Posted by HisHughness on 2/11/11 12:25am
Msg #372324

A day in the life of a signing agent

Booked a closing Tuesday afternoon 2/8 for 2 p.m. Thursday 2/10. Called the borrower, confirmed time/place/need for ID & wife's presence at closing, provided my contact information. Received dox this AM, printed out two 170-page sets. Emailed TC that size of packet required large-packet surcharge. Called borrower at noon to confirm 2 p.m. closing. Arrived at closing, 27-mile round trip, at 1:55 p.m.

When I walked in, the borrower said he had just gotten off the phone with his credit union, which was going to provide him with a conference room and a free notary.

The hole in the ceiling is probably going to run $200-400 to repair. Surgical removal of the dox from where I shoved them most likely will cost substantially more.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 2/11/11 2:21am
Msg #372327

LOL!! I so relate! Had triple whammy tonight...

... but at least it got signed.

Hugh, you sure do know how to tell a story!! Seriously, it's amazing how thoughtless people can be! That's incredibly inconsiderate!!

The one I had tonight was 1) an RM, 2) with property in a trust, 3) signed via POA by daughter and granddaughter, i.e. both signatures were required for every one of his. (This was a last-minute assignment that nicely fit in for one that got rescheduled to tomorrow.)

Of course, there were multiples of all kinds of documents, tons of broker documents, about 40 pages of which were already signed by the two Attorneys-in-Fact. (Just over 200 pages.) Unfortunately, the broker had had them just sign their own names wherever a "borrower" signature was required and the docs sent to me were copies with their signatures still in the signature line where they were supposed to write their whole "John Doe by Susie Smith as his Attorney in Fact"... Oy vey!!

At least I wasn't dealing with any "old phartz"! (jk...) I could go on, but I think I'll leave it here.

Reply by 101livescan on 2/11/11 9:24am
Msg #372354

Re: LOL!! I so relate! Had triple whammy tonight...

Been there, done that. Sometimes there's no way to see these coming!

Reply by BobbiCT on 2/11/11 6:31am
Msg #372328

ROFLOL "Free" isn't free, just higher TC or SS profit...

When the borrower discovers his settlement costs will NOT be reduced because he was able to find a "free conference room and notary,"

the hole in the ceiling will be convenient,
surgery may not be necessary as the dox may fly out on their own accord,
the TC will be going out for drinks on the "notary" fee they get to keep.

Reply by BrendaTx on 2/11/11 6:34am
Msg #372330

Suppose one of us was friends with someone who was signing a loan and that said notary offered to do the notarization 'for free' on the loan.

There is NO WAY that the title company would say okay without a lot of pushback; it probably would not happen.

Assuming that the title company went along with it, this borrower must have used magic words or something. See if you can find out what they were.

This is the most thoughtless, ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time.

Reply by 101livescan on 2/11/11 9:34am
Msg #372362

Recently a higher up at Disney in LA said, I have a notary in my office, just send the package to me and I'll have her do it and return the package the same day.

Well, that did happen. Many signatures were missed, and the borrower failed to sign the way her name appeared on the documents. The documents were returned in a timely manner, but it took a week to get it right! because the high level executive went out of town right after docs were shipped and not available This causes the loan to fall out of line and possible loss of rate lock.

It's amazing to me how things can get so screwed up by the borrower in the end.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 2/11/11 3:59pm
Msg #372412

Great point - and excellent example. This kind of thing is what went through my mind when I read BobbiCT's post above; specifically, that he's lucky if he only ends up paying for the notary anyway!

A couple of times, I've managed to talk borrowers out of having "their secretary" (or whomever) at their office take care of it for them, because most of the time they have no clue as to what's involved. But there's just no getting through to some folks who think they already have all the answers.

Reply by Patricia/VT on 2/11/11 9:53am
Msg #372365

About two years ago, I was sent out to re-do just such a signing. The notary who was a friend of the borrower took two evenings to get through the package, and dated her notarizations accordingly.

Reply by MW/VA on 2/11/11 7:53am
Msg #372336

LOL. Little did he know that he was going to pay your fee

anyway. LOL

Reply by garland/CA on 2/11/11 12:30pm
Msg #372385

Love your humor...so necessary in this business! n/m