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Dannotary
California
265 Posts |
 Posted - 03/31/2015 : 06:41:35 AM
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| The stress of this job of signing agent is unreal. Many days it gives me a tight chest, a nasty attitude, and nerve wracking feeling that I will be clubbed over the head any minute for something. I do a high volume of signings with little to no error rate. Rushing and making deadlines, migraine headaches, eating on the fly while driving or standing at counter, trying to overlook and ignore all demeaning dress code etc BS and all the rudimentary nonsense some send with signing orders. Very annoying. Those who have weird requirements like 'call us if you are late, then call the borrower, then call or e mail us when you arrive and leave' are all ignored or fired on the spot hoping they will not call me again. This tells me that they are what I call 'training companies'. My focus is on working mostly with local title companies. Every day I eliminate or don't answer to a growing list of bad signing services even who pay what I ask for and NEVER the low ballers and mass texters. |
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Lee-AR
Arkansas
678 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2015 : 05:13:36 AM
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Joel, I searched your zip code and looked at your profile.
First, lots of competition in your area, so indicating your lack of experience is NOT a good way to get calls.
Second, stop with the errors. Take the time to double check that you've got all signatures CORRECT at the table and then check the whole package again before shipping. This goes faster as time goes on.
If you don't value your time and experience, nobody else will. |
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edelske
New York
815 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2015 : 8:05:42 PM
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Linda,
You are generally acknowledged as one of the smartest and most level headed analytical persons here. I have done pretty much the same thing and for the same reasons. Prior to allowing them to read their script I say - Yes I am available, my minimum is $150, and it is paid to my PayPal account within the next 15 minutes if you wish me to make a calendar entry. Some accept, most don't; both are fine with me.
If they wish to hire my "skills"; they do so on my terms. It goes both ways. We both know that the higher the "profit margin" the greater the "givebacks". Eg: with fair and guaranteed pay, the agent can spend the necessary amount of time and effort to pursue perfection.
Bottom fishers, micromanagers, and such; are an excellent training ground for the newbie. Non-paying "duds" are a separate issue.
So much would be achieved by a universal policy of payment "up front", coupled with notaries dedicated to excellence.
I'm happy that you are happy. Without the frustration that goes along with signings, you probably added years to your life. Please drop in now and then, if only to give me a well deserved poke in the ribs for endlessly postulating.
Kenneth A Edelstein
Mobile Notary, Apostille / Legalization Processing & Fingerprinting
http://www.kenneth-a-edelstein.com |
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LindaH
Florida
1754 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2015 : 07:43:59 AM
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I just two days ago added a statement to my main profiles and my website that I am no longer accommodating loan signings. The haggling the fees, not to mention the outrageously insulting low fees offered, plus the BS requirements being imposed - I've been doing closings for over 30 years...I won't put up with this any more. I'm done with loan signings.
I'll continue to do general notary work but that's it. The mental stress just isn't worth it to me any more. I want to like my job - and I don't like that part of it any more.
So I've diverted it and am working from home for a local attorney - and I absolutely love it.
Good luck to you Joel - I hope all works out for you and you become as happy and satisfied with your place in life as I am right now.
Linda
http://www.columbiacountynotary.webs.com
http://www.notary.net/websites/LindaHubbell |
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joelbenedict
Kentucky
26 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2015 : 8:29:51 PM
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I'm giving up on doing non-vehicle notary work no later than the end of July, at least where I live in Kentucky. My E&O insurance, NNA membership, and 123notary certification expire near the end of July of this year. My Kentucky commission expires near the end of November, and I might not be renewing it either, but I've got more time to think it over.
It's a matter of money and time primarily, with many secondary matters. If you want (and are semi-reputable), I can send you my list of income and expenses (it's a fancy sheet with nifty math tracking how much I've made with taxes, gas, etc. factored in). What it shows is that I've been making much less with more hours than I did. I've had three contacts in the last two months for appointments for more than $90. One was on the snow emergency day, 35 miles away for $100 for a few pages which I would have been fine with, but I was too physically exhausted to take the signing. The last high earning year I had was up to September, 2012, when I had more than a dozen signings that earned more than $100. Since then, I got my business together--got organized, recontacted everyone, got my insurance, my printer, and my car in order (I now have full mobile office capabilities--I can receive orders, print, and scan back everything from my car--haven't ever done it, but I can if I have to), all my certifications and memberships current and made sure I knew what I was doing (I am still making mistakes about one out of about five signings, but not as bad as the kind where I've had to return to the borrower's residence; the worst one I've had recently was a misdated borrower certification that has required $35.10 in expenses to fix).
I can't say it's helped significantly increase the quality of my clients. I'm still getting lowball offers, and almost no offers for signings at more than $100. The signings I do take are time-consuming, and don't give me as much per hour as I earn in my full time physical labor job. I'm almost as physically exhausted with signings as I am at my full time job being on my feet and moving frantically around lifting things that are relatively heavy to my own subjective standards of weight. Notarization appointments are stressful to me. I end up spending the whole time being anxious in between confirming that I can take the appointment up to a few days after I've dropped the docs. Doing dozens of signings and being competent through training have cut down on the stress and difficulty of signings, but it has never eliminated it, mostly because the risk of mistakes is always going to be there (if you haven't taken Jeremy Belmont's training and test course, you're going to be taking way more time guessing and making errors).
Having a support network is crucial to making this job easier and profitable, and I could have avoided making my latest mistake by asking others about it. It's not a one-man band. That said, sometimes I feel like the notary is expendable. Notaries are a small part of a larger real estate field; I've tried using my notary experience to apply to more than a dozen banks, just for an entry-level teller job; I got nothing but silence; I still have no chance against people with real estate and finance degrees in getting an entry-level job without a formal undergraduate education.
Employment rates are junk, median wages have been junk for the last hundred years, and people are desperate for any kind of income, and will work for peanuts. I don't think notary cooperation on fees is going anywhere--it's a competitive field, people are going to undercut each other down to zero to get a client base. I've been taking any notary assignments I can get without raising many objections to fees, trying to force myself to agree to any appointment regardless of how much I don't want to get hired. As it is, it's been hard to train myself into the reflex of saying "yes, I'm available" to every appointment I can manage to get to, and the more I think of doing notary work until late July, the less comfortable I am with it.
I've never been into notary work for personal reasons, it's always been about desperately needing the money, and was kind of forced into it by financial pressure and other family drama. I need the money to a lesser degree, but I don't think I can stomach this way of getting it. I'm tired of people not putting their dogs away before I get there. More than likely, the projects I've had on the back-burner won't generate anywhere near the money I've gotten from notary work, but that money isn't that much anyway. I've got a career that I went to school for that I need to pursue. I dropped out of notary work in 2013 to work on school and my health, now I think I'm going to have to do it again; I can't do notary work well, might as well do poorly or make a stab at doing well in something I don't dislike as much.
I might get back into notary work if I ever end up moving to a place with a better real estate market than the Louisville, KY area and if the refinance market ever picks up. If I do, it'll be yet another uphill climb for something that hasn't paid off nicely in three years. I'll have to be in that place for six months, and front several hundred dollars for equipment, supplies, and membership fees again, but I might only end up doing that as a desperate move if I'm broke and can't get another job. |
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Quitting the band
