Posted by PL on 6/6/06 8:43pm
Msg #124421

What signing agents should I be inline with?

Dear Agent(s):

I hope that you are well and in good favor. I am contacting you in regards to your fee for notary closings. We appreciate your hard work and efforts. Though we know that with the rising cost of gas etc. it may not be easy, but we are asking that you please consider lowering your fee to be inline with out other signing agents that are between $46.00- 55.00 and $100-125.00 for attorney.

Unfortunately we can not go to our lenders and charge them more when times bring about a rise in expenses. We feel that to keep a balance where we can continue to grow our business and we don't want to hinder yours if we can meet in the middle that would be great for everyone.

Thank you for your time and your excellent work!

Reply by Brenda/CA on 6/6/06 8:49pm
Msg #124423

$46.00 to $55.00 is meeting in the middle? What would low be considered????

Reply by Anonymous on 6/6/06 9:03pm
Msg #124427

My high end work is a perfect signing,middle work

is not filling in blanks with the correct date,not having RTC signed and no stamp on the mortgage or deed. I hope you will be as pleased as I with the quality of my work as you are with your payment statement.

Reply by PAW on 6/6/06 9:05pm
Msg #124428

Does an attorney do anything different than we do? (Or should I say, SHOULD an attorney do anything different than we do? Chances are, they do less than we do! <My personal opinon, of course.>

Reply by Lee/AR on 6/6/06 9:20pm
Msg #124429

Apparently the really dumb ones who accept such a low fee.

Obviously, lawyers are smarter than we are. They ask for and get more than we do for the same work. Can we get the Civil Liberties Union to take up our case? Just kidding....

Reply by Ndwa on 6/6/06 9:54pm
Msg #124434

I don't get this kind of slimmy(sp) notice b/c I never accept their low fee to start with. Read Msg #120643

Reply by NCLisa on 6/6/06 9:56pm
Msg #124435

And what makes you think and attorney hired to do a witness/notary closing deserves to get paid more than the other NSA's??!! An attorney hired to do a notary closing is not representing the borrower, or protecting their rights in anyway, and are still not permitted to give legal advice, because technically the represent the lender. For the last 3 years I worked for an RE attorney that sat on his A$$ all day long playing video games on his office computer. The guy did no work other than to go into the closing room and have the borrowers sign docs, we prepared the huds, did the title searches, wrote the title opinions, etc. All he had to do was spend 1 hour with the borrowers, and even then he coundn't get every document in a single package signed. The NSA's should be making the big bucks, and the attorneys should be paid what so many of them are worth, nothing. (There are a few good ones out there, but the other 99% leave a lot to be desired)

Reply by VERONICA DESCHANEAU on 6/6/06 10:31pm
Msg #124445

NSA's do not have law degrees...thats the difference

I have notarized for attorneys in my area. These attorneys, while all different and none affiliated, went into great detail in explaining the documents. I do not go into detail; that would be UPL. An attorney can because he/she is authorized to practice law. I prefer attorney work. I get paid to simply notarize..no printing..nothing. I just ID them, put them under oath and stamp.

If you want to make the same amount an attorney makes, go to law school.

nuff said

Reply by PAW on 6/6/06 10:46pm
Msg #124450

Re: NSA's do not have law degrees...thats the difference

>>> If you want to make the same amount an attorney makes, go to law school. <<<

Sorry, but I don't find this to be the case. Sure they **can** do it, but the ones I've seen at closings either have no clue what they're doing, or aren't showing it if they do. Yes, then can practice law, but for the fee they get doing a closing, they don't. From my experience, most attorneys here (we're not an attorney state) would rather not have to perform a signing or closing.

As for detail, you can go into pretty much the same detail as an attorney as long as you don't give any opinions, suggestions or stray from what's printed. You can generalize about each and every document, each and every line item on the HUD, without practicing law. (For example, you can explain what an APR is. You can't explain why a borrower got an 8% rate instead of the 7.5% they said they were suppose to get.) Just be careful not to cross over the line and express an opinion about what you see or what the consequences are if they do or don't do certain things. Stick with the facts as presented. If you can show the signers something, then you can say it. If you can't see it, don't say it.

Reply by BrendaTx on 6/6/06 11:57pm
Msg #124457

Re: NSA's do not have law degrees...What???? I don't have

a law degree? I thought that was part of being a notar pubic!! That's why I tell all them borreeyers how the law is on that stuff.

Wait!!! Stand down! I was just kidding! Hee hee hee.

Reply by Paul_IL on 6/7/06 1:18am
Msg #124466

Re: NSA's do not have law degrees...thats the difference

"If you want to make the same amount an attorney makes, go to law school."

What a joke!! I am also a Real Estate Broker and I could not afford to take the paycut to make what an attorney makes. $46-55 what a joke! If that is all you feel you are worth then that is what you are worth.

Reply by ruru_CA on 6/7/06 9:25am
Msg #124515

Re: NSA's do not have law degrees...thats the difference

if i want to fill my car gas, print loan docs using my paper and ink that i paid for, spend time driving back and forth to the BOs, and time explaining doc.s, then i guess i have to pay them too not them paying me. i did not even accept such a fee when i started and really needed to work. i got $125 for my very first signing ever.

Reply by NCLisa on 6/7/06 7:54am
Msg #124504

Re: NSA's do not have law degrees...thats the difference

Actually, I have 1.5 years of law school under my belt, and am a certified paralegal that got my certification at the number one ABA approved school in the US. Then I decided that I didn't want to be an attorney. I can go into great detail explaining the documents, and I do. I just don't give a legal opinion, just explain the facts, and paraphrase what the documents state. As long as I don't render a legal opinion or give legal advice, I am not practicing law. I do the same thing I did as an escrow officer for 10 years. As for attorney's hired by title companies, they are not permitted to render legal advice to the borrower either, they are there in their capacity as a witness closer. The only time an attorney can render their legal opinion to the borrower is if the attorney was hired to do the entire closing, from Title search to HUD, or if the borrower hires their own attorney to review the docs for them. I also have a document that I present to all borrowers at the beginning of the closing, stating that I am not an attorney, and am in no way giving them legal advice.

In NC, no attorney comes out of law school wanting anything to do with Real Estate, but when they can't get a job at a big or even little firm, they used to find themselves working in RE until something better came along. Now that we are not an attorney state, the RE firms are drying up. I have trained many attorneys in RE matters at various law firms that I have worked for, law school does not prepare them to practice RE law at all. Most don't even know what liens attach to properties and which don't since we are an entireties state.

Reply by BrendaTx on 6/7/06 8:50am
Msg #124509

Lisa - I appreciate your posts.

I once had a first year law student at a signing for her parents. We had a really good time with the DOT. She read it aloud and "explained" it all in very specific and incorrect terms. I understood her excitement to read to her mom and dad, and I was patient, but I sure was amused...did not interupt...let her go until she got tired of stumbling around and labeled it "this is okay."

Your posts have been very enlightening to me. Especially this one.

Reply by NCLisa on 6/7/06 11:47am
Msg #124542

Re: Lisa - I appreciate your posts.

It is amazing what I have seen with just out of law school attorneys, and some that have been practicing for awhile. I'll never forget the first closing I did by myself in my escrow days, scariest day of my life. Lots of time spent reading docs, and sitting in with escrow officers during their closings. My stomach hurts now thinking about how terrified I was. And when I started, we still were doing huds by hand, we got computers for that in 1992.

I still keep a binder with correct document drafts, excise tax for various cities/counties in NC & CA, what is acceptable to clear title, forms & instructions on how to change the status of personal property to real property (mobile homes) etc. I still get many title company news letters that I clip articles and change in laws that may affect what I do. The first escrow officer that I assisted at First American in CA in 1989 told me to keep a binder and told me what to keep in it, and I have kept it and updated it over the years. I think I'm the only RE paralegal in NC that does that, and the information has been invaluable, even a few very good attorneys were impressed and wished they had that info at their fingertips. I'm working on organizing it a little better now and putting it in pdf format.

Reply by NCLisa on 6/7/06 11:48am
Msg #124543

Re: Brenda - Thank you. n/m

Reply by VERONICA DESCHANEAU on 6/6/06 10:42pm
Msg #124449

PL...

What signing service do you represent. I would like to scratch your company off my good list and put you on my no no list. $46.00-$55.00 is like a slap in the face to the experienced NSA's who produce flawless work.

What nerve you have to come on here and ask this of us. What really burns me up is that you are probably getting paid $200-$300 per call you get. We're not dumb, we see the settlement statements.

GGGeeeessshhhh!!!

Reply by Brenda/CA on 6/7/06 12:11am
Msg #124459

Re: PL... I agree 100% Veronica n/m

Reply by CaliNotary on 6/7/06 2:36am
Msg #124474

I'm pretty sure PL isn't the author

but is posting something that he received. He just didn't do a very good job of conveying that minor little detail.

Reply by Joe Ewing on 6/6/06 11:43pm
Msg #124456

So why did you leave out the name of the signing service. Are you afraid they will take you off their list?

Reply by Susan/CA on 6/7/06 11:18am
Msg #124534

THIS IS A JOKE . . . RIGHT? (N/M) LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/m