Notaries have their finger on the pulse of the crisis on Wall Street. After all, many of us call ourselves "Loan Signing Agents," and so we saw the corruption of the sub-prime lending racket first-hand: the bad loans, the irresponsible borrowers, and the devious loan-officers who trick their clients. We notaries know how this non-sense began, even if we don't know how it ends. Right now we need to know how this will effect the Notary business and what we can do about it
Personally, I have noticed that a large amount of work in Loan Signing has disappeared. This is natural since the smaller lenders (even a few of the larger ones—goodbye wamu) have been dropping like flies. Fortunately enough for us, many of the larger lenders are still keeping the loan business in alive—if only on life support. Loan signing is not dead. As we approach what most have dubbed an economic crisis, I've seen many more Reverse Mortgages than other types of loans. This is no surprise; we're all looking to build a nest-egg so we can survive a second depression. Loans aside, regular notary work seems to be in heavy supply.
- Take more of that regular notary work you used to pass up. Some work is better than no work at all. Gas is expensive, but a $50 travel fee (or whatever your state allows) should cover your expenses. At least you will not have the overhead that comes with signing loans (paper, ink, etc).
- Advertise more! Customers cannot hire you if they cannot find you, so get your name out there. Order more business cards and don't forget to hand them out. Do what you can!
- Stay optimistic.
Until next time, hang in there and keep working.
