Posted by philly on 8/25/04 10:03pm
Msg #6707

?

how much cn you make as a notary

Reply by sue on 8/25/04 10:40pm
Msg #6723

$2 per affidavit
$2 per verification
$2 per acknowledgement
$1 each additional name
$2 per certificate
$2 per oath
$2 per page for depositions
$2 per page for protests

you should have learned all this in your notary class. reread your book!!

Reply by Paul_IL on 8/26/04 1:20am
Msg #6728

Bit on the snotty side there sue, have a bad day? I believe the poster meant as a signing agent.

Reply by CaliNotary on 8/26/04 1:29am
Msg #6730

Then the poster should have asked specifically. Anybody who is so lazy that they abbreviate the word "can" is probably not cut out to be a signing agent anyway.

But to answer the hypothetical question, you can make a little bit of pocket change or you can make several thousand a month. Depends on a whole bunch of factors.

Reply by Anonymous on 8/26/04 1:37am
Msg #6732


Sue, there was no need to be snippy with the poster. Apparently the poster is a newbie and of course you were there at one time. Did you forget that?? I was going to get vicious with you but we are all here to assist one another. Aren' t we? If you can't be professional with your responses to any questions that anyone has then you should keep your comments to yourself.

Reply by sue on 8/26/04 9:02am
Msg #6740

I wasn't snippy at all, I answered the question. and no, I'm one of the few who was never new. I learned how to be a notary and how to be a closer in an office setting back in the 70s under supervision. When you work in an office, you learn bits and pieces with direct supervision. After a while, you know the job. I never took on a job without having any idea how to do it. During teh past few years I have seen this business fill with people who are learning as they go and it has brought the standards down considerably. When I started as a 'signing agent' in 1997, there were no fax back requirements, there were not countless phone calls asking you simple questions such as 'are you there', there were no checklists to see if you remembered to notarize paperwork and to drop if off. So yes, I do have an attitude with people who want to be signing agents but don't have any background. They've been promised that it's an easy job and it is, if everyone before you has done their job properly and if you know what you're doing. She asked about notary fees and I supplied them. If that's snippy in your book, so be it. If she wants to know about being a signing agent, that's what she should ask about. In PA, mandatory notary education is required and you are given a book. Since she is still waiting for her commission to be approved (this isn't CA where it takes months, here it takes weeks) everything should be fresh in her mind or she should be reviewing her book daily to learn her job. So, it appears we've got a difference of opinion here.

Reply by Gracie on 8/26/04 9:42am
Msg #6742

Re: ?Mandatory Notary Education

The same thought went through my mind, Sue. If she had recent training, she got - or should have gotten - the fee schedule with the course. If she didn't, shame on the instructors. If she did and forgot, shame on her. If we let her slide on it because she's a newbie, shame on us for setting our expectations so low.

Reply by nah on 8/26/04 10:22am
Msg #6744

I must say that over the past several weeks there have been many opinionated people posting...including myself. However, unless you are answering a question about your specific state regulation or you know and can prove the law from another state, then everything else is going to be opinion or personal preference. Sue...I must say (my opinion only and I am sure others will agree) that according to your post and I quote:

"I'm one of the few who was never new. I learned how to be a notary and how to be a closer in an office setting back in the 70s under supervision....I never took on a job without having an idea how to do it....During the past few years I have seen this business fill with people who are learning as they go and it has brought the standards down considerably."

My first obvious "HELLO" was that you learned in the 70's. Unless you have a case of some-timers, we are now in the 21st century, and you can't compare todays closings whether office or not to something that happened 30 years ago. Welcome to the new times. As for learning as you go...I was also trained and have been doing this for 2 years, however there are still many questions I have to ask and let me add that is not because I am stupid. (for Sue's benefit...I have two bachelor degrees and neither one have to do with notarizing; however I still choose to do this full-time). Does that make me ignorant or does that make me the person who is "bringing down the standards". Let me tell you up front that I have definately not dropped any standards along the way and although yes there may have been one or two who have not devoted themselves like you did the question still remains who are you to even consider telling others that it is them that is lowering the standards. Especially based off of one simple question. I agree with Cali that the question probably could have been more specific, but...that does not give anyone the right to respond in a prejudicial manner. As for faxing responses and receiving calls as to whether "you are there yet" are standard for this day and age. Maybe just maybe the company is doing that for the homeowners benefit. I am sure that somewhere along the way it has been forgotten that the closings aren't about us and our paycheck but about the client. We are there to provide a service and are fortunate enough to get paid for it. So whatever measures need to be taken to ensure that service is being performed should be taken whether by us, the title company, signing company, or the loan officer.

I will tell you with very much chagrin that I am appalled at you. Someone who has "been in the business" so long willing to kick someone when they are just asking for help. You are the kind of person that we should be able to ask for help. It is very honorable to have been in the business for so long I can tell you I definately respect that. So don't make yourself a martyr. Allow people to use your knowledge not only will they benefit from it you will be able to feel good about being able to offer others help.

This forum was put here for the good of us Notaries old and new alike to ask questions and receive HELPFUL, KIND answers. And quite frankly if someone is going to return a hateful post in regards to the question then I and I am sure others would prefer that the answers be kept to themselves because it will definately not be a helpful response.

Yes you may have been "trained" under direct supervision, but you did not know it all when you started and I dare say you know it all now!!! Although I am sure that many would not admit they don't know everything. And just suppose you are so caught up with yourself that you do know it all, use some other posters on this forum who actually know the business and are here only to help the rest of us, and be kind like they are. A couple are PAW and HIS HUGHNESS and there are many many more. If we who are notaries today can't live up or should I say "live down" to your standards then retirement should probably be in the near future for you.

Reply by BrendaTX on 8/26/04 11:03am
Msg #6747

STATED ABOVE: "... some other posters on this forum who actually know the business and are here only to help the rest of us, and be kind like they are. A couple are PAW and HIS HUGHNESS and there are many many more. "

And a what a cute couple that PAW and HIS HUGHNESS are!

-----

In all seriousness, the answer to the >>original poster<< is that there are no quick answers to what you can charge as a signing agent. My first impulse is to say that if you read the old posts here you will find nearly every answer you need. If you do not want to take the time to do that, you will get more replies that some folks perceive as being unkind or snippy, so brace yourself if you do not want to do your homework and want instant info on notary forums.

You cannot start out expecting to make a full-time salary that will pay the bills, though I am sure some have done it and do not want to debate that aspect with this reply.

What you can charge today and get into the game is one thing. What you will charge after completing 100 signings is another. How fast that happens for you is yet another.

So really, it depends on several factors. Some are:

The willingness you have to dedicate yourself to learning what the docs are involved in a signing, and learning your notary rules for your state.

It depends on what amount of time you are willing to put into marketing, plus
Your availability.
Your region's saturation with notaries.
Your experience and marketability.

And, it depends on whether or not you take to heart what an experienced signing agent has to say, and learn from it. Or, if you will let a so-perceived "snippy" remark that contains good advice run you out of the game. Sometimes pups get nipped a time or two by the bigger dogs before they learn. Sue's helped me out with replies in the past, so I look for what she has to say in her posts.

Finally, to be a bit helpful about getting started:
In my humble and seldom sought after opinion, if you do not post with your name and state, then set up a membership with NotaryRotary.com linking your posts to your profile, you are missing a good opportunity to market yourself to potential employers.

Reply by nah_ar on 8/26/04 3:35pm
Msg #6755

I must say I had to smile at the remark you made in reference to PAW and HisHughness since that is certainly not the way I intended it to sound.

As for linking my postings to my profile I would be delighted to...but I have failed to find directions on how to do that. I am apparently looking in the wrong place. So maybe you could help me.

Reply by BrendaTX on 8/26/04 4:50pm
Msg #6761

When I post a message as a logged in user of NotaryRotary.com, there is an option to "Add Link To My Profile." Since I have always been a paying member when posting, I do not know if this option is there for those without a paid membership.

---
I knew what you meant, but it was too good to resist. :>

Reply by nah_AR on 8/26/04 10:08pm
Msg #6782

Thanks a million Brenda!!!!

Reply by BrendaTX on 8/27/04 8:30pm
Msg #6855

You are welcome!

Reply by HisHughness on 8/26/04 2:39pm
Msg #6753

nah declaimed:

***some other posters on this forum who actually know the business and are here only to help the rest of us, and be kind like they are. A couple are PAW and HIS HUGHNESS***

WOW! Compared with PAW! I feel like Johnny Depp, Brett Favre, Noam Chomsky and the winner of the lottery all rolled into one.

Reply by nah_ar on 8/26/04 3:37pm
Msg #6756

Just calling it like I see it. Have been reading out on this forum for a long time and never posted anything, however I have observed some great advise coming from yourself and PAW. Keep it up!

Reply by PAW Notary Services on 8/26/04 7:23pm
Msg #6771

Okay, Hugh, fess up. How much did you pay nah to say those things about you. Of course, what was said about me is absolutely the truth, and nothing but the truth. (Now, where was I suppose to send that check? )

Reply by nah_AR on 8/26/04 10:13pm
Msg #6785

Hey PAW...I am still trying to figure out who Hugh (hahaha) is and flattery is getting me NOWHERE!!!

p.s. By the way PAW just click on my profile and payment address is there.

***just kidding ya'll***

"And the truth shall set you Free"

Reply by mimi_NJ on 8/27/04 7:28pm
Msg #6852

Amen, nah. I am a newbie since 1/9/04 and yes I am still learning. I have found this site to be educating/informative and I must say your response was a little over the top. No one is born a notary and at some point we all had to learn the basics and go out and get our feet wet.

I have studied hard--I t

Reply by mimi_NJ on 8/27/04 7:28pm
Msg #6853

Amen, nah. I am a newbie since 1/9/04 and yes I am still learning. I have found this site to be educating/informative and I must say your response was a little over the top. No one is born a notary and at some point we all had to learn the basics and go out and get our feet wet.

I have studied hard--I t

Reply by mimi_NJ on 8/27/04 7:38pm
Msg #6854

Gosh! I must have hit the return twice - sorry-see I'm human - I made a mistake with my reply. As I started to say I have studied long and hard but there will be times when something unusual comes up (every situation is not covered in the books I've seen) so Sue you need to be a little more understanding.

Who was it that said - Let's Just all Get Along"?

Mimi

Reply by Arant19 on 8/26/04 5:14pm
Msg #6763

CaliNotary, "R" "u" related "2" Sue? Do "u" people have chips on your shoulders? There are posters who can't spell should "tehy" be condemned by saying "anybody who is lazy that they abbreviate the word "can" or type the word "teh" probably not cut out to be a signing agent anyway." Whether or not a poster abbreviates a word or typographically make an error in spelling shouldn't be downgraded "4" it.

Reply by CaliNotary on 8/26/04 5:22pm
Msg #6764

You're right. There are typos and spelling mistakes. There are also people who post 5 different threads under 5 different names asking basically the same question, and don't put a question mark at the end of a single one of the questions. That is not a typo, that is not a spelling mistake, that is sign of poor grammar skills. If you want to be taken seriously as a professional you have to look the part at all times, and grammar and spelling skills are a BIG way of communicating that to potential employers.

And to show you how nice I can be, I won't point out the glaring run on sentence or missing question mark you have in your above post. Since you didn't use quotey marks around them I'm assuming that it wasn't deliberate.

Reply by Arant19 on 8/27/04 12:33am
Msg #6804

CaliNotary, I know I'm right. We can go on & on about unimportant things such as misspellings or deliberate "errrrors." I was making a point, too bad it went over your head. I am not on this forum to post insults to you or anyone else. I want to learn and share. If that's "nt" what you're about then that's your problem. It's people like you who make life harder than it should be. When newbies or veterans have comments to post, you shouldn't take what they "saaay" and try to make them feel bad. Even though you have experience in "ths" field, I don't need to read your assinine comments putting other posters down.

Yeah! you were real nice. Thanx for pointing that out to me. You could not have been nicer. I hate to see you when you're not nice. And, vice versa!!! Also, so what if people post 5 different threads under 5 different names asking the same question. BIG DEAL!!!

This will be my last comment to you even after you respond, depending on how you respond.
I am moving on to more important matters on this forum.

Reply by CaliNotary on 8/27/04 1:13am
Msg #6807

"When newbies or veterans have comments to post, you shouldn't take what they "saaay" and try to make them feel bad."

Silly me, I didn't realize that this board was about boosting self esteem and feeling good. I thought it was to exchange information that helps us all become better at our jobs and my way of doing that is blunt and to the point on anything that I think can be useful or make somebody appear more professional. Which can include speliing and grammar. If people are going to get hurty feelings over that it ain't my problem. Nobody has to read my posts, nobody has to take my advice, I'm just putting it out there like everyone else on the board.

But I'll try to take your advice to heart and end every post with a warm fuzzy self affirming message.

I love you.

Reply by HisHughness on 8/27/04 1:37am
Msg #6808

Calinotary declared to another, who shall remain nameless:

***I love you.***

Is there room enough in your heart for two, Cali?

Reply by CaliNotary on 8/27/04 11:04pm
Msg #6860

I don't know. I think that if I could see inside my chest, my heart would appear remarkably similar to the Grinch's heart before it grew tenfold.

Reply by Arant19 on 8/28/04 12:02am
Msg #6865

I LOVE you TOoooo!

Reply by HisHughness on 8/27/04 2:16am
Msg #6809

Arant, you need to slow down and listen to what Calinotary is saying, rather than how he is saying it. When you post such things as ***Also, so what if people post 5 different threads under 5 different names asking the same question. BIG DEAL!!!*** you're not really understanding the dynamics of this forum.

There are professionals on here who have been doing this work for years. The time they spend on this board is valuable. They get very little out of it in comparison to the neophytes who check in, yet they keep coming back and offering help. It is irksome when they see something like the same question posted five times by the same person under five different names. If I were a neophyte signing agent, I think I'd be inclined to give them latitude to occasionally voice their displeasure at such matters just to keep them happy and around for me to learn from.

One other thing that, incidentally, does not apply to you, because you have evidenced a fairly high level of skill. I've tried not to dwell on this overly much, because I'm afraid I am too demanding.

In the months I've been a participant here, I've seen newcomers come through who can't write a simple sentence without a plethora of errors; sometimes, the messages here are almost indecipherable. Now, these are people who are hoping to embark upon a profession that, while not rocket science, does require some degree of literacy and some degree of intellectual proficiency. Yet it is abundantly apparent from their postings here that when they were placed in a learning environment -- i.e., high school -- they paid little if any attention. Then they come to this forum, graphically demonstrate how little they have valued learning in the past, and how lacking in skills they are because of that, and want the members of the forum to turn them into signing agents in two days time.

I have to be honest with you and say that after a while, it grates on me and I want to tell them to forget about trying to be a signing agent: Just go back to school or to the library or your community college or your mother's knee and learn the difference between a period and comma and what a capital letter means. And while you're at it, learn that a cognate is not a French liqueur but a word that sounds like another word but is spelled differently and means something different, like "their" and "there" and "they're." I have evaluated 4th grade essays for a testing company in Austin that far exceed the skill level of some of the messages I have seen here.

If you will notice the posts of the successful and long-term notary signing agents of this forum, you'll see that virtually every one is capable of expressing himself or herself quite professionally. It isn't impossible to turn someone who hasn't the foggiest idea of exactly how lacking in language skills they are into a signing agent. However, if they didn't have enough pride in themselves when they had the opportunity to learn to use that opportunity wisely, then I'm not disposed to give them my time now to help them overcome their glaring deficiencies.

This has been pretty blunt, but you can take solace in the fact that it will be off the screen in a day or so and the vast majority of the newest newbies won't see it. The small minority, the ones who probably will be successful as signing agents, will go back to the beginning of the forum and read ALL the posts, and thus will be less likely to be posting illiterate messages grounded in self-inflicted ignorance.

I love you, too.

Reply by BrendaTX on 8/27/04 1:43pm
Msg #6831

Hugh states: " The ones who probably will be successful as signing agents, will go back to the beginning of the forum and read ALL the posts, and thus will be less likely to be posting illiterate messages grounded in self-inflicted ignorance."

And he closes with "I love you, too." which, of course, made me insanely jealous but, nonetheless, will say that I appreciate Hugh's post.

I do not know how anyone can pretend to be interested in running any kind of business if they will not do a minimum of the research on their own so, at least, they will know what the real questions are.

It's kind of like in the regular workforce where people ask questions about how to do common procedures without looking for examples that have been done before, prefering to interrupt someone else and not putting forth any effort. I always gave "E" for effort on those kind of folks and knew they were good hiring choices. It took about a week to train them before they were up and running. The others were deadwood that left the ship as soon as any lengthy task was put upon them to complete.

Reply by CarolynCO on 8/27/04 9:51am
Msg #6817

***Arant19 said: "so what if people post 5 different threads under 5 different names asking the same question. BIG DEAL!!!"***

The big deal is that the first question had been asked and answered. There was no need to continue posting basically the same question four or five more times using different names. Further, in addition to posting his or her posts here, I also received an e-mail asking the same question -- did anyone else?

Reply by CarolynCO on 8/26/04 11:00am
Msg #6746

I can't help but notice that you have posted three threads at 10:03 p.m., 10:08 p.m. and 10:14 p.m. using the names tony, nashiem and philly.

Reply by BrendaTX on 8/26/04 11:07am
Msg #6748

Carolyn, You missed "murry" at 10:44 pm.

Reply by CarolynCO on 8/26/04 12:13pm
Msg #6749

Brenda,
I also missed "tameka" at 10:25. Busy fingers, huh?

Reply by BrendaTX on 8/26/04 2:13pm
Msg #6752

Oh yeah. Mighty busy.

Reply by lorraine2/FL on 8/26/04 8:52pm
Msg #6775

Maybe the multi-poster personality is an IRS agent...going undercover as a would be signing agent to try and uncover our most guarded $ecret...

Reply by undercover irs officer on 8/26/04 10:27pm
Msg #6789

the self employment tax?

Reply by BrendaTX on 8/26/04 10:46pm
Msg #6793

Nope. The deduction we take for pantyhose, pedicures, manicures, drycleaning bills, and long-lasting deodorant.