Posted by notaryKing on 4/7/13 1:02am
Msg #464819

From the "Where this business is headed department"

Phone calls I've gotten in the last 48 hours. Thought I'd share, feel free to add.

Number one.

The notorious lowballer of the lowballers call me.

Them. "We have a signing in Mayberry RFD(we'll call it) for Tue, can you cover?"
Me "Let me see. Yes I'm open. Let me check the travel. It's 59 miles one way. I can do it for $200"
Them "We can only pay $70 for this, is there any way you can take $70 just to help us out?"
Me "ABSOLUTELY NOT. I can work with you around that number but no way"
Them "Thank you" and hung up on me.

Number 2

"We have a signing if you can cover, its 18 miles away and we can pay $xx. Small package, can you do it?"

"Sure, its close"

"Oh wait, its thru company "XYZ"(see below note about this same company later), and you haven't done enough deals thru us to be seasoned enough, this company requires us to do this(I am new with them, I admit. Less than 3 mos, 4 deals.) I am so sorry. We cannot let you do this closing. I am so sorry about this."

"No problem, I had other things to do." (I really haven't gotten that warm and fuzzy feeling from this SS anyway.)

Phone rings 20 min later.

"Hi, this is Cleopatra from XYZ SS, we have a rush order for a closing near you. We've tried to get someone all day and we have to get this signed tonight. We understand its a last minute deal."

(I add a hundred beans to earlier offer.) "I can do it for $xxx and get it back to you by Tue."

"We are shipping the confirmation now"

I was at the borrowers house til 10pm but for 2 hours work including travel, I'm ok with that.


Note about XYZ: And to kind of snitch them out, they are a company named in a thread topic in the last 72 hours. I have went back and forth will this clown who works for them, I would love to out him so to speak to. My background, since its not the almighty NNA or erroneous ridden LNexis is not good enough for them, he told me that I couldn't be added to the XYZ database for notaries. My BGChk is the best out there, hands down. From the horses mouth, not some colluded side company with a finger in the pie.

If a SS needs a deal done bad enough, see how fast those stupid hoops get tossed aside in order to bring in the dough. Really. These SS's need to pull it back together and just get biz done, like it should be.

And to you newbie notaries out there, take heed. The lowball offers you take from some of the scummier SS's will readily pay you more if you stand your ground. Just because your phone rings and your broke doesn't mean waste your time, gas, and inventory for $20. You're gonna starve. Plus being new, if you make one, just one error and have to make a return trip, you make ZERO, if not lose money.

Reply by Robert522TX on 4/7/13 4:03am
Msg #464825

Re: From the "Where this business is headed department" n/m

Reply by 101livescan on 4/7/13 7:56am
Msg #464828

This exercise does nothing more than strengthen your telephone skills with these low ball companies to be able to tell them just not NO, but HELL NO, I'm not turning summer saults for you and your customers and clients for chicken feed.

Notary King, being the King and all, you should know, we just can't continue to be frustrated by yakking with these yahoos, and no, why should be "help them out" for $20 or $40 or $50. We only got to work for the great paying companies. Waste of time talking with these people.

I had calls last week from three low ball companies. I didn't even pick up the phone. I was simply too busy serving my well paying clients to be distracted.

Have a great Sunday. I've got only one today. It's a great paying tc, Sunday pay.

Reply by 101livescan on 4/7/13 10:20am
Msg #464832

Re: From the

I like Mike/Il's reply:

Can you do for $50

I can do for $500

That's ridiculous!

So is your offer for $50

I'll do for $XXX.

Let me see if I can get that approved.

Fine, while you're doing that, I'll check your ratings on SC to see if I even want to work for you!

Now, that's how the conversation needs to go. None of this tapdancing around with these low ballers.

Yesterday I had a signing for high-end, high profile clients, it's my third go with this client. Huge estate in Montecito. Gated, guarded, completely serene and lovely

Easy Wells Fargo refi, edocs, no fax backs. No quibbling over fees. Just the best client!

Why can't they all be this way! That would be Fantasyland, I guess.

Reply by LKT/CA on 4/7/13 10:51am
Msg #464836

Re: From the

Personally, I'd be concerned with a company who offers $50 and can then get my fee of $150 "approved". Me thinks the 2 star, lowball SS will agree to anything - because they only PLAN to send me the $50 - they just want the job done. And email confirmations means nothing to lowballers/deadbeats. If a SS is within $25 of my fee, the negotiation seems geniune - i.e. they offer $100, I quote $125, then we meet in the middle. But to offer me $50, then "approve" $125 - $150.....I believe there's a 99% chance that I won't get my fee....AND I'll have to fight for the $50 they offered. JMHO

Me says, only deal with 4 and 5 star companies - avoid lowballers/slowpayers/deadbeats. L.S.D.'s will agree to anything, then manufacture issues (i.e. Your car is blue - deduct $25.... BO states you weren't wearing red socks - deduct $25....BO says you wore contacts and not eyeglasses, deduct $25, etc.) to chip away the agreed fee down to their lowball $50 - then you'll get the check in 90 days.

Reply by jojo_MN on 4/7/13 11:32am
Msg #464837

Re: From the

The problem is, many of these low-balling companies are getting $250+ from the title companies. I have seen their invoices. These same companies are trying to pay $50-75 to the notary and pocketing the rest. I had one in particular that stated the highest they will go is $100 after offering $65. I said "I understand if you need to shop it around, but my minimum fee is $XXX+. They couldn't find anyone, so agreed to my fee. They STILL made $100 on the deal for just making a phone call. I just wish the title companies that are paying these low-ballers could see just how little of the $$$ they are paying the ss are actually going to the notary.

Reply by John Tennant on 4/7/13 11:56am
Msg #464840

Re: From the

The obvious answer is to go directly to the title companies with a reasonable pricing schedule, not as high as the SS's but higher than what the SS's offer you. Most SS's are not loyal to you, why shouldn't you eliminate the middle man? JMHO

Reply by Notarysigner on 4/7/13 12:22pm
Msg #464842

SS Have no product to offer, just middleman/women

But worst then that? You can't even trust the 4 and 5 star ratings if you're new. Older seasoned notaries know who the companies are that's having NSA puffing up their ratings. By asking them to post five stars.

Reminds me while traveling this past weekend and I stopped to get gas. The price was advertised at 3.89 per gallon. So I filled up and paid for the gas. Now, I always enter my gas mileage/cost/gals in a travel notebook, so as I made the entry, the numbers didn't match up. I was actually paying $4.05. When I brought this to the clerk's attention, he told me the price had gone up and he hadn't had a chance to change the sign. I made him give me back the difference. He was puffing up his "ratings" just like a SS.

Reply by Sandra G Holland on 4/7/13 1:20pm
Msg #464845

Re: SS Have no product to offer, just middleman/women

Notarysigner, I used to do audits of gas stations. I may be wrong but I think it is the law everywhere that a station has to first post the price, then change the costs at the pump. So you could have seen a posted price that was momentarily cheaper but never higher than you were really charged.

Reply by Notarysigner on 4/7/13 2:05pm
Msg #464847

Re: SS Have no product to offer, just middleman/women

I was charged $0.15 a gal more then the posted price. At the pump, the price showed the increase but here they sometimes charge in increase fee if you use a credit card. I paid cash. "Momentarily cheaper"? It wasn't digital they had to get up on a ladder to change the price.
They should have changed the posted price then the price at the pump or give me the price they advertise.

Reply by HisHughness on 4/7/13 6:08pm
Msg #464856

SS offer the same category of expertise as title companies,

... or stockbrokers, or any consultant. They provide title companies and lenders with a service that the lenders and TCs find valuable. If they did not, then there would be no SS.

I keep repeating this, and the message seems to keep getting lost.

Many large companies with large bankrolls who could well afford to buy their own properties nonetheless choose to rent. They do that for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are that they wish to put their resources into what they know best, not bricks and mortar; and rentiing gives them more flexibility than owning.

The same is true of signing services and title companies. Title companies don't wish to tie up personnel grooming, locating, shepherding and paying a multitude of notaries nationwide. They would rather their personnel be escrowing, or titling (somebody please tell bob_chicago that's with a long "i"), or companying, or whatever it is that title companies do.

The SS provide those companies a service, just like a wholesaler provides a service to the retailer and the manufacturer by ensuring the smooth flow of goods between the two. That there are crappy SS, that there are low-ballers, that there are greedy SS, does not eliminate the vital role that the SS plays in the mortgage industry as it is currently constituted.

An SS is a middleman, yes.

A stockbroker is a middleman between the stock company and the investor.

A real estate agent is a middleman between the owner and the purchaser.

A pastor is a middleman between the congregant and God.

There is a place for middlemen. The SS occupies one of those places.

Reply by John Tennant on 4/7/13 6:31pm
Msg #464860

Re: SS offer the same category of expertise as title companies,

There is a place for the FEW good ones. I believe an NSA should market to the t/c and lender organizations that do not use those few good ones. JMHO

Reply by Notarysigner on 4/8/13 1:50am
Msg #464891

Middleman like dope dealers on the corner n/m

Reply by HisHughness on 4/8/13 7:46am
Msg #464897

This is unworthy of you, James.

There are many good signing services, and you just categorized every one of them as criminal scum. That's like saying ALL signing agents are drug addicts.

Reply by Notarysigner on 4/8/13 10:14am
Msg #464918

All of those are your words, I meant what I said, I was

addressing the enterprise....." an organization involved in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers.

" Twist it like you want, I do NOT dog notaries so you are wrong."

Reply by BobbiCT on 4/7/13 12:20pm
Msg #464841

The title company high profit DIY loan ...

Just "get the documents with the 'notarize post-it' notarized" aka Find Your Own Notary at your State fee (or FREE if it's a secretary in your office or friend) and pay the notary direct.

Lender hires title company at $XXX settlement fee plus $XXXX title insurance fee. In-house employee title company closer gets lender docs, orders mortgage payoff and prepares HUD-1 loan package, puts the sign here, notarize, initial here post-its or highlights next to where signature/initials are required. Schedules date with borrower; tells borrower to "find a notary for that date or within X [3 business] days." (Can add a few days interest to mortgage payoff, which will be refunded direct to borrower if overpayment, to cover extra "find a notary days.") FedExp direct to borrowers; borrowers bring 3 documents for notarization to notary ($15-20 total in CT depending on how you interpret the law); borrowers then put signed and notarized package in per-addressed return envelope and drop in FedEx box. Title company keeps TOTAL settlement fee.

I've done a few of these for savvy, negotiating borrowers = $15 or $20 cash-in-hand at my convenience and location. Honestly, most borrowers given PLENTY of time to locate the sign, initial and date spots on their own time have as good as or better chance at getting it perfect as a $50 novice signing agent hired by a $150 scheduling company. Not a slam on either - it's just business practical. Title company able to answer questions and title company employee does QC review for title company and lender return package. Title company keeps profits and provides work for its in-house staff; hiring an employee-temp when needed.

Reply by Sandra G Holland on 4/7/13 1:27pm
Msg #464846

Re: The title company high profit DIY loan ...

I accepted an assignment from a middleman company I'd never heard of. When I called the borrower to confirm the date and time given me, I was informed that she was getting her own notary because she wanted it done that day, so I informed the middleman. A little while later, the employee at the middleman company called back aghast at the price the other notary was going to charge, which is more than I've ever been paid for one assignment. Confessing she was new to the job, the employee asked me how that would work with the notary laws of my state. I told her about signing agents. She put me back on the job, not at the high fee, but one I could live with.

Reply by NVLSlady/VA on 4/8/13 8:34am
Msg #464901

Re: The title company high profit DIY loan ...

<<"most borrowers given PLENTY of time to locate the sign, initial and date spots on their own time have as good as or better chance at getting it perfect as a $50 novice signing agent hired by a $150 scheduling company. Not a slam on either - it's just business practical.">>

I honestly thought the same when I worked with my "trouble" package last week. The seller/signer was an extremely bright young man who made the signing super easy (I read tax instructions while he filled out); no question he could have done by himself. Or just called the TC.

And I notarized 2 docs and walked away.

Reply by Tudi/CA on 4/8/13 2:39pm
Msg #464952

Re: The title company high profit DIY loan ...

In California, I would actually make MORE money if this DIY practice becomes the norm! 95% of the loans I do are for properties held in trust. There are always at LEAST 10 notarized signatures (sometimes up to 23 notarized signatures if more than 2 signers). Loan packages are typically 170+ pgs x 2. There's the printing costs, the travel cost, and the amount of time it takes at the table to go through the entire doc package with the borrowers and have them sign. With the DIY method, I could eliminate time and costs: No travel, no paper/printing fees, no prep time, no table time, no liability, plus $10 for each notarized signature. I would be WAY ahead of the game!

Reply by Tudi/CA on 4/8/13 3:10pm
Msg #464955

Re: The title company high profit DIY loan ...

Did I mention? You could also book far more appointments each day, because you wouldn't have to wait around for edocs to arrive.

Reply by notaryKing on 4/9/13 1:08am
Msg #465035

Re: The title company high profit DIY loan ...

today I was offered this.........................and I'll be straight. Those ND lowballin' losers.

offered EXACTLY $31 for a signing 26 miles away, no printing.



They were fired for good today.