Posted by tinkie on 6/25/08 9:16am
Msg #252860

Just sittin' here thinkin' over a cup o' mud how an

agreement might change things. They want to pay us $50-120 for e-docs now. Most of us want at least $100.

Some of us want $200.

You can't make a livin' at $50, or $100 for e-docs..(And you know in your heart, a 4 hour edoc closing is worth $200) If you keep taking those fees you're shootin' us all in the feet!

But maybe you can get along with $150. The problem is we have to AGREE to hold to that price in order to bring our prices back where they should be.

THIS THING IS GETTING OUT OF HAND QUICK, especially for the experienced SA's who know how much a quality closing should pay.

I can drop to $150 for edocs, if those of you who are doing $50-$120 would hold their feet to the fire and come up to ($150 firm )and NOT go down!

We have to train these people that NO MATTER WHO THEY CALL the price is going to be $150. There is safety and security in numbers. And there are a great number of us. Banded together things can CHANGE! Hope that doesn't sound too much like Obama, but I'm serious.

Don't come back and tell me you can make it on a $50- $125 closing. These are ICE AGE prices and you need to move into 2008 as quickly as possible!

I will stop short of trying to form an association, cause I don't know how. But I will be the first to say I will join you and hold firm to $150, and if thats all the TC's and SS's hear, thats what they will pay.

Today, you are going to get some calls. Test it and see what happens.( I will, )because the fees are so low right now I lost 2 calls yesterday trying to get my regular fee of $185. Could have taken them for $150.

If they keep using newbies that do $45 closings, it won't be long and they'll come runnin' back to us.
I agree.

Reply by Alice/MD on 6/25/08 9:50am
Msg #252864

I am sitting here thinking and feeling the same way you are Tinkie. My phone is ringing less and the calls I do get will not pay my fee. They laugh at me when I say I can't work for what they offer. I know I have to stick to my guns and that what I will do. I refuse to work at a loss just to keep old clients. They do come back sometimes for me to fix something that got missed by their cheapest.

Reply by DogmongerCA on 6/25/08 10:06am
Msg #252866

I am not a attorney, nor do I pretend to be on on the internet:-) What you are suggesting is price fixing, and it might be in your best for you to not solicit such, as the Feds will occasionally pick on someone to make an example of:-) Best of luck and I agree that too many non professionals treat this as anything but a business....

Reply by Therese on 6/25/08 10:41am
Msg #252871

Re: not all notaries.....

read these forums and I think you would be surprised how many don't even know they exist.
Also, its not only new notaries accepting low mobile fees, I am aware of several very experienced that accept offers between $50.00 and $100.00.

Reply by MistarellaFL on 6/25/08 11:06am
Msg #252876

Re: not all notaries.....

It probably couldn't be called price fixing if no organization was involved, but the simple truth is that not all the NSA's who are doing closings read this or any other forum. If this was everyone, we'd probably be doing alot more work out there in the field.
The truth is, there are thousands of brokers, ae's, realtors, loan officers and title/escrow co employees who are out of work/reduced to parttime work, and are doing this to make ends meet, for whatever price they can get. One that comes to mind is a local realtor who is doing bancserv's for $50 and boasts she does 5-10 per week. So she is paying her bills on $1000-$2000 per month.
The point is this...I agree with your fee suggestion, but we are never going to get everyone in line with fees.
JMHO

Reply by DogmongerCA on 6/25/08 11:53am
Msg #252890

Re: not all notaries.....

It probably couldn't be called price fixing if no organization was involved,

I think the fact that we are all members of this board does in fact constitute a organization. For those of you willing to put your head on the chopping block, I hear you can run faster and make more money without it:-)

Reply by Charles_Ca on 6/25/08 12:54pm
Msg #252903

Re: not all notaries.....Quite right Dog, REALTORS go hit

hard a number of years ago and that is why all real estate listing agreements have to have the statement that the commission is negotiable. As I recall the situation occurred when two real estate agents were discussing commission and were overheard in a coffee shop. I suspect however that if notary signers were to compute their costs plus about 10% profit (a normal starting point for most businesses) that they would realize that regardless of the part of the Country they are in that their fees should be pretty close. However talking about fixing prices is definitely fodder for trust-busters!

Reply by DogmongerCA on 6/25/08 1:11pm
Msg #252908

Good pull Sir Charles:-)

That is the exact case I was referring to, but could not remember the specifics:-)

Reply by tinkie on 6/25/08 1:48pm
Msg #252921

Re: Good pull Sir Charles:-)

OK! OK! I believe you! Never meant to even skirt anything illegal. Just was sitting here bored this morning and trying to think of a way for us to all make more money. I know its tough on lots of folks right now.
Sorry I mentioned it. I don't make it a habit to study law, but it looks like this would be a good starting point.

Charles and Dogmonger, thanks for your comments and have a great day!

Reply by DogmongerCA on 6/25/08 3:19pm
Msg #252934

It was not intended as criticism

I just know how anal the government can be sometimes:-)

Reply by Charles_Ca on 6/25/08 7:45pm
Msg #252962

Same here, and yes the government can be anally impacted

beyond any reasonable doubt. I think that rates are on everybody's mind most of the time. The problem comes in is when people collude to fix a price that may be detrimental to free trade (at least that has been my interepretation of anti-trust laws).

Reply by Matilda Archer on 6/25/08 1:59pm
Msg #252924

Re: not all notaries.....

"I agree with your fee suggestion, but we are never going to get everyone in line with fees."

I totally agree because different strokes for different folks. Same as any other job. There is always someone who will take a lower fee. NO MATTER WHICH WAY YOU TURN IT. JMHO

Reply by Charles_Ca on 6/25/08 7:59pm
Msg #252964

That is true Matilda, I have been preaching for a while that

mobile signing service has become a commodity and the only way to compete in a commodity is to compete on price because there is little differentiation and that is unfortunate. The biggest problem I see is notaries selling value. If you look through the profiles of most notaries they all basically say the same thing: lack of differentiation. I know that even in saturated markets some notaries seem to get most of the good paying jobs and I believe that they have differentiated themselves from the others. I know that one tactic has worked for the notary networks is to guarantee their work or its free. Another is the network itself so that there is a source of notaries of known quality and so people call them.

I recently wrote an article for a consumer organization on how to select a real estate agent and one of the items was to ask what 5 things made the real estate agent better then the others. Most real estate agents can't tell you how they are different in 5 ways from the others in the field: most can't ven tell you one. Perhaps that is a place to start differentiating oneself. Once one determines how their service is better there becomes a compelling reason to use the individual over others. Much like real estate notary work is a personal service business. The one problem I see is that many notaries (none on this board that I know of) are quite content to let the SS do the marketing. I know that the Florida Notary Network has done very well in this area and are actually supplanting SS in the minds of direct users of notaries such as TCs and LOs.

Reply by MW/VA on 6/25/08 8:39pm
Msg #252974

It's always hard to figure why some will work for fees that aren't worthy of the profession.
This is capitalism & the free-enterprise system. We all know how it works & many shop at Wal-mart because they offer the lowest prices. There are some that feel that is how to be competitive. Let them have the $50 fees. Always remember, there is a Wal-mart, but there is also Nordstrom's. It all depends on what kind of business you want to attract.