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Shannon
California
360 Posts |
 Posted - 12/09/2010 : 4:03:11 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Shannon
Personally, my own business has been impacted by loan brokers, escrow companies and lenders that have closed up shop. I was amazed to learn also, that the State of California continues to add notaries at a record pace when notary work is on the decline.
"A Quick Note"
WWW.AQUICKNOTE.NET
Wow! 2007 was a bad time. I'm happy to report that my business has returned in a big way since April of this year (2010) and that November 2010 was my busiest month in 4 years.
Short answer in Southern California: It hasn't slowed down it's revving up again!
"A Quick Note"
www.aquicknote.net
Follow me on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/aquicknote
Like me on Facebook:
http://goo.gl/WWpGP |
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PWinFL
Florida
469 Posts |
Posted - 12/09/2010 : 06:28:14 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by jbelmont
Business has picked up a lot. The economy has gotten better, but lending restrictions are so tight, that its still hard. Business for notaries is double what it was over the summer, but thats still slow.
Maybe where you are, but certainly not here and more than likely, not in a lot of other places. Even as the economy appears to be getting better in some markets, in other markets it is still declining.
Never drive any faster than your guardian angel can fly.
I am not an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Florida,
and I may not give legal advice or accept fees for legal advice.
Visit us online at http://www.PAWnotary.com |
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jbelmont
California
3106 Posts |
Posted - 12/08/2010 : 9:18:57 PM
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Business has picked up a lot. The economy has gotten better, but lending restrictions are so tight, that its still hard. Business for notaries is double what it was over the summer, but thats still slow.
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n/a
114 Posts |
Posted - 01/08/2008 : 07:44:15 AM
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We remain very busy and our numbers are steadily improving, probably because of our efforts to provide high-quality work. As in all industries, a shake out is inevitable for those individuals who are not prepared for the downturn.
Jeremy has provided an excellent service through 123notary.com and he is to be commended for his contributions to notary signing agents throughout the United States. When we need to hire someone, our first source outside our growing network is 123notary.com.
Burton F. |
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profnot
41 Posts |
Posted - 12/10/2007 : 11:15:41 AM
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Reverse mortages are the only part of the refi market that is increasing.
Mortgage accelerator Helocs will be big starting next year. If you want to be cutting edge, you will focus on RevMorts and MA Helocs. I haven't marketed for any other types of loans for 2 years.
Both these loans are great for NSAs because the borrowers are very educated about the terms of loans. It is extremely rare that the loan doesn't fund.
Focus your marketing on Reverse Mortgages and Mortgage Accelerator Helocs.
Financial planners are becoming LOs so they can sell the MA Helocs. Market yourself to them. Read about how MA Heloc loans work at my website:
www.ProfessionalNotary.com
Click on the Build Equity subpage. |
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JustSign
Arizona
90 Posts |
Posted - 09/09/2007 : 4:56:46 PM
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Things are very slow in my area (Phoenix). Property sales are almost non-existent, and the couple of loans I did in the last week; one was for a poor guy who was going to lose his house and got an obscene loan package. The other was for an elderly couple with excellent credit, but a reverse mortgage. The third was a lady who after signing; called me to ask for her check back. She was paying $5K, to save $3K in one year's time and didn't see the advantage. I had to tell her I could not give her the check back, the settlement company would have to deal with that. A mess.
Then my son's real estate agent finds out that I'm a signing agent; she wants to know how to get started to supplement her income because RE is slow. RE and RE Loans go hand in hand I tell her. If you're slow; we are slower.
In over four years (2 in CA and 2+ in AZ) it's never been this slow for me. |
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tb7
California
6 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2007 : 4:24:57 PM
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In addition to our slumped market,
I have been told by several EO's that signings are staying in house.
Why?
1) Lenders are requesting that borrowers sign at the TC table.
2) Some EO's are signing to help supplement their own income.
Can you blame them? |
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dfye@mcttelecom.com
New Hampshire
681 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2007 : 02:53:47 AM
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Sigh!!!
Legal Eagle Para Professional Services |
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crtowles
California
553 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2007 : 02:38:02 AM
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These companies are low balling because they do not have volume that they use to have. So even though they are still charging the title/escrow the same amount they want to give us less to try to keep their doors open. They are trying to 'make it' at our expense. Which is BS. We are the ones doing all of the work and in reality we should be keeping all (or at least the majority) the money.
I use to have a livery service years ago and we would farm out work all of the time. However we only kept 20%. Which is the way it should be for us. It is our fault though. Until all of us agree and set a reasonable bottom line fee. This will continue. The notary pimps are out full force. I refuse to do any work for less than 150.00. Now thats my bottom line. If I was to work for a signing service (which I won't do because they take to long to pay if they pay at all, I refuse to work then wait 30,60, 90 plus days for my money. They get paid usually within two weeks; so should we) I would charge a minimum of 100.00 for overnight and 25.00 for edocs. If we all would stick together the notary world would be a beautiful place. But I won't hold my breath. Another big part of the problem is the NNA is constantly telling the newbies that 65.00 is an OK price. It is a never ending batttle. I am so tired..:)
C |
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dionaea
Tennessee
21 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2007 : 09:54:32 AM
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| One reason it has for me is the lowball fees some agencies are offering now. They're charging the borrower the same closing fee they always have, as can be seen on the HUD, but trying to pay the notary much less so they get to keep a lot more. I know what it costs me to be a mobile notary, and agencies that used to pay a fair and reasonable fee are now offering a much lower fee. I turn them down. I'm not doing this for fun or adventure or to get out of the house or to make a little extra spending money. If the fee is not sufficient to pay all overhead and expenses plus a reasonable hourly wage, then it's not a job, it's a hobby! I'm sure the market will recover, and I'm just riding it out. |
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Prosigner
California
24 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2007 : 08:30:09 AM
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Hey Shanster -
I can only speak for NotaryClasses but my last couple months have shown a MARKED DECREASE in class size. May be because of summer, vacations, mommy's getting kids back to school... I don't know, but my class sizes went from BIG to way small these days! |
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Joe Ewing
California
55 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2007 : 05:15:57 AM
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What are the reasons why the notary business has slowed down?
Answer: The mortgage business has slowed down. Notary "work" is busier than ever.
Someone "laid" the signing agent egg in my basket 8 years ago. But there are many more eggs that I put there with years of hard work and paid advertising. How may eggs do you have in your basket? |
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timgatewood
Tennessee
27 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2007 : 03:14:57 AM
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The reasons can be summed up as follows.
1) Sub-prime. According to some analysts, only 5 states had above-average default rates and each of those had state-specific reasons for that. But those were large enough to pull down the averages for the nation, which started:
2) Panic in the securities markets. As most of the sub-prime lending was being done with money raised by securities based on the loans as collateral, once the default rates rose to an unacceptable level of risk, the market panicked and stopped buying the securities, drying up funds for future lending. This meant that the companies could not get the money they needed to keep doing loans, and that lead to companies going bankrupt, which led to more panic in the market, which led to tighter and tighter requirements for funds, which led... You get the picture.
3) Predatory lending. Part of the reason that so many borrowers went into default was the programs offered to them that allowed high-risk borrowers who lacked the discipline to use those programs properly to get into them anyway. For instance, the 2/28 loans, where the interest rate was fixed for 2 years, then became adjustable. The ONLY reason to take one of these loans is to pay down other debt during the 2 years, thus improving your credit scores to make you eligible for a better fixed-rate loan at the end of that time. But many of those who borrowed under this program lacked the discipline to apply their savings toward paying down debt and spent the money instead. Great for the economy, which is based on consumer spending. Bad for the mortgage business and for them personally. Same thing with combo or jumbo loans, intended for paying off credit card and auto loan and other debts -- too many borrowers did not close their accounts with those other creditors after getting a combo or jumbo loan and then gave in to the temptation to use those still-open accounts, thus getting right back into deep debt, only now with a larger mortgage payment, too. Proper underwriting standards on the part of the lenders could have prevented some of these folks from getting those sorts of loans, but they made too much money off those loans to do those sorts of screenings. This is just plain outright predatory lending -- loaning money that you know the borrower cannot repay in order to get an asset worth more than the loan. Of course, the lenders are getting burned now because the book values of these assets (the homes) were inflated and so, even if they foreclose, they will not recoup what they loaned out. Even with mortgage insurance, the lenders are left holding notes that are secured with property not worth the face value of the note.
4) Greedy speculators. Once the market started a down-turn, many of those who could have stopped it by supporting those who needed help instead stepped back and took a wait-and-see approach to let it crash so they could step in later and snap up bargains. This has been reported in the mainstream and financial press, but I would have expected it in any case. There is nothing wrong with timing your purchases to get maximum value for your bucks, but the lack of loyalty shown to previous business partners has made this situation worse than it might have been.
Finally, here in TN, we had a new law go into effect on 1-1-07 that regulated so-called "high cost" loans (they wanted to get predatory lending but could not define it, so they went after high cost instead). One provision of this new law is that high-cost loans must be closed in the office of a lender, settlement service, closing attorney or title company. This was to make it possible for the state to audit the books and see if the closing was done per the new regs, but it has meant a serious drop-off in loans that can be done by NSAs, as most of us are not any of those entities and we don't have offices to work out of with files to be audited. I suspect some other states have passed similar laws concerning predatory lending |
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Shannon
California
360 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2007 : 01:45:46 AM
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Personally, my own business has been impacted by loan brokers, escrow companies and lenders that have closed up shop. I was amazed to learn also, that the State of California continues to add notaries at a record pace when notary work is on the decline.
"A Quick Note"
WWW.AQUICKNOTE.NET |
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jbelmont
California
3106 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2007 : 04:05:51 AM
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| Feedback. I like all of your answers. As a general rule, I like to see a situation from as many angles and perspectives as I can, with all of their components. |
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n/a
New York
0 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2007 : 8:54:53 PM
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Its never too late!
You can still increase your business worldwide.
I suggest you to go for search engine optimization of your wbeiste.
This will not increase traffic to your website but will also will help you expand your business world wide.
Promote your website with http://www.creativewebpromotion.com |
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Kelly
California
105 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2007 : 07:09:15 AM
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I can safely speak for Southern CA (I think!)
1) Homes were appraised well beyond their "true" value so many folks are literally upsidedown in what they owe (this was due to pressue to appraisers from lenders/lender reps)
2) 80/20 loans were funded for the wrong reasons
3) Underwriters approved loans for those who had no biz borrowing money in the first place
4) Many are walking away now with no hope in sight of recovering from their debt.. they simply can't afford their payment(s)
5) Investors cannot even snag up the properties because the current owners owe so much $$, well beyond their value
6) Those that need to refi, etc need pristine credit now - all the subprimers lost their shirts or went out-of-biz so it's tough to get a loan
7) Manty lender-reps/Brokers/had to "buy back" some of their "bad" loans so they're out-of-biz/in trouble
8) CW had to borrow money for cripes sake - scary or what?
Kelly Robertson, California Notary Education Instructor
One-of-a-Kind, "How To" Workshops for New Notaries & Signing Agents @ http://www.LoanSigner101.com
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Renee
Michigan
549 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2007 : 10:08:40 PM
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Exactly. Same reason some 40,000 people in the lending industry have lost their jobs - a good portion of those people were brought in to meet the needs of a temporary (as we now know) increase of business.
I think it's about 40,000 anyway - but I haven't read today's news yet. |
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LindaH
Florida
1754 Posts |
Posted - 08/26/2007 : 03:48:39 AM
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My guess? - a combination of (1) the state of the market and the economy; and (2) an over-saturation of new notaries and new signing agents flooding the market - less generated work spread out to more providers = slower notary business. JMHO
Linda
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jbelmont
California
3106 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2007 : 11:44:57 PM
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| What are the reasons why the notary business has slowed down? There is no single correct answer for this question. |
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Topic |
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Dear Signing Agents,
Question 1 - Why is business slow?
Be the first person to vote!