Posted by Jennifer Rundall on 7/20/04 11:32pm
Msg #4711

Building from the ground up...

Hi..I am pretty new to this business (on the NSA side) and I am wondering if a person just starting out can make good money doing this. Or maybe I should say, can a person make a f/t living at this? I am a single mom, was laid off from my job the end of April (worked in the Mortgage industry for years) and I had been thinking about doing this for the past year. I thought, what better time...I have the time to put the research and studying into it. I am very conserned if this will provide a good f/t income. Can any of you provide some insite if I am better off signing up with as many directories as I can or am I better of signing up with lots of signing agencies? I just would like a point of view.
Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

JENNIFER

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/21/04 7:32am
Msg #4718

Jennifer
You don't say where you are located. Some areas (especially California and Florida) are over saturated with signing agents.

An experienced signing agent can make a f/t income doing this p/t, but it takes time to build up to this level.

You have to market yourself to as many companies as you can, list yourself with this site and also 123notary.com is a good site to be listed with.

Reply by Margaret S. Craig on 7/21/04 11:51am
Msg #4733

I am from Florida and I guess my area is not saturated. I get calls for up to 5 counties that they are asking me to do. I get more calls than I am willing to work or willing to drive that far.
I have not seen a slow-down at all. The rise in interest rates is for short-term not long-term loans.

Reply by jayflorida on 7/21/04 7:02pm
Msg #4774

I am located in Florida. I am new to the business, what companies are locate to florida? Many of the companies that I have signed up with are in Californa. I am assuming that if a company is local ie: in Florida, they would probably have more work for me. If anyone is in florida, please advise me thank you.

Reply by Jennifer Rundall on 7/21/04 12:40pm
Msg #4739

I am sorry, I am located in the state of Arizona. I am already a premier member on Notary Rotary. I love it so far.

Reply by Sue/AZ on 7/22/04 10:48am
Msg #4800

Arizona has a lot of notaries. Biz is slow. There are 46 in my area alone.

Reply by Perette_CA on 7/22/04 6:50pm
Msg #4827

Re: Building from the ground up...SUE

Negrete's Notaries is looking for AZ notaries. Have you signed up with them, yet?

Reply by AllisonM/Mich on 7/21/04 8:54am
Msg #4722

Hi Jennifer, I'm part-time at this and have been doing pretty good. I work for three companies that I sent my information too and they contacted me. I do belong to several boards but haven't received any assignments from any of them.

As you read the various boards and forums you will discover it takes work marketing your services, but i believe you can do it on a full-time basis. You have to get established first. Make sure, as you suggested, that you put your time and resources in to reseach this field. There is a lot of support on these boards and forums.

I am a single parent too. Email me if you like
allison
[e-mail address]

Reply by Jennifer Rundall on 7/21/04 12:42pm
Msg #4740

Thank you ...I will email you Allison.

Reply by NSA in WA on 7/21/04 10:28am
Msg #4723

It's VERY tough

Sylvia is right - you have to check your area's saturation. If you email me your zip code, I can check the NNA notary listing for you. [e-mail address] I get tons of spam, so put NotaryRotary in the subject line.

Plus you can't just go by the numbers. In my rural coverage area, there are only 8 NSAs with me as the only full time one. And the only one speaking the second-most used language in the area. Since the local title companies give out ZERO work, there is not enough refi work for me to make a living. My SSs and title companies love me (I'm signed up with 300+). They just don't have enough work. I am scraping by. I am studying to add a sideline business around January.

With interest rates falling, refi work has started to slow down. Plus mid-November through mid-January is dead - everyone is partying.

Another consideration for you is that most people want to have siging appointments after 5pm and on weekends. That could be tricky with being a single mom if you have school-age kids.

You might consider other work-from-home options.

Reply by Jennifer Rundall on 7/21/04 12:45pm
Msg #4741

Re: It's VERY tough

I have access to the NNA's site. I will have to check out the listing of individuals. But how can you tell if we are saturated or not? Can you give me some pointers?
Yes, I am a single mom, but my son is 11 years old..so it is not like he is little. So I think I made an excellent choice with this field.

Thank you for your input, it is appreciated.

JEnnifer

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/21/04 7:44pm
Msg #4779

Re: It's VERY tough

Jennifer
Access to the NNA signing agent section site isn't enough. You have to have access to the Company site to access the lists of signing agents. Only signing companies, title companies etc are supposed to have access to the company site to check on signing agents available.

Reply by RoadRunner on 7/21/04 4:10pm
Msg #4754

Re: It may get even tougher

A friend of mine who work for a lender down in CA told me last week that there is going to be a massive loan officer laid-off within a couple months from now. The rate is climbing and demand is slowing down. Those (out of work) loan officers might jump right into this profession since they have the experience....Saturation, saturation!!!

So far, I've signed up with only as many as 50 plus SS and haven't got a call. I've been working for a month now and got 5 signings from 3 lenders who found me here and notary123. Seems like I'm getting the work at the last week of the month. Just done one this morning and have another tomorrow night.

Which area are you from NSA in WA? I'm in Vancouver/WA and I do speak a second language.

Reply by lorraine2 on 7/21/04 6:01pm
Msg #4770

Re: It may get even tougher

I haven't been doing this very long, but as a P/T added income it's o.k. My daughter had also gotten into it - wanting to do it F/T- did a number of signings for which a couple didn't pay and has given up. If this is a slow-down time, their will probably be a natural attrition (may have spelled that wrong) but anyway, no one is going to jump into it and stay too long if there is no money to be made...imho.