What I do not understand about the lower fees, If we look at a HUD from when our fees were higher, the charges are lower than today. I could understand that if the title company was giving a break on their fees to the consumer, then it would be why our fees are lower. But, in most cases that I have seen, the charges on the HUD are higher now than they were when we were getting the higher fee. I, myself keep a copy of the signed HUD in my records, I can go back & compare the HUDS., It is really amazing. I guess it just proves that the Title companies are ALL very GREEDY! Walt
Reply by Claudine Osborne on 12/24/13 7:37am Msg #497014
They keep lowering the fees they want to pay us because people are taking these lowered fees! Do you think the fees are negotiated with the appraisers, bug inspectors etc? NO..They are getting away with this practice because NSAs are saying yes! The SS and TCs keep more of the money..But yet we are so important to the whole process???
Reply by Lee/AR on 12/24/13 9:06am Msg #497019
We are 'important' to the process in the same way that slaves were important to getting the Pyramids built--without them, no Pyramids. However, unlike the slaves, we do have the ability to set our fee and say no when it's not met. Tell everybody about NR and help to raise the bar.
Reply by Rita Adu on 12/24/13 9:41am Msg #497023
Additionally, the game of "how low will you go" is being played here. The problem is that the notary who once took a $90 fee is now complaining that the company has lowered the fees to $70. My thinking is that if the $90 fee was NEVER accepted, then they wouldn't even have the nerve of offering the $70. I REFUSED to lower my fees from the onset and I still get signings. When they call & offer lower fees, I just politely decline and tell them what my fee is. Even the companies who have been talked about frequently on this site will still pay my fee. My time is much too precious to accept anything less.
Reply by Moneyman/TX on 12/24/13 11:08am Msg #497029
Why accepting lower fees never seems to work out
Reply by walthtz on 12/24/13 5:42pm Msg #497049
Re: Why accepting lower fees never seems to work out
Your point?
Reply by Moneyman/TX on 12/25/13 9:20pm Msg #497076
Re: Why accepting lower fees never seems to work out
If you have to ask, there's nothing I can say to help you understand.
Reply by JanetK_CA on 12/24/13 5:53pm Msg #497050
A better idea than lowering fees....
Great image! (Although I wouldn't be surprised if I end up having nightmares about that... Sometimes that's what life feels like, doesn't it?!!)
Totally agree with the concept related to fees, though. BTW, I've talked about it before, but in 2014, I'm thinking of reinstating a spreadsheet where I keep track of all the deals I save or errors I find by lender/title/escrow. Often these are things that get fixed before I get to the table. (The latest one was yesterday when I found a borrower's first name misspelled on the title/escrow docs. There was another one last week.) Other times, they're just stuff that creates headaches for us, wastes our time, or creates extra expense (like reprinting all the title docs, or having to do more driving than we expected because of schedule changes, late docs, etc.)
Why not do the same thing? This could be documentation of the added value an experienced loan signer brings to the process and could show another perspective of the **real** costs of providing to the borrowers the convenience of enabling them to sign in their home or office, often outside of normal work hours. (I also wonder what the cost is to these companies when their errors aren't found...)
These types of things make us worth a respectable fee! No one seems to give that part of the process much notice - just the times when a notary makes an error. Maybe I'll come up with some categories, depending on what trends I see. Might be a very interesting study.
Sometimes that's what life feels like, doesn't it?!!)