Are notaries good value for money?

Settlement agents often need mobile notaries to witness customer signatures in the process of real estate transactions including escrow companies, title companies and attornies. Lenders, Builders and Estate Agents need good notaries as well.

Although only seen sometimes as a ‘clerical formality’, this small and critical component of the deal known as the ‘loan document signing’ is in truth an art form.

When an accurate signature is required over distance and need the next day, time is crucial as the deal could be dependent on its success. Clients using a specialist notary rely on them to protect their reputations as a closing professional by looking after them at this stage of development.

It is therefore vital to use those notaries that will look after the reputation of the company that employs them, and that of the client being served.

So, beyond the basic capability of notarisation, what do you look for to effectively satisfy any customers’ signing needs?

The Preferred Notary knows his role and is happy with it. It is important that the borrower perceives that the notary is a neutral party, outsourced by the estate agency. The notary signing agent is therefore the purpose of making sure the borrowers are properly identified and the loan documents are properly executed.

The Preferred Notary has learned not to play the role of the Estate Agent, Lender, Closer (Settlement Agent), Attorney, Title Insurer, Seller, or any other party to the transaction. They defer to the expertise of the other professionals when borrowers ask about the terms, effects, financial and legal implications of the documents they are signing. More often than not, the other professional is available to satisfy the borrower’s needs.

If you are looking for a reliable practitioner within the business, I would recommend looking in the telephone directory under personal law, or ‘solicitors Crawley‘ and choosing Bennett Griffin.