All Forum Posts by: Alison Wise

@Linda L.

Also, yup, my first signing was from a signing service

@Linda L.

I applied for dozens of signing services and so far have gotten 2 signings. From what I hear, it's best to start with signing services until you get a bit more experience under your belt, then go directly through escrow offices, etc.

I currently do rideshare driving, and as they keep lowering pay, I realized it is time for me to start something new. But I don't think I'm ready to have a boss again, so this seemed like a good fit. It's part time for now, but my goal is to have it to replace rideshare driving within the next 6 months, and then use it to save up for some R.E. investing.

@Douglas Anderson, Thank you!! I just did my first signing on Thursday! It was about a 45 minute drive to get there, 1 1/2 hours to finish the signing (I've already noted things I can do to make it go faster), 25 minutes to get home (appointment was at 7 pm... LA traffic...), and then took me about 2 hours to figure out my scanner in order to scan docs back to the signing service, and about 20 minutes the next day to drop the docs off at FedEx and mail it. The signing service paid $100, so all in all, that would be $20/hr., but I think now that I've figured out how to scan docs back, and can fix the inefficiencies at the appointment itself, I'll save myself a lot of time.

The borrowers were super nice, and had already bought like 10 properties throughout their lifetime, so I'm super grateful that they weren't first-time buyers who might be nervous (because I know I was super nervous). I made a few mistakes that I caught as we were signing, so it's definitely something where you have to be super detail oriented and double & triple check EVERYTHING. Knowing exactly what each document is for is also super important so you can give a general description to make the borrowers feel more comfortable. That's definitely something I need to work on, as a few of the documents I had looked over and understood at home, but all of that flew out of my brain when I was actually at the appointment.

Even though I double and triple checked everything, I'm still terrified I did something wrong. But I think that's just me being a worry-wort. Overall I think it went well.

My goal is to do 2 signings next week, 4 the following week, then 6, then 8, then 10, and once I get to 10/week, all with signing services, and then to start going directly to Escrow offices once I get to 10/week. 

I may have shiny object syndrome... but I loved this idea so much when I heard it that I signed up the next day to get my notary commission (6 hour course to become a Notary Public in California, signed up through the NNA website).  Took the course in California a few days later, and then took Mark's Loan Signing System course as well as the Notary Signing Agent Course from the National Notary Association (NNA).  I have yet to do my first signing, but am in the process of signing up with Signing Services to get my feet wet before going directly to Escrow Companies. 

@Andrew Syrios @Iverem Rose @Robert Crossley @Michael Ramos @James Wise @Ali Boone @Mark Nolan @Peter Mckernan @Carlos Altamirano:

Thank you all for the warm welcome and advice on what to read! This whole Bigger Pockets community is just great, and makes me look forward to getting into the forums more!  I've been keeping mental notes on books that were frequently mentioned on the podcasts, and just reading anything I can get my hands on, so I really appreciate the suggestions on what to read next!

And @Seth Williams I'm sure I will have questions after reading through the show notes for the podcast as well as your blog on your site (trying to make sure I'm asking questions that weren't already answered :) ).  I know it's from years ago, but the podcast really caught my attention.  Really excited about learning more!  Thanks for reaching out!

 @Walter Roby jr:

Thanks!  Interested in vacant land mostly because of the super low amount that you can start with, but also lack of competition.  A lot of what Seth Williams mentioned in Show 39 of the podcasts on this site.

Hi! I am originally from Lancaster, PA, but currently live in Southern California and work for a beach volleyball camp.  My interest in real estate is pretty accidental... When I first started working at the volleyball camp, I was at my bosses house and happened to notice a book he had about coaching beach volleyball, and asked if I could borrow it.  He thought I was pointing at a real estate book and said, "No, read this one first," and handed me Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller.  He also kept forwarding me Bigger Pockets emails as examples of subject lines that got him to open the email and ammount of information that is included per email.

I am still reading the book, listening to all the podcasts from the beginning, and super interested to learn more about the different aspects of real estate!  There is definitely a lot to learn!  At the moment I'm pretty interested in buying and selling vacant land (recently listened to the episode with Seth Williams), but haven't thrown out the idea of wholesaling, flipping, or investing in rental properties.