Posted by Josh Oregon on 7/26/04 7:54pm
Msg #5003

Too late for newbs.

The economy has spoken and now interest rates are going to come back to a normal economic operating rate. Business for most of us will slow quite a bit in the next year. Did any of you watch "A Beautiful Mind?" Too many competing for one fruit will significantly lessen the odds of success. How many times have we heard "I want to become a notary," while at the signing table. I am sure I have completed at least one closing that produced a new notary for my direct competition. Anyway, I think we have flooded ourselves. I am glad I had the opportunity to find some great leads in the past 5 years, but the glory days are over. If you are a newbie you might want to consider door to door vacuum sales.

Reply by Arthur on 7/26/04 8:33pm
Msg #5006

Alas, the bloom is off the refi rose. 3.75-4.5% fixed 15 yr. mortgage loan, we hardly knew ye.

Vacuum cleaner sales suck...sorry, had to.

Reply by Ms Satmp it /ca on 7/26/04 9:58pm
Msg #5007

Your lucky your in Butt **** Or.Id love to tear your postion and easlily take on your current clients which no doubt,I would.You would be selling fruit baskets door to door or better yet,hose title companies.Im in cali drop a line!seee if ya last.I would never come on here and talk like this to anyone,but..... I think now,why not.Someone has to .

Reply by Ms Satmp it/ on 7/26/04 9:59pm
Msg #5008

Re: Too late for newbs. OOPS

I know tear me up for some misspelled words.You have nuthin better to do!

Reply by CA_Notary on 7/27/04 2:49am
Msg #5029

Re: Too late for newbs. OOPS

Although I can easily figure out the correct spelling of your (many) misspelled words, I still don't have a freaking clue as to what you're trying to say.

I will say that I welcome you as my competition in California. If your speaking skills are anything like your third grade level ebonics/esperanto/pig latin type of writing skills, I'm sure you make just the impression that will have signing services recoiling in horror and calling me instead. I only hope more of my competition is as "professional" as you are.

Reply by Anonymous on 7/27/04 11:30am
Msg #5049

Re: Too late for newbs. OOPS

To: MS SatmpIt

Please, please, consider moving to New Jersey where I am a notary. Your lack of professionalism and writing skills will surely throw more work my way. Oh! what were you trying to say in those two messages..Dah????

Reply by sue on 7/27/04 8:46pm
Msg #5097

but you can still get 5.25 or 5.35% with minimal cost and that's a great rate if you missed the really low ones

Reply by Joop on 7/26/04 11:50pm
Msg #5025

Re: Never Ever Too late for newbies.

This Newby is gonna offer his services for $40 and if that doesn't bring work then I'll do it for $30 or $20 just the first 100 signings and just to gain experience. After that I can charge higher fees. I'm sure this works.

Reply by CA_Notary on 7/27/04 2:57am
Msg #5030

Re: Never Ever Too late for newbies.

I'm sure you have no idea what you're talking about. I won't even bother to explain the math for you, but let's just say that you'll be spending way more money than you'll be earning and I hope you have a spouse with an income.

The thing you're not realizing - these $40 companies pay that for a reason. When you're ready to charge higher fees they'll be ready to dump your ass immediately and find some other chump newbie to accept their fees. Then you'll realize that all of the time you should have spent building your business with reputable companies went instead to ripoff companies and you'll be back at square one. Acutally you'll be worse off than when you started because of all the money you'll have lost doing signings for sweatshop wages.

But keep shooting for the gutter sweetie, I'm sure you'll end up there quicker than you ever thought!

Reply by cp/ca on 7/27/04 3:44am
Msg #5036

Re: Never Ever Too late for newbies.

Gosh CA_Notary must have had a bad day. Not being very "professional" in voicing your opinions here on this board. Does not seem as though you like newbies either. If Joop wants to charge $5 that is his/her business....not yours or anyone else's. For you to tell him/her that it is not a good idea is fine but the way you berate him/her is wrong. I hope you were just having a bad day. All I know is that it really ticked me off and I usually do not respond much to this board, but I had to do it tonight. I do hope you have a better day today and a good week. I have always lived by treat people the way you want people to treat you. Try to be more diplomatic when posting on the board.
Don't put down another human being...it is just not right.
Okay enough said! Off to bed!

Reply by RoadRunner on 7/27/04 6:13am
Msg #5038

Re: Never Ever Too late for newbies.

I don't see any harshness (unprofessional) in CA_Notary's words, they are plain simple reality call for idiology thought. I praised Joop for his/her persistent to be successful. But not at the dirt scrapping rate ($40, 30, 20, even 5) that would degrade the value and image of the profession we are in.

Guess what Joop? Even if you get your 100 signing, still no body would hire you. Because by then, you think you are on top of the world with your egolistic 100 signing experience attitude that you start charging (borrowers) cut throat fee to make up for loss time (the bottom you climb, again).

Get a physics book and start reading the chapter on Newton's first law of motion.

Reply by CA_Notary on 7/27/04 3:29pm
Msg #5074

Re: Never Ever Too late for newbies.

I do treat people the way I want to be treated. If I were to present a stupid proposal like the one in this thread, I would LOVE for somebody to be blunt and point out in no uncertain terms why it was stupid. I'm more concerned about my business succeeding than I am about getting my delicate feelings hurt.

If Joop wants to charge $5, yes that is his business. When he posts it on a public message board, it becomes my business to comment on it if I desire. I find it funny that you think it's not my business to respond to him, but you see no problem making it your business telling me how you think I should behave on this board. That's called hypocracy.

It's a pubic board, anyone can post anything they want in any way they want. If somebody wants to tell me to stick it where the sun don't shine, that's their right and I'm actually strong enough to deal with it.

Ultimately we're here to help each other, which is what I was trying to do to Joop.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/27/04 7:05am
Msg #5040

Re: Never Ever Too late for newbies.

No - it doesn't work!

First off, reputable companies will not hire you at those fees either, anyone who charges that low will be thought of as someone who does not have experience and may screw up the signing.
As a signing service I wouldn't hire you if you were in my coverage area. Even when I call a signing agent and they quote $50, I let them know that it is too low - but I will give them a signing at the base rate that I pay. If they quote anything lower than $50 I would believe they are new, probably don't know what they are doing and are desperate for a signing, and I would call the next person on the list.

Those companies that will use you will put you in the system for the price you stated, and once in the system at a price it is not easy to raise it later.

Reply by Joop on 7/27/04 12:59pm
Msg #5054

Re: Never Ever Too late for newbies.

Thank you all very much for your reactions.
When I entered the USA 4 years ago I studied for an Income Tax Licence in California, and started my home based business in Income Tax. Everyone I talked to advised me not to do this because the market was saturated. I started and set my fees way under the regular fees(H&R Block, JacksonHewitt) and they were laughing and told me I would never make it.
Now, 4 years later I am an Enrolled Agent (Tax Specialist), my fees are higher than theirs and my practice is one of the largest home based 1 man services in Southern California.

Now WHO is gonna tell me that this doesn't work? I guess I'll just have to find out and as I know myself I will succeed.

Reply by Josh Oregon on 7/27/04 1:55pm
Msg #5059

Missed point

So a few people felt the need to vent a little bit. I am really trying to get a more professional and serious response. Is the industry a bust? My phone rings two to three times a week from companies I have never heard of. They are willing to pay my rate but they seem to be rushed and unprofessional. Quick payment does not seem too high of a priority with them either. From notaries to these companies I am feeling very uneasy that this "gold rush" will drown itself sooner than later. This statement is not meant to cause an outrage on the board but think about it. Who will want to risk their business (Lender or Title Co.) by using a sub par closer? Plus the economy is going to drop business by (my guess) 60-70% within a year. The big companies might drop out because the corporate money could make bigger gains elsewhere. The small companies probably will not last long enough to save bankruptcy. My thought is that the industry has flooded itself and competition will kill it in the end. Respond however you like but angry ranting and raving is not the particular response I am looking for.
jjr

Reply by CA_Notary on 7/27/04 3:23pm
Msg #5072

Re: Never Ever Too late for newbies.

If your tax business is thriving, why are you branching out into loan signings? And how exactly did you determine that your practice is one of the largest home based 1 man services in So Ca?

You don't seem to realize that there is a huge difference between marketing a service to consumers and marketing a service to businesses. Consumers can be much more price conscious than businesses are.

The simple fact is, if you market yourself at ridiculously low rates, you're presenting yourself as somebody desperate for work which will turn off a lot of companies. You can gain plenty of experience working for $50 companies, there's no reason to shoot yourself in the foot and degrade the industry by working for less.

Reply by Joop on 7/27/04 3:58pm
Msg #5078

Re: Never Ever Too late for newbies.

Thank you for your answer.
I never said I defenitely start with fees that are too low, I said that I will go lower if I need to in order to get work. Don't worry I don't intent too shoot my foot

Reply by anonymous on 7/28/04 2:07am
Msg #5109

VOTE FOR KERRY

Reply by chucksocal on 7/28/04 10:21am
Msg #5121

not a chance!

Reply by Jon on 7/28/04 10:49am
Msg #5122

Kerry who?? What office is she running for???

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/28/04 5:07pm
Msg #5133

H**l hasn't frozen over yet! That is when I would vote for him!

George for another 4 years

Kerry? I love his theme song - Flipper

Reply by HisHughness on 7/28/04 6:31pm
Msg #5138

Sylvia crabbed:

"George for another 4 years

"Kerry? I love his theme song - Flipper"

I can take almost any kind of trash-talking about Kerry with a smile, except when a Bushbaby starts talking flip-flops. Just to set the record straight:

George Bush was elected on a platform of being a uniter, not a divider. Since then, the pattern, altering a couple of centuries of tradition, in Congress has been freezing Democrats out of committee meetings, calling impromptu sessions to prevent Democrats from voting, and extending voting periods when Democrats would prevail so that Republicans can gather enough votes to prevail. That's uniting?

George Bush repeatedly and specifically promised in the campaign that he would avoid nation-building. Forget Afghanistan, which, though we are deeply engaged in nation-building there, reasonable people can see some justification for. But Iraq is nothing more than a capricious, reckless adventure into nation-building.

George Bush vehemently resisted the creation of a 9/11 investigatory commission until he saw that public opinion was solidly against him. Then he flip-flopped.

George Bush resisted Condoleeza Rice testifying before the 9/11 Commission, then flip-flopped when he saw how negatively that painted him.

George Bush resisted testifying before the 9/11 commission himself, until, once again, he saw how much public opinion was running against him and in favor of those who wanted some answers about why 9/11 happened. Then he flip-flopped.

Given my choice, I will cast my lot any day with a public servant who has the capacity to grow. And I will take a public servant who, when the facts change, changes his vote (as Kerry did after the Bush tax cuts were approved and there wasn't the revenue for some Bush log-rollers), rather than a public servant who changes his vote because the politcal winds change. Or who adamantly refuses to acknowledge that he has taken the wrong course.

Sorry to turn this into a political forum, but I flipped out when you flopped the "Flipper" in front of me.

Now, wanna leg rassle and settle this whole shebang?

Reply by BRAVO on 7/29/04 12:27am
Msg #5160

BRAVO HIS HUGHNESS