Posted by Robert Rainer on 7/27/07 1:28pm
Msg #202268

NEW NOTARY--in L.A.

My fiancee' and I are looking for any recommendations for notary companies that will give us a chance to get our feet wet and get us out there. Many aren't taking any new notaries at this time. We are just looking for a small opportunity to get the experience.

Reply by Lee/AR on 7/27/07 1:32pm
Msg #202271

Sorry. Being a new notary right now is a lot like buying a ticket for the Titanic's maiden voyage. Things really slow & you have a lot of experienced (& not so experienced) competition. Go to Plan B. Really.

Reply by Roger_OH on 7/27/07 1:36pm
Msg #202272

Lee is right, not a good time. Just to give you an idea, go to the "Find a Notary' tab and enter your zip code to see a ballpark overview of how much competition you have in your area, for an ever-decreasing volume of available work.

Were you enticed into this venture by a certain national organization?

Reply by Charles_Ca on 7/27/07 2:01pm
Msg #202282

Ca is overrun by notaries and not enough work 2 go around! n/m

Reply by Joan Bergstrom on 7/28/07 1:39am
Msg #202433

How can Calif be overrun with notaries when we are the

49th state per capita ( Hawaii is the 50th state)?

What this means is the other 48 states are overrun with notaries!

Indiana (the state with most notaries per capita has 1,947 per 100,000 population) and CA (has 801 notaries per 100,000 population)

New York has 1,418 per 100,000 so they are certainly overrun with notaries compared to our 801. This is just to compare a large population state to CA.

The reason we have so few notaries per capita is the 6 hour study requirement and our state test requirement.

Reply by Hugh Nations Signing Agents of Austin on 7/28/07 2:43am
Msg #202438

Re: How can Calif be overrun with notaries when we are the

Joan Bergstrom, who is busily -- and profitably -- churning out more dewey-eyed neophyte signing agents every week, bloviates (and disingenuously at that):

***Indiana (the state with most notaries per capita has 1,947 per 100,000 population) and CA (has 801 notaries per 100,000 population)***

As has been pointed out more than once in this forum, and to Joan herself, "notary public" is not synonymous to "signing agent." anymore than "carpenter" is synonymous with "homebuilder." If 800 of those 801 Californians are signing agents, and 194.7 of those 1,947 Hoosiers are signing agents, it is utterly academic how many notaries public each state boasts.

There are other factors which also impact those statistics: Whether the laws expand or contract the types of documents that need notarizing, what is considered a conflict of interest, the statutory fees that can be charged, the historic use or non-use of signing agents in a given area, and others.

Both Miz Berstrom and I have the same agenda: To protect our pocketbooks. She protects (and fills) hers by stamping out more and more doomed-to-be-disappointed signing agents, each of whom pays her a fee to earn their bitter disappointment. I protect mine by doing my best to see that the $40-signing-$20-edocs tadpoles spawned in Miz Bergstrom's habitat don't contaminate my pond.

And you know what? I can, with no guilt whatsover, look those newcomers in eye and tell them exactly what I'm doing, because I figure in the long run I'm probably doing them a favor. I doubt that Miz Bergstrom can -- or does -- do the same.

Reply by CJ on 7/27/07 10:52pm
Msg #202419

Signings are down by 50% from last year, new notaries flood the market every day, experienced notaries are looking for other part time work because they can't pay the bills, SS are lowering their fees, gas is going up, and you want us to hand over our clients.

You can make $100,000 a year if you work around the clock, every day, including after midnight. But you cannot control when the phone will ring. Right now, it's not ringing for anyone.

Signing Services, even good ones, are folding. (And when that happens, they don't cut you a check first).

Just my two cents.

Reply by SoCal Signing Co. on 7/27/07 3:10pm
Msg #202306

what a welcome huh?

you can call us at 909-917-4586


ask for Lisa

Reply by Charles_Ca on 7/27/07 5:02pm
Msg #202328

Robert ~ This last post is classic, use the SEARCH feature

above and do a search on SoCal Signing company and you will see firsthand the value of this forum.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 7/27/07 5:41pm
Msg #202338

SoCal Signings, $65 for e-docs? Yep, get those newbies

before they catch on.

Reply by Ndwa on 7/27/07 7:01pm
Msg #202349

Re: SoCal Signings, $115 for a double w/edocs

That's what I was offer the other day. For them to regularly read this board, I'd think they would have recognized my name by now, and have a little note somewhere in my profile saying (be ready to pay). Seriously, that's even less than what I pay most for a single.