Posted by Anonymous on 5/9/05 10:34pm
Msg #36793

Still Waiting

I feel as though I have done all I can to let agencies know I am available. I am registered with approximately 20 agencies and I have joined several of the larger notary associations. I am not only a notary public, but also completed a course in loan signing. Finally, I have been a paralegal for 15 years and am familiar with real estate docs, etc. Do I just wait? Is there any type of follow-up I should be doing? I hope all this work wasn't a waste of money. I am offering to serve the 9 SF Bay Area counties here in California. Sorry this is so long, but I am stumped.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 5/9/05 10:43pm
Msg #36794

First, you need to sign up with as many signing services as you can. 20 is nowhere near enough.

Second, you have to be patient. You don't say how long you have been a notary/signing agent.

Third: You have to realize that, thanks to the NNA, California has a vast number of loan signing agents, and your area may be particularly saturated.

You can always follow up with the companies you signed up with, give them a call and ask if they have received your information. It can't hurt.

Reply by Anonymous on 5/9/05 11:00pm
Msg #36796

Thank you. Makes a lot of sense. I will start signing up with more agencies right away. I am a new notary public/signing notary and have had 1 signing which seemed to go just fine. There are only 3 active signing notaries in Sonoma County. Mendocino, Lake and Napa Counties have none. I will follow-up. Good Advice.

Reply by CaliNotary on 5/9/05 11:03pm
Msg #36797

"There are only 3 active signing notaries in Sonoma County. Mendocino, Lake and Napa Counties have none."

I don't know where you got this information, but I can pretty much guarantee you that it's wrong. There are 234,000 comissioned notaries in CA, I'm sure plenty of them live in the counties you mentioned. You're competing with hundreds and hundreds of people, not just 3.

Reply by Nicole_NCali on 5/10/05 11:10am
Msg #36902

I service you county and I get calls all the time

I service your counties and I do get calls all the time. The main thing that I did pick up upon finding this forum was to read it thoroughly before I planned my strategy. As far as SS, you have about 80 more to sign up with before you can expect volume and you also need to look into marketing to your local market.

Reply by Annie?CA on 5/10/05 12:15pm
Msg #36922

Re: I service you county and I get calls all the time

You are saying that you travel all the way to Santa Rosa from Richmond? That is just crazy! You sound like you get a lot of work, why would you go that far?

Reply by Nicole_NCali on 5/10/05 1:26pm
Msg #36944

What I meant is that I do Solano, sometimes Sonoma

I don't necessarily travel to Santa Rosa on a regular basis, but I have been bribed to do a purchase in Santa Rosa which was a substantial fee from this lender (located in Emeryville) Sometimes the signings may be in your location, but the lender can dictate which SA will perform the signing and how much will be paid to the SA.

I have even traveled to Menlo Park for a closing which was purchase for an investment property.

Reply by Annie/Ca on 5/9/05 11:11pm
Msg #36801

Where did you find the active Notaries listed for those Counties? Do a search here for just one zip code and you will find plenty of us!

Reply by Katherine M. Gomez Madrigal on 5/9/05 11:13pm
Msg #36803

I will do an in-depth search. While there were notaries listed, not very many were signing notaries. I must not be looking in the right place. Am I a competitor of yours?

Reply by Roger/OH on 5/9/05 10:47pm
Msg #36795

You've hardly scratched the surface. Sign up with 100 companies, and that's just for starters.
You've got a lot of competition in your area; what can you do to rise above the rest? Will also likely help to get a premier membership here on NotRot as well as on a popular search site like 123Notary.com. Don't worry so much about the local title companies, as they probably have inhouse people; focus on the out-of town/state ones that have customers in your area and need your traveling ability.

Reply by Katherine M. Gomez Madrigal on 5/9/05 11:09pm
Msg #36800

I am grateful for your responses. At least I know I have more I can do and that helps a lot! I am not too concerned about the competition and the information I have about other notaries comes from NotRot and some other organizations whose names I can't remember as well as checking phone books for the northern counties. The first signing I had was in Lake County. I do have a premier membership with NotRot and will check into 123Notary.com.

Again, many thanks.

Reply by PETER LUSBY on 5/10/05 1:20pm
Msg #36941

"You've hardly scratched the surface. Sign up with 100 companies, and that's just for starters."

Nice idea, but it sounds quite impractical to me. I signed up with every company I could find who didn't charge me a registration fee, or whose fee was less than $20, and that gave me less than 20 agencies. Most signing agencies seem to charge between $50 and %150 a year just to register. Taking the mean as the average, that would cost $10,000 in registation costs just to get on the books, before you ever got your first assignment.

If I'm wrong, and there really are 100 companies that don't charge you to sign up, please post the list!

Reply by Anie/Ca on 5/9/05 11:09pm
Msg #36799

Where are you located? The 9 Bay area Counties is a huge area to cover. How are you gonna do that and make any money? I handle 3 of them and that is a lot of traveling. Don't try to overdo it!

Reply by Katherine M. Gomez Madrigal on 5/9/05 11:11pm
Msg #36802

My primary focus in on Lake, Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. I live in Santa Rosa which is fairly central to all of these areas.

Reply by Annie/Ca on 5/9/05 11:13pm
Msg #36804

Do a search on here for your zip 95405 and see how much compitition you have out there. I do a lot of work in Santa Rosa and I live in Napa.

Reply by Katherine M. Gomez Madrigal on 5/9/05 11:17pm
Msg #36806

Oooops. You are so right. I even recognize a couple of my classmates from the notary public class. I also speak Spanish and am hoping that will help, too. What do you think?

Reply by Annie/Ca on 5/9/05 11:23pm
Msg #36809

I'm sorry to say it is a dog eat dog business out there. Once you make a name for yourself, you will be getting a lot of return business. The Companies I work for know which Counties I travel to, and they will call me first before a Notary in that county. It just takes time. I think it took me about 6 months before I got enough return business to make this work full time. You may someday be my compition, but not yet!

Reply by Katherine M. Gomez Madrigal on 5/9/05 11:30pm
Msg #36812

I was hoping there was enough work to go around and keep all of us busy.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 5/9/05 11:33pm
Msg #36815

I can tell you there are over 100 active signing agents in both Lake and Mendocino counties and over 300 active signing agents in Sonoma and Napa counties.

Companies tend to call their "favourites" first before calling other signing agents.

It may take you a while to get established.

Reply by Melody on 5/9/05 11:30pm
Msg #36811

I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

If you want even the crummy $50 jobs, you should sign up with 300+ agencies.

The other counties you mentioned are likely to be even more saturated.

Yes, the NNA took you for a ride. Get your money back.

Sorry for the bad news.

By the way, I am not a competitor. I am not in California.

Reply by Katherine M. Gomez Madrigal on 5/9/05 11:32pm
Msg #36814

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

Where did you find that many?

Reply by Melody on 5/9/05 11:39pm
Msg #36817

The NNA's list of notary signing agents

www.SigningAgent.com

When the NNA pretends that it doesn't know your area is saturated, they are lying.

They have the largest published database of NSAs in the US.

Shame on the NNA!

Reply by ERNA_CA on 5/9/05 11:42pm
Msg #36819

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

Do a search by your zip code on. Use find a notary and plug in your zipcode here on this site. That will give you an idea about your area. Good luck, youl be fine.

Reply by Katherine M. Gomez Madrigal on 5/9/05 11:46pm
Msg #36821

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

I just did a search with 123Notary.com and found 12 notaries listed with them for Sonoma County. Then I did a search for Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Mendocino Counties and found no names of folks who speak Spanish. Go figure.

Reply by ERNA_CA on 5/9/05 11:49pm
Msg #36824

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

zip code 95436 showes 57 notaries. What is your zip code?

Reply by Katherine M. Gomez Madrigal on 5/9/05 11:51pm
Msg #36825

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

I am 95405.

Reply by CaliNotary on 5/9/05 11:55pm
Msg #36828

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

This site has 90 listed within 30 miles of your zip code. 10 are spanish speakers. Keep in mind that not all the notaries in your area are listed on this, or any of the notary websites, so there's no way to know the true number of people you're competing against.

You're definitely better off than new notaries here in LA. There are 969 listed on this site within 30 miles of my zip.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 5/10/05 12:26am
Msg #36836

Spanish speaking signing agents

Lake county has at least 14
Mendocino county has at least 13
Napa has at least 48
Sonoma has at least 44


Don't know if knowing this helps you at all.

Reply by CaliNotary on 5/9/05 11:48pm
Msg #36823

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

"Good luck, youl be fine."

Not necessarily. While a positive outlook is certainly a necessity to succeed, by no means does it guarantee success. The reality is that most of the new notaries entering this field in California are NOT going to be fine, they'll be lucky to make a pittance before they inevitably throw in the towel and realize they weren't sold the full story of this business.

Reality sucks, but there is a finite amount of business to go around and there are already way more than enough of us to cover it all.

Reply by Katherine M. Gomez Madrigal on 5/9/05 11:53pm
Msg #36826

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

What do you suppose is going to happen to notaries who do not take the required continuing education prior to July 1st? How many of them will be off the rolls for awhile until they can catch up?

Reply by CaliNotary on 5/9/05 11:58pm
Msg #36829

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

I think that'll weed out some of them, but not enough to make any difference. Not every notary has to take the continuing education, it only needs to be done when renewing your commission. 4 years from now we might see a big reduction in the numbers, but the immediate effect will be fairly negligable IMO.

Reply by ERNA_CA on 5/9/05 11:59pm
Msg #36830

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

zip code 95405 brings up 73 mobile notaries.

Reply by Rick-Sonoma/Napa/Solano on 5/10/05 12:02am
Msg #36831

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

You need to do your homework. You need to sign up with many companies. You need to be professional at all times You also need to go the extra mile. You also need to market yourself and be flexiable. Learning never ends also. I have been doing this part time for two years.

Reply by ERNA_CA on 5/10/05 12:04am
Msg #36832

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

I get 92 notaries within 20 miles where I am. You get 73 within 20 miles. And I don't speak Spanish so your changes are better than mine.

Reply by ERNA_CA on 5/9/05 11:55pm
Msg #36827

Re: I found over 250 NSAs serving Sonoma county

We don't get anywhere if we don't keep a positive outlook. Some do well others don't, but we do not get anywhere unless we try and a positive outlook definitely helps in my book.

Reply by sanrous on 5/10/05 11:32am
Msg #36905

Strongly suggest you mail your information. Most sites provide an address. Also, I would recommend resubmitting the information. I have been doing this [signing agent] since 1999 and every so often I reinstate my information with signing companies. My experience with most of them is either feast or famine.
Best of luck and p.s. eventually, the calls do come in.

Reply by Katherine M. Gomez Madrigal on 5/10/05 1:55pm
Msg #36953

It got late last night and I signed off. This morning I read the balance of the messages and the information most of you have shared is very helpful. Thank you for following up even after I went to bed! From the responses I have received, I conclude the following: keep my options open; never let a day go by without signing up and following up with agencies; don't spend time worrying about the so-called competition; keep learning and ask questions whenever the need arises; be decent to all my colleagues and helpful whenever possible; and, finally, remember there are some great folks doing notary work and they probably don't get the credit they deserve.

Reply by ERNA_CA on 5/10/05 2:21pm
Msg #36961

Re: Still Waiting. Good luck !!!! :).n/m

Reply by Stephanie_CA on 5/10/05 5:43pm
Msg #37006

Which County do you live in Anonymous and what's your name? I usually receive assignments I cannot accept. I give the companies names & numbers of Signing Agents I personally know, and generally the assignments are filled.