Posted by MaggieMae_CA on 1/9/06 3:10pm
Msg #87101

A lack of confidence and experience...

are generally the reasons newbies accept the low fees. The fear that if they don't accept the job at the fee the SS is quoting they will never get work.

Many times it feels like the old timers on the board are blasting the newbies for accepting meager wages. Yes, the surge of new signing agents to the field has played a role in lower fees, but it doesn’t take too long for the natural selection of newbies to occur and they self select out of the industry or quickly gain the confidence and experience they need to make better choices in the fees they accept and the companies they work with.

I remember the second call I received when I started in April of 2005 was from SOX. I accepted the signing for a low fee even after reading all the negative comments on the board about SOX. It was a signing thru the fires of hell (Ameriquest-crappy rate and unhappy borrowers) and it took 2 months and the threat of small claims court to collect from SOX. I’m not sorry I accepted the signing.

Accepting not so great assignments in the beginning helped me get to where I am today. Nine months into this business I have several good companies calling me on a regular basis paying fees of $100 and up. Not a bad place to be today.

I’ll keep reading the message board with a positive attitude and learning from the pros and amateurs alike. With any luck, my business will continue to grow and prosper. I’ve just hired a newly commissioned notary to help me. In fact, I paid for my new employee's notary training, loan signing class and commission out of my own pocket. Yes, I'm contributing to the notary saturation in Southern California. However, I’m keeping it in the family, my new employee is my husband. :-)

Reply by patricia on 1/9/06 4:07pm
Msg #87135

your theory is not always true, unfortunately I helped a fellow realtor get into notary work
and she has consistantly accepted low fees, she never objects when her "customers" ask
her to take even lower fees and describes herself as "cheap". I have tried and tried to get
her to have more respect for what she is doing but to no avail. Now her commission has expired but she is planning to renew it. I really regret helping her to get started.

Reply by Regal1 on 1/9/06 4:45pm
Msg #87154

Patricia,
No need for you to regret your actions. Remember, "You can only lead them to water".

Reply by Charles_Ca on 1/9/06 5:04pm
Msg #87161

Orgaizations like the NNA are cranking out 50 or 60

new notarys a week. And they all think they are going to make lots and lots of money if they can just get going. In parts of California and I hear in otehr parts of the us there is a feeding frenzy with a reduced amount of available food. There are those who believe that they will succeed if only they can outlive the otehrs and for those who have day jobs it really doesn't matter if they take $50 signings or even $35. There are notaries paying to get listed, I wuld be willing to make a small wager that there would be notary's who would pay to have their first few signings and I am surprised that some enterprising SS hasn't attempted that. I am sure from reading some of the p osts here that some newbies would pay for their first three signings just for the experience. I suspect that only a small amount of the brand new notarys know about this forum so we onoly get a small percentage of newbies asking questions, answers to which, they should have gotten from their classes. Any SS here interested in trying this approach, I could build you a paid apprentisship program if you like!

Reply by patricia on 1/9/06 6:28pm
Msg #87191

Re: Orgaizations like the NNA are cranking out 50 or 60

I have been doing signings for a long time and years ago I started hearing about notaries who offered to do their first 10 signings for free, that is to say first 10 with one company,
dont know how many companies take them up on that offer.

Reply by Jtvale on 1/9/06 6:47pm
Msg #87203

Thank you. I am a newbie and have taken assignments that pay well and some that don't. It's all experience for me. I too have had my horrible experience with SOX. I started my business this past November. It's been keeping me busy, and I enjoy what I'm doing.

Reply by O/CNotary on 1/9/06 6:55pm
Msg #87210

Maggie, what part of CA are you in?

Reply by MaggieMae_CA on 1/10/06 10:45am
Msg #87331

O/CNotary... I'm in San Diego n/m