Posted by Linda Juenger on 9/24/11 9:04pm
Msg #398569

Continuation from msg below re SC witness

First I'd like to say that the appt was for 7. I get there at 6:50. Attorney has already called. In fact she called at 6pm. She got her time zones mixed up she said. She called back at 7.

The borrower asked her the question about the witness being his daughter and she said it was ok, as the daughter is not on title and not on the loan which does not make her have a financial interest in the property. Ok, I said. How can I argue with that? I can't and its not my place to.

She had us go straight to the Mortgage and she had the borrower cross out and initial "a married man" (which he is not) on the front page. She had him sign the sig page and the daughter sign as a witness. I also signed as a witness.
That's pretty much it. A total of 5 minutes and on the HUD a fee of $430 for attorney fee listed. Makes me sick to my stomach. $5,160 an hour. What BS. There is NO attorney in this world that is worth that much and I wouldn't give you a nickle for most of them. What a racket they have going and it should be stopped.

Reply by MW/VA on 9/24/11 9:21pm
Msg #398570

First, I'm glad it worked out. IMO the few states that are still attorney-only are for them holding out for the money. Yes, I've done a couple where the attorney was getting about 3x what I was paid for printing the docs, conducting the signing, etc. It is what it is, unfortunately. I guess that's why they refer to us as "just the notary".
I encounter that prejudice when I do some purchase or RM signings. I've had a few LO's bring up the power thing about being used to dealing with attorneys.
The one thing I'm aware of is that no attorney would make themselves available on short notice the way we do. Appts. would need to be scheduled weeks in advance. What's the chance of that happening? LOL