Posted by jojo_MN on 9/25/11 9:35am
Msg #398595

We also need to value our time - long

This business is awesome, but also infuriating. Yesterday I had a wonderful day planned with family and friends. The Oktoberfest parade (which I am told is one of the best in the country). There are over 100,000 people that come out to this parade. After the parade, I was invited to a friend's party which is the "party of the year". All good friends, home made wine, games appropriate for drinkers and non-drinkers. Just a fun, invigorating time. The kind of day that just melts all your troubles away. Get the picture??

I get a call Friday afternoon pleading with me to take a signing right smack in the middle of all this. She couldn't find anyone else and said docs would be overnighted. I said please have them sent to the borrowers house because it's hard to get thru the people to get to my office to pick them up. She said, no it is against the policy of the lender to send them to the borrower's house. I didn't get back in town until after 10 Friday night and had to get up and get my two grandkids going at the same time and on the road by 8:00 to get a spot at the parade while getting my two grandkids going at the same time.

Anyway, I left this awesome time I was having at the parade (it was over at this time, just friends hanging around and enjoying the perfect afternoon). It took me forty-five minutes to get thru the downtown area to my car. Went to my house. Got the documents and called the borrower. She didn't answer. I headed toward her city and figured I would just run a couple errands until I heard from her. After my fourth call to her, she answered. I said I was ready to have her sign the documents. She was the third person signing on the loan. She said, "the documents didn't get here until 1:30, so I left to go to a cabin up north at 1:30". She was told by the title company/or lender that they were being sent by overnight delivery to her. She won't be home until Tuesday evening and said I will have to wait until then to have her sign.

Major migraine came on and I spent the rest of my (what was supposed to a perfect day) day lying down at home.

Should have just stuck to the words "NO, I have plans" that Friday afternoon. :-(

Reply by Tina Fountain on 9/25/11 10:51am
Msg #398601

I agree wholehearted with you, Jojo. Notarizing is not my sole source of income, not does it pay enough for me to drop what I'm doing at a moment's notice. If I know ahead of time, I can certainly plan my day around a scheduled signing.

I own my own business. So as long as I have adequate notice, I can usually work a signing into my schedule. But I also have a personal life (although my kids think it's lame). I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, getting away for a weekend of camping, or just having a few beers with my girlfriends down at "the Still." No matter what I'm doing, I will NOT change my plans at a moment's notice just to take on a signing, especially for the pitiful compensation that most lenders offer.

On the other hand, if a lender is THAT desparate, I would expect them to compensate accordingly for my drop-everything emergency service. $$

Reply by MW/VA on 9/25/11 11:17am
Msg #398603

I agree that you need to value your time. First option

would have been to stick to your "I have plans for the weekend" and not took the signing.
Also, I'm not hearing that you had any communications with the borrower. Did you call to confirm the appt. with her, letting her know that docs were being sent to you? I never go on appts. I haven't confirmed, and would have called her again that day about the time-frame. I'm not trying to be critical here, but it sounds like you played a role in the misunderstanding that caused you to make a wasted trip.

Reply by JimNC on 9/25/11 11:50am
Msg #398608

Just tell SS that the fee is going up whenever there are delays. Problem is either corrected, they agree to pay or you just step away from a bad situation. I usually state all contingent fees up front, i.e. fax back fees, delays, etc. If they shy away you are better off not dealing with them as they will probably be one of the 60 day payers anyway.

Reply by Linda Juenger on 9/25/11 12:33pm
Msg #398612

Sorry this happened and I NEVER go anywhere unless I have confirmed with the borrower first. Learned the hard way a long time ago.

Reply by LKT/CA on 9/25/11 1:04pm
Msg #398616

<<<Yesterday I had a wonderful day planned with family and friends.........All good friends, home made wine, games appropriate for drinkers and non-drinkers. Just a fun, invigorating time. The kind of day that just melts all your troubles away. Get the picture??>>>

Yesterday, I met with a friend at 1pm then went to a housewarming party at 4pm. This was planned for weeks and the time frame blocked off in my phone calender. I got two calls for loan signings about two hours apart while with my friend - both last minute calls. I looked in my phone calender - saw the time was blocked off - and said to each caller, "I'm already booked at those times, I'm available at X time". My X time didn't work for either scheduler so they moved on.

I no longer interrupt personal time with for signings. I learned my lesson a few years ago when I missed a good friend's 50th birthday party putting work before family/friends.......never again! ALL events (i.e. errands, doctor/dental appts, shopping, lunch/dinner out, nail/hair appts, the movies, car oil changes, naps, walking the dog, etc.) are blocked off in my phone calender and when I get a call for a signing, the answer is one of the following:

My schedule (or calender) is full, I'm available at X time........That time is already booked, I'm available at X time.......I'm booked thru X day but I'm available on X day at X time.

Some events/memories can never be recaptured and are far more valuable than the $XXX you'd get for a loan signing. A "perfect day" was ruined for a loan signing that DIDN'T happen. Someone on this board missed a grandchild's event by accepting a last minute signing, which I believe didn't happen or was a disaster. Blocking the time off in your schedule as an appointment is better than just trying to remember *plans*.

Reply by Carolyn Nee on 9/25/11 4:46pm
Msg #398626

Couldn't have said it better. Although I try to keep my calendar flexible towards EOM, time with family and friends to me is priceless.

Reply by Shoshana/AZ on 9/25/11 6:35pm
Msg #398639

I used to play that game

I don't anymore because time with my family and friends come first. Life is too short. I used to say to people I will be able to go if I don't get any jobs.

Reply by CJ on 9/26/11 12:04am
Msg #398657

I feel guilty.

When I first started 11 years ago, I took EVERY job. This helped me get established. Finally my husband said, "I only have 1 day off a week: Sunday. I want you to not take jobs on Sundays." I love my husband, but money is tight, so I HATE turning the work down. I feel bad that the EOM was on Sunday. I did take an early morning job, then my Saturday night people didn't want to sign because THEY had plans on Saturday, so they wanted to sign on Sunday. I was already commited to the job so I rescheduled it for Sunday (SS okayed it). So then I had two Sunday jobs. Then a SS that I love begged me to take two late Sunday jobs, but we had company coming on Sunday from out of town. I feel guilty if I say yes, and I feel guilty if I say no. I have worked on Thanksgivings, and Christmas Eves, eating into my own family times on the holidays. I remember one Christmas Eve I told my family I would back in an hour and then we could open presents. Well, those borrowers were readers and they did not care, and I was back in three hours, at 10:30 at night and my whole family had to wait. I feel bad about that still. They scheduled me for after their church service. Another time I took a signing for the morning before my daughter's graduation. There were late docs for that, etc., and I almost missed her graduation. My husband says, "What do you want on your epitath: She didn't spend time with her family, but she completed millions of sigings"? I know these people need to get their loan signs, but we also need SOME time to enjoy the life we are trying to pay for. I apprecaite every job I get. If I turn one down, I feel guilty and I am afraid that SS will never call me back. I want them to think of me as reliable. I also think about how much the family get-together is costing me in lost revenue. If I take the job and sacrific family time, I am also upset inside. The borrowers are taking their sweet time fussying over the papers and treating me like a mere messenger with "nothing better to do", which technically I am at the moment, and my family is missing me and wishing I was participating in the get-together. I feel like hurrying the borrowers, but I don't because that ususally backfires. I sure wish EOM had not fallen on Sunday. I hope someone else was able to take the last minute jobs I had to turn down.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 9/26/11 1:35am
Msg #398665

Re: I feel guilty.

Your post reminds me of the expression "if I don't respect myself, no one else will". I don't think you should worry so much about saying no to your clients. If you do a good job for them, they will keep calling. AND they will respect you for being "already booked" - none of their business for what. And if they don't, maybe you need to find other clients. (And how they handle it when you say no is not your problem.)

Having said that, I do understand what you mean about not turning down paying work, especially when money is tight. It took me a while to get over that. But it's just part of the business, no different from turning down an assignment for a time when you already have another one. At least that's how I try to see it. These days, I don't really give it much thought. Ultimately, I think it's helpful to take some time to sit down and decide what your priorities are in life - I mean literally write them down, in order - and use that as a guideline, scheduling accordingly. It's much easier said than done, but very well worth the effort.

Bottom line, people can't abuse our time without our permission. We each just have to decide what we are and are not willing to tolerate and where our boundaries are. There will always be those who treat others like floor mats. Some times it may be worth it to just bite our tongue and move on, and other times, the best thing for our sanity may be to find a nice way to not be at their mercy. But whatever you decide, it's important to accept that decision and move on. It's just not worth letting it each you up with guilt and recriminations. jmho

Reply by Dorothy_MI on 9/26/11 11:33am
Msg #398686

Been There, Done That

and plenty of tee shirts to show for it. I have one steadfast rule (only broke it twice in 9-1/2 years). NO Sunday signings. My stock response if I get a request for a Sunday signings is, "Even God took one day off". That usually gets a chuckle from the scheduler. This year I even had a request for a signing for Easter Sunday! Now, even if I wasn't a church goer or a non-christian, I think I'd have better things to do on Easter Sunday than sign loan papers for both the borrowers and the signer(wonder if they ever did get anyone to take that job?).

For ordinary things, like lunch with friends, those appts go into my planner in pencil and my friends know and understand that this is how I make my living, but even then, I won't change my plans for a last minute appt. Now for special occasions I write the appt. in INK!