Things were VERY busy these past few years. Everone was becoming loan officers, title agents, brokers, notaries, signing services and appraisers. Notary companies were cranking out signing agent classes and making a lot of money by promising a pot of gold to everyone. That was how THEY made money. Everyone was busy and making money. Then the mortgage crises happened. Everthing came to a screeching halt. Suddenly, there was this huge loan machine and no one borrowing money anymore. They could not borrow money because their houses values went done and the subprime loans (100% financing, neg am, PPP and adjustibles) were all yanked off the market. So now everyone was was involved in loans is sitting at home twiddling their thumbs, and trying to figure out how to pay the bills. Many compaines went out of business: Loan companies, mortgage brokers, title agencies, signing services, etc. Many of the hundreds of thousands of people out of work are becoming notaries becuase they remember how busy we were. But if no one is borrowing, then there is nothing for us to sign. I used to do between 100 and 70 jobs a month. Now I am lucky to do 20. It's kind of like selling 8-track players: if the market isn't buying them, it doesn't matter how many you have to sell or how good they are. Lots of companies closed down without paying their back invoices, so we wound up working for free.
The notary classes are trying hard to stay in businsess too, so they are still running their ads that say notary work is "lucrative" with "flexible" hours, you can make $100,000 in your "spare time", and "pefect for stay home moms".
1. Lucrative if it is busy, which it is not.
2. Flexible means "whenever the borrower wants you", which can be anywhere from 5:00 am to 11:30 pm.
3. $100,000 per year? Only if you worked 24 -7. But who gets 2:00 am jobs on a consistant basis? That is a lie. It if were possible, I would have been doing it. I was plenty busy.
4. Spare time: That's like saying, "raise a two-year-old in your spare time. You are on call 24-7, even when you go out of town. there is no "spare time"
5. Work from home? I was NEVER home. I worked from my car. It was more like living in my car. I am glad my kids were grown, my daugher at home liked to do her homework and my husband is a foodie, so he didn't mind cooking every nigth after work.
But now I am home with LOTS of time on my hands.
THEREFORE, it will be very hard to find someone to "Help" you get into the business. Any business that can be had, they are not going to show you how to take it from them. They don't hate you, its just that no one can afford to share the little bit that is barely there.
I am not trying to be mean, I am telling you the truth. I used to to 1/3 of my business before the 15th, and 2/3 after the fifteeth. I was gone every day. I had no life, and my husband complained that he felt like a bachelor. I was gone days, nights, weekends and holidays.
But here it is, the middle of the day. I've done my laundry, my chores, my gardening, and now I am going to look at the library books I got yesterday. Yesterday I ran all my errands since I had nothing else to do. |
