement! I think Invoice Online might be just what I need for the moment. I'll look into the other programs after this. Copperhead or Geoffrey would you be willing to share your spreadsheet column headings or even an empty worksheet? My email is SAOneNotary on Yahoo.com. I spent a lot on time developing the one I use for my eBay sales and I would appreciate any time saved starting with something you have perfected! Willing to trade of course lol
And Sue, I don't know why they had to do it all over again. But by that time the borrower was a little upset, I didn't want to question it and after all the phone calls just kind of wanted to get out of there, get it right and come back with the completely correct package. And lol I'm sure I'll hit more difficult signings but hopefully with a little more experience by then. Thank you for your comments.

Reply by Lauren Sni on 2/1/12 12:13pm
Msg #410515

sounds like you did great for your first signing, keep up the good work! Also, I use software from notarygadget.com for my invoicing.