Posted by Art_MD on 10/27/05 1:36pm
Msg #72687

Time to do a closing.. best and worst

We hear horror stories, good stories.

Shortest refi - less than 15 minutes . Guy was a real estate attorney. Looked at TIL, HUD-1, Note, said "lets do it..." and we did. Was probably 75 pages.

Longest refi - probably about 2 1/2 hours. Read every line, call LO 6 times.

As a guesstimate:

Ave refi - 45 minutes.
Average HELOC, 25 minutes.


Art

Reply by HDW_TN37323 on 10/27/05 1:55pm
Msg #72694

Shortest...1½ min. POA signature. Paid $95. Previous notary messed it up. Take 'em all day long.

Next shortest...Walmart. 3 min. Some employees starting a law suit against them, $95. Told the lawyer to call me again.

Longest...2½ hours (135 pages). Borrower(s) wanted to read everything. They were angry while reading. Did close, then he and his wife invited me to stay for supper after they finished. Passed up the invitation and drove thru Sonic. Needed to relax with a "Blast"

Reply by Charm_AL on 10/27/05 2:05pm
Msg #72699

best - ten minutes, borrowers were in such a hurry they said let's just get thru this, we'll check it out later!

worst - stoke victim in a wheelchair, wife was not allowed to use POA on this one, took almost three hours to get the poor man thru it.

average re-fi - 45 minutes, average heloc - 20 minutes.

Reply by Joe_PA on 10/27/05 5:18pm
Msg #72738

My shortest was 30 minutes.
My longest was 3 1/2 hours, borrowers read every page and word of teh mortgage. Then questioned everything in it.

Reply by Brenda_NC on 10/27/05 2:27pm
Msg #72708

Shortest - refi 20 minutes

longest - 4 hours. Bwr swore the LO was coming I tried to tell her he wasn't. She waited 1 hour then called to find out he wasn't coming. Then she had to stop in the middle and eat. She got up and swept and mopped her kitchen floor. Then she made 3 phone calls to the LO for questions. Then she got up again to wash dishes. Then she got up again and left the room to smoke and she wanted to read all of the docs. I kept telling her that I had another appointment but she didn't care. ( I was a newbie at that time)

Reply by Mike_WI on 10/27/05 2:34pm
Msg #72709

That's hilarious! I am all about letting them read (because that of course as their right) but as soon as she started doing other things like house work I would have been calling the SS or LO and asking them to either let me leave or try to get her back to being focused on the closing.

Reply by Dave_CA on 10/27/05 2:56pm
Msg #72716

Shortest - 2 min. get 1003 signed that escrow had forgotten to include.
Longest - 4.5 hours - piggy back that took 3+ hours to print (docs sent as image) and 17 out of 19 certifications were incorrect language for CA. Lots of loose certs and jurat stamps. Borrowers were great. I had signed them before and they understood it was not my problem.
Oh, the docs arrived at 4:27 for a 4:30 appointment 30 min away.
Don't you just love it...
Average re-fi 45 min. HELOC 25 min.

Reply by CaliNotary on 10/27/05 9:10pm
Msg #72760

"I would have been calling the SS or LO and asking them to either let me leave or try to get her back to being focused on the closing."

You'd wait until you had permission to leave? And you'd try to get THEM to get her focused back on the closing? It's our jobs as signing agent to get these people through the closings, not the SS or LO. If they're unwilling to cooperate with us then it's OUR call whether we stay or go. I'd give the borrower one warning that I'll pack up and go if we don't start signing, the second warning won't be a warning, it'll be me walking out the door telling them to call their LO to reschedule.

The ONLY way I would let a signing run 2 hours or more is if there were some sort of medical condition on the borrower's part that precluded them from signing any faster. If they just wanna read every line or be difficult, they're gonna do that on their own time, not mine.

Reply by Mike_WI on 10/28/05 11:38am
Msg #72864

Yeah pretty much I would wait tell either the SS or LO thought I could leave. Clearly, there is a limit, but I wouldn't just rush out the door the second time the borrower got distracted. And I don't see the issue with that. What amazes me is that you would leave a closing without telling the SS or LO that you couldn't wait any longer. I guess it's your business and you can run it how you want. I am pretty patient.

I think it's implied that I would try my best to keep them focused on the closing, it's after I was unsuccessful that I would contact the SS or LO. I also can't believe that you try to keep the borrower from reading the documents they are signing. That seems unethical. It almost reminds me of the commercials they run on TV where some guy in a suit is badgering the poor old lady that is doing a refi to just sign.

Reply by CaliNotary on 10/28/05 12:49pm
Msg #72878

I don't try to keep the borrowers from reading the documents they are signing. But I'm not going to sit there while they read every word in detail either. That's not my job.

Most of the signings I do go the same way. I give the borrower their copy, they start flipping through it while I record their ID info and flip through the signing copy filling out the notarizations. The borrowers skim most of the docs but they read the ones with figures on them in more detail. They usually get about halfway through the stack before they realize that they've seen the important info. And then we're ready to sign. I'll highlight the important things as we go through the docs - the info on the note, the wording of the title on the DOT, impounds, etc. No badgering, nothing unethical, it's called BEING EFFICIENT.

I'm glad that you're pretty patient. More often than not, I don't have the time to be that patient because I've got other appointments I need to get to. I'm not going to throw my entire day into disarray and make everybody else wait around for me because somebody wants to read every word of the servicing transfer disclosure before they sign it. If you have no problem doing that and don't care about the rest of your appointments, more power to you.

And I would let the SS know that I was leaving because the borrower wouldn't focus on signing the docs or was being unreasonable about it. But I wouldn't ask for their permission to do it, I'd inform them that I did it after I left. And I've actually only had to do this once because I already know how to take control of my signings, and I don't need backup to do this.

Out of about 1400 signings, I've only ever had one reach the 2 hour mark, and that was a man in his 80's with a shaky hand.

Reply by CarolynCO on 10/27/05 9:40pm
Msg #72769

**She got up and swept and mopped her kitchen floor. **

newbie or not, why did you stay?

Reply by PMA_NJ on 10/27/05 10:36pm
Msg #72789

best--- fifteen minutes. Refi on an investment property with one signor... funny thing is that I had a new notary with me so they could see a singing take place. I made that poor girls head spin.

worst--- twenty five minutes. One hour drive to get there. signing went great. got home to find ALOT of paper sitting on my fax machine which was to be included in the loan package. Time of fax = 1/2 hour after I'd already left the house. BEEN EIGHT MONTHS... still no check.

Reply by Brenda_NC on 10/28/05 7:41am
Msg #72832

I was new and didn't know any better. I thought I HAD to stay to finish the closing no matter what. Now I know better and that would not happen.

Reply by CarolynCO on 10/27/05 5:40pm
Msg #72739

My shortest was for Sellers living here and selling *one* of their Texas condos. Mrs. Seller was a real estate agent -- in and out in a little over 5 minutes.

Longest was a single, young woman in her mid-20's purchasing a condo in California. As a mother myself, I didn't give her legal advice, but I did encouage her to read every document. She took advantage of my encouragement and read each page twice -- some three times. I would hope that if my own son is ever in a similar situation and no one around for guidance, that someone will have as much patience with him. Signing took 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Next longest was my construction loan for my Vietnamese couple -- 2-1/2 hours.

Reverse mortgages normally take 2 to 2-1/2 hours -- loan officer is always present and chits/chats with borrowers to ease their fears and gain their trust.

HELOCs average 20-30 minutes.
Refis average 45 minutes - 1 hour.

Reply by Blueink_CA on 10/28/05 11:27am
Msg #72862

Longest: 2 1/2 hours, the borrower stated "I'm in the mortgage industry, I know all about these docs". Didn't listen to a word I said, signed the "I wish to cancel" part, marked up the HUD, was surprised when I brought out the 2nd. (Thought it was all combined in the first) When I was leaving, he asked "when will I get my check?"

Shortest: 15 minutes (inc. travel time) HELOC, 3 doors down