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FINALLY! A Notary Willing to Share Some

of Her Experience With You!

I think it's time for me to begin sharing with you some of the things I've learned along the way as a Notary Signing Agent. My intention is to enter my musings as an informal blog. I hope you find it entertaining, and above all, useful to you. I'll try to give updates once a week. Most recent entries will be at the top of the page.

December 2, 2008: I thought I might share with you the compnay I use for my domain name and the server I use for my website. I use separate companies for my domain name as as a host for my website. This is on the advice of a friend of mine who is builds sites for a living. He says that some companies will give you (help you register) the domain name for free, if you choose thier site for hosting your website. But in the past, some of these companies have increased the fees for hosting the sites, use and space on the servers get to exceed allowable limits when the website gets popular and/or profitable. The website owner then tries to switch to a different host, only to find out the name is techinically not registered to them, but to the original host company. So I have elected to keep them separate: domain name are purchased and registered through one company, and hosting of the website is through another company. I use HostGator to host my website.

November 22, 2008: I know that many of us just absolutely HAVE to watch expenses, so I thought I'd give you some tips about where I get paper and printer ink. Absolute best prices for paper, both legal and letter size is Sam's club. I am currently using ClickInk for my ink. They have great deals, offer cartridges for a wide variety of printers, and timely service. I just go on line and order what I want

November 2 , 2008: The more I get familiar with the Affiliate Program I signed up for, the more enthused I get. I've just learned about advertising my business using article writing and a short advertising angle called Squidoo. You can get this wonderfully empowering Affiliate Program by clicking here.

October 22, 2008: I have been looking for additional ways to increase my income and have been avoiding many of the online offerings. I think that my inquiries often result in completely unwanted offers for everything from agility cream to viagra. One of the more useful things I have signed up for is an internet marketing university "course" for affiliate marketing . It is chock full of training that is divided into beginner intermediate and advanced lessons, a forum, and many other useful and educational features to help get you jump started in internet marketing. Cost is $37 per month, but you can try them out for a month free, and quit anytime you desire.

October 12, 2008: Every once in awhile, we all get "one of those" clients. You know the type: everyone but them are at fault, and the wife is telling you one thing while the husband is either on the line with the loan officer trying to get him to do something that can't be done on a Saturday afternoon while telling you something else. Make sure that you call and the assigning agency has a good heads up as to what the stated issue is before you leave the house. Even though your client may say they recognize that this has nothing to do with you, some of them will try to blame you for any misunderstanding and you DON'T want the client to use you as the whipping boy once you've left. So stay and make that call, even if its unpleasant to stay. You'll be glad you did, and so will the assigning closing company, especially if they get an irate call from a loan officer that thinks he or she is about to lose a deal!

September 30, 2008: I had a homeowner call up the credit rating service while at a signing a couple of months ago. He happened to notice that one of the credit reporting bureaus had listed a car loan on the report that just wasn't his. I was amazed at how quickly he was able to resolve the issue. I now suggest that the borrower attempt to get with the credit bureau as quickly as possible when they spot something on a credit report or 1003 that isn't theirs and relate the story of the borrower that resolved the issue that very day, saying that most records are generated electronically, and having a real person access your record at the credit reporting bureau can sometimes get speedy results. All the borrowers I suggested this to were very appreciative. Of course, not all problems can be resolved quickly. It depends a great deal on the entry that is reported.

September 22, 2008: I have a few a few a more observations on how I think lenders will be even more cost consious. This one helps them to mitigate the problem. I think more of us should be qualified for e=notarization. While I think this method does have a ways to go to catch on, it's a vastly superior appoach to the borrower issuing a Limited Power of Attorney to a loan officer, attorney, or title officer without having a chance to look at what they will be signing up for.

September 11, 2008: I think that a result of the mortgage meltdown that the lenders that survive will become even more cost conscious than they are currently. I had one title company try to get me to go with $45.00 per signing for overnight documents. Lucky me. I ran some numbers and discovered that the "break" they were giving me by limiting commute distance before additional compensation was now 25 mile radius instead of the 30 mile radius we has originally agreed upon. My survey of the work I did for them showed that the average commute was about 28 miles, which ment that they weren't giving me much at all. I told them I would keep my prices. Anytime you get below $50 per signing, you are effectively working for only about $2.75 per notarized signature after taxes and all expenses. While it's true that each signing may give you an average of 8 notarized signitures, when you count your time receiving and printing documents, commute time and signing time, your hourly pay isn't very good, especially at $45 per signing.

September 5, 2008: Changes in Missouri state law regarding hiring immigrants have opened up another possible income stream for us here in Missouri, and it may help you out, too. You can become an E-Verify third party agent helping small to medium sized businesses get the proper identity and eligibility varifications for prospective employees. And you can work for most any company no matter where they are located. The E-Verify system is a voluntary program run by the US Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS), but it is becoming increasingly important for all businesses to run all new prospective employees through this check.

August 29, 2008: I know that most of us have been exclusively using ink notary stamps, but I have found that there is a demand for the embossing stamps, too. Some attorneys like them as a means of assuring their clients of the continuity of some corporate papers, especially if it is a Joint Venture or other such agreement between two separate businesses who have shared the document electronically and have taken turns editing it. Having the embossing stamp has helped me to expand my business somewhat. You may want to think about getting one. The best place I found was the American Notary Association. You can contact them at Notary Stamps .

August 24, 2008: Many of the firms I work for want certain pages faxed back to them before the executed loan package is overnighted back to them. To save time, at the signing, I keep a list of those documents that are to be faxed back and place them in a separate stack of papers as they are executed by the borrower and/or notarized by me. This way, all I have to do when I get back to the office is throw them into the fax machine without taking extra time to pull them out of the stack.

August 16, 2008: Today I just got off the phone with the accountant of one of the firms that I work for. This firm is out in California, and I work for them infrequently. By infrequently, I mean that I may do 1-2 signings for them every 2-3 months. There has never been a time when I have not had to call the accountant once or twice after I invoiced them before a check is sent to me. Sometimes you just have to be willing to work with these firms. I know of one notary who says she faxes her invoice about 10 times in one day if the contractor is over 45 days late in paying her. I say whatever works. Some of these firms are young, and don't have a lot of support personnel. So try to be patient, especially if you are starting out in this game.

August 10, 2008: I just met a notary over in Leavenworth county, Kansas who does a good business notarizing documents at the Fedral and State prisons over there. While you have to register with each of the institutions, and be careful how you dress, she says she has improved on her income by taking on this work. She is in a unique area geographically. In addition to the Federal prison, both the men and women's Kansas state prisons are close by.

July 30, 2008: I just discovered another notary website: Anerican Notary Association. It is located in St. Louis, MO and serves notaries in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Arkansas. Membership begins at $50 for the term of your commission, and includes such things as state bond, E&O insurance, credit union membership, free legal advice and much more. You can contact them at 800-426-0943.