Attorney State vs the Notary Signing Agent
(Here’s my disclaimer: I am not an Attorney, and this is not to be construed as legal advice.)
The second biggest career question…. Can I be successful as a Notary Signing Agent in an Attorney Closing State like Georgia?
People who are interested in becoming a Notary Public and a Notary Signing Agent that also live in an Attorney Closing State often wonder if it’s worth the time, money, and effort if all the real estate closings are (by law) done only by Attorney’s.
First let’s define what an Attorney closing state is. In some states, preparing real estate documents is considered the ‘Practice of Law’ that only an Attorney can do. While many states (not all) require the documents to be prepared by an Attorney, there are only a handful that specify that the closing/signing of the documents also be conducted by an attorney. Often, when the documents are required to be prepared by the attorney, the documents are then submitted to the Title/Escrow company to complete the process. In a few states, an Attorney must be present or involved in the signing process.
Those states are;
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Massachusetts
New York
South Carolina
South Dakota
Vermont
The key words in the paragraph above are “present or involved”. This language appears in the RE laws for the state of Georgia (for this example). While they will often encourage the signers to come into the office to sign their documents, they can be “involved” at a remote location via phone. This is enough to satisfy the requirements in the law. I am located in Arizona and often find myself placing an Attorney on speaker on my phone while conducting a closing on a property that is in an Attorney State. This is pretty common for those of us not in an attorney state.
My notary colleagues in Georgia, New York and South Carolina are very successful NSAs in those states conducting their business in the exact same way. They take documents to the signer’s location, place the attorney on speaker phone and complete the signing in exactly the same manner that I would except they are actually located in that attorney state. So how do they make their business successful with these restrictions?
Many have told me that their business looks something like this
40% of their total business from Signing Services
Of that, approximately 25% is for properties located within their state boundaries.
And yes, they have an Attorney on the phone during the signing.
And 5% is for properties outside of their state.
The remaining 60% of their total business is represented as
45% directly from those very same attorney law firms.
Yes, and yes ! They market themselves directly to Real Estate Attorneys.
And that leaves 15% of their total revenue coming from General Notary work.
I hope that this has helped answer the question if you have ever wondered if you can do this type of work in your state. I always recommend you network with another notary in your state (maybe not directly in your immediate area) for pointers to get you started and techniques that they have used to go after and get that direct business.
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