When my terrific loan originators have a signing outside my coverage area, I always locate an experienced notary for them because if I don't the TC sends them a cheap newbie. Finding a good NSA helps me because the practice is good for client (LO) loyalty. Plus I give the notary some tips about the work as a professional courtesy.
Yesterday I searched for a NSA experienced with Reverse Mortgages in Seattle. Should be easy, eh? It wasn't.
First I searched Google thinking I would find several experienced business-savvy notaries that way. I used exactly these keywords: +"reverse mortgage" +seattle +notary I got zero notary websites. There was ONE CraigsList posting. I happily clicked on it and the post was so old it had been deleted. There were zero AR listings. I found a few SSs and a lot of MagicYellow-type directories which are a pain to use.
Then I tried the notary directories.
Notary Rotary was a pain to search since I didn't have the zip code. But I persisted. The Seattle profiles had very little information about RevMort experience. The first Premier notary profile I viewed talked about Florida. ??? Not one of the other Seattle profiles mentioned RevMorts. Plus NotaryRotary locked me out after viewing around 5 profiles.
GoMobileNotary had ONE listed in Seattle. I recognized the guy's name. He has been outed on several boards for selling expensive essentially-worthless directory listings to notaries.
AR produced a gal who is associated with the guy above.
123notary listed several notaries in Seattle. Only one mentioned RevMort experience. Finally! So I called her. She was dead. But her nephew answered the phone and had the experience so he got the job.
The NNA has treated notaries so badly I would never use their directory.
LESSONS TO BE LEARNED:
*It is urgent that our profiles and websites include our service offerings including the types of loans and the names of documents we work with. Since RevMorts are the only type of refi loans worth marketing for these days, I was shocked that almost zero NSAs are listing this service and experience.
*Using words like "dependable, quality, prompt, professional, knowledgeable, certified, NNA member, etc" in our profiles mean zip. The clients we want are looking for specific experience.
*People often search for notaries using specific names of loans or documents. Lots of my clients tell me they do so. My website's home page and all my notary profiles contain the names of most common documents needing notarization in my area.
*NSAs deeply desire to have honest RevMort loan originators call them directly, pay them well, and give them repeat business. But LOs do not use the notary directories - they use Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This means NSAs wanting to skip SSs and lowballing TCs MUST have a website with the home page filled with the words LOs use when they search. My website is very plain but it is chock full of keywords and content my clients need and have a difficult time finding. My clients tell me they love my site and they bookmark it.
I hope this post helps you get more work! Laura http://professionalnotary.com/7.html
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