Posted by Jahari Davis on 3/24/06 3:41pm
Msg #108391

3 1/2 Hour signing with a great couple

One of the reasons I love this kind of work is that you meet some of the most amazing people. I had the most pleasant signing I've ever had today at 10am. I was thinking it would be a quick signing and would take about an hour. I didnt leave until almost 2pm. I would have stayed a bit longer if I hadn't turned down lunch. These people were a great older couple and were fun to talk to and close. Salt of the earth kind of people. Turns out these people are well connected to Michigan politics and worked with a Governor here in the 70's. What's even better is they've offered to set me up with contacts and serve as a reference to expand my business. I didnt really have anything important to suggest or share, just a story about a good time I had talking with a couple of great people.

Stay up!

Reply by Cris_AR on 3/24/06 4:01pm
Msg #108396

Just gotta love those signings! Seems most I meet are neat people.

Reply by MichiganAl on 3/24/06 9:58pm
Msg #108430

Why did the signing take 3 1/2 hours? n/m

Reply by Jahari Davis on 3/24/06 10:31pm
Msg #108444

Re: Why did the signing take 3 1/2 hours?

There was an issue of confusion regarding dower signing but that was resolved with a quick phone call. The signing took about 45 minutes. The rest was just talking to and spending time with a couple of really nice people on a Friday. To quote Smokey from the movie Friday "...its friday. You aint got no job...and you aint got s**t to do?!"

Peas!

Reply by TitleGalCA on 3/24/06 10:47pm
Msg #108446

Al, you didn't get it. It was a pleasant experience. n/m

Reply by MichiganAl on 3/24/06 11:28pm
Msg #108461

Yes, I got it.

But you don't spend 2 1/2 hours blabbing at a borrower's home. No matter how pleasant they are. Building rapport and chatting a little is a huge part of the job, but you can't forget that you are there for business purposes. In my opinion, it's completely unprofessional. You're not attending a social function.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about a Michigan notary that, unbeknownst to them, has a very poor reputation with a couple of companies because they drag out their signings way past what is reasonable due to idle yapping. I even overheard someone at the mortgage company apologizing to borrowers for it. I have to wonder who that Michigan notary might be.

Reply by TitleGalCA on 3/24/06 11:34pm
Msg #108464

Re: Yes, I got it. n/m

Reply by TitleGalCA on 3/24/06 11:38pm
Msg #108466

Al, think one minute.

We are all people. Now and then there are connections between people. I'd hate to think that we blow off all those opportunities for the purpose of **business blabbering**

Al, you're a cool guy. Think for one minute that perfect golden moment with those you connect with...the sun is shining...the ice tea is tasty...the birds are signing...and you don't have another signing for 3 hours....ah, life is good!

Give the guy a break. You're good at human nature...and you're sort of failing us at this moment, Al. See, we (damn there I go again with the "we" sort of depend on you to put things in place.

Reply by TitleGalCA on 3/24/06 11:39pm
Msg #108467

Dam. Not "signing birds"...the birds are singing!!! LOL n/m

Reply by MichiganAl on 3/25/06 1:39am
Msg #108470

The birds are signing.

Are you trying to say even a bird can do our jobs? Well, cluck off! Get it? Cluck off. That's a joke.

I understand it, I really do. I know as well as anyone that there is an important human element to this. I had a signing yesterday where we were met at a diner and all had a bite to eat afterwards (I didn't really have a choice since I drove with the loan officer, but it was very enjoyable). But even with that, it was a total of an hour and a half. 3 1/2 hours? That's crazy. You don't push it that far. I can imagine the guy I mentioned a few weeks ago thinking, "hey, these guys really like me. We're really hitting it off." In reality, the borrowers were highly annoyed and the mortgage company thinks he's a buffoon. Ever had a house guest who just doesn't know when to leave? They think they're still welcome, you're being polite, a good host, offering them your tasty iced tea, but in reality you wish they'd get out already? You just don't take the chance, not when you're there for this kind of transaction. Not for 3 1/2 hours. Leave them your number. If they really want to be your buddy, they'll call you. I just think that's common sense.

Yes, we're both pretty good at human nature. But you've read this board, are you confident that everyone else is?

Reply by MichiganAl on 3/25/06 1:45am
Msg #108471

Dang, you're contagious

"where we were met?" LOL, I meant where we met! I blame the signing birds for distracting me.

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/25/06 11:09am
Msg #108499

Re: 3 1/2 Hour--another side...or two (long)

Jahari - that's a nice experience. It's a fresh outlook. Do not let a grumpy post from a Texan who has not had her coffee be a downer. I am a very positive and upbeat person, but I see your experience as a totally different thing.

You are a nice person and for what it is worth, if you are going to hang out here with us for a good while, .the Plato's Cave factor should be applied when you get responses or choose to share.

What I have learned to see as blue, another may see as turquoise. Now, that's what *I* love about this kind of work and this forum. I am constantly reminded that I am not the rulemaker as to how all things must be perceived, and that I must respect the experiences of others. After all, it is our culture and our past experiences which develop us our attiitudes, our perceptions and leads us to our conclusions.

For instance, this business has trained me to size up a *user* rather fast for who and what they are. If I had been doing that signing I would have been sitting there with my foil cap on my head. (I always wear it, you know. It keeps the borrowers from being able to read my mind and it sends impulses to my brain to keep my radar actiively seeking attempts from others to use me.) With the Use/Abuse Sensitivity Filter tuned up to perfection, I would have experienced this differently. What you have seen as a lovely experience, I probably would have seen as a boring attempt by a couple of has-been name-droppers to hold me hostage with their rhetoric.

I am not criticizing your post and I hope you know that. I enjoyed reading it! I post a lot of experiences here and enjoy sharing. I have enjoyed many of my signing experiences with people and I have especially enjoyed the jewels that come from my reverse mortgage borrowers about things they have done in their own lives. My appreciation for those are no different than yours is for this couple.

However, since I do not generally care to be with anyone except a very chosen few for more than an hour at a time, I set boundaries for my appointments when I get there so that there is a sense of "get to the business at hand" and I am not drawn into a social situation. When your schedule starts to fill up, you'll see why.

My way to curtail the social part is to carry a bottled drink with me and to refuse the borrowers' offerings.

My small talk is kept to a minimum and I give them two options on how to handle the review of the documents.

(1) Hit the high points of each document and refer to the RTC if it exists - unless there are questions: 45 min. to an hour.

(2) I point and they sign: 15-20 min.

I remark, "either way I should be out of your hair and on to harrass the next folks on my list within an hour."

Right up front I have set a suggested one hour boundary on my time and have suggested that there is another appointment on my calendar.

If I am lucky, I only encounter about one in ten signing appointments that run past 1 hr 15 min. in time actually spent being inside of the borrower's home.

The other night I was in the presence of a woman who had been one of the ones to sue TAMU and open the school to women. At 80 she was caring for her daughter who was 60 and had MD. Before I had left her home, I knew this about her and I also knew that she had a beloved dog die from her ignorantly feeding him chocolate and that it broke her heart... that her daughter did her thesis work (linquistics) on the predication that the Nixon taps were tampered with...that her daughter was terrified of her dying. I could have listened to her all evening but I did realize that she needed to see to her daughter's needs. I needed to get home to my own tasks.

I really admired that woman and I think she's going to always be a hero in my eyes.

Reply by lulu on 3/25/06 2:14pm
Msg #108522

Re: 3 1/2 Hour--another side...or two (long)

For the most part I would agree that we have to be professional and know to get down to business and leave. Time is money.
Time is money.......hmm........but in this instance two things could be at hand
1) if the sa had nothing else to do and the elder couple seemed to want to help, the sa is not out. they will either get some additional business from taking the time or simply walk away feeling good about making an elder couples day with conversation.

I guess this is a part of knowing people. The sa has to make that call for their reputation, whether the people actually want your company or should you graciously opt out.

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/25/06 2:16pm
Msg #108523

Re: 3 1/2 Hour--well said Lulu. I agree. n/m

Reply by Jahari Davis on 3/26/06 1:50am
Msg #108638

Re: 3 1/2 Hour--another side...or two (long)

Brenda, thanks for your words. I had no idea I'd get this kind of response from my posting. In my defense and the defense of the people I closed with, they were in their 70's and 80's and seemed to like to talk. It was my only appointment for the day and there was nothing preventing me from sitting and talking with them. They were really nice people. Sometimes a kind ear is all you need to give a person when they are in need. Who knows, just by your listening to them you could prevent a Columbine or a Ford Plant shooting or make someone feel like they count again when the world tends to make you feel like you dont. I agree with Al to a certain extent that we should be professionals, however I will never remove the human element from the way I conduct myself professionally. The world is full of "professionals" that have no personality telling others how to be professional and personable and end up coming off like wind-up jerks themselves. Remember, the image is does not make you a professional, you do. If there's nothing preventing you from being a kind ear for even just 5 minutes, just do it. Those 5 minutes could mean the world to someone. Hell, it could save someone elses.

And lastly, not to get all Lex Luthor on the sentiment I just laid down but it could also be a boon for your business because...(dramatic pause) they like you and may have friends that may need your services in the future.

Think about it folks.

Soon...

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/26/06 2:17am
Msg #108640

Re: 3 1/2 Hour--another side...or two (long)

Consider yourself properly welcomed to the "jungle."

Jungle...that makes me think of the 70's...Here's a perfect quote from those great free-associating people of the seventies...dope-smoking, irresponsible, brownie baking Pink Floyd fans...you know what they'd say about this, don't you?

Ummm...nevermind, bro, I can't remember.