Category: Notary

“NAR has strongly supported remote online notarization since 2018 and commends members of the House for passing the SECURE Notarization Act of 2023.”

Kenny Parcell, president of the National Association of REALTORS®

The integrity of notarized public records is crucial. Without it, deed transfers and other transactions could lose the public’s trust. So, people have signed official documents while face-to-face with notaries.  This gave everyone involved in buying, selling, and financing of real estate confidence in the notary’s stamp.

But the pandemic disrupted personal appointments. Suddenly, businesses hastened to find remote workarounds for procedures they’d always done in person. State rules for notarizations were among those things.

Could the notary seal still be reliable if created through computers? The House of Representatives recently said yes. Next up: the Senate.

Continue reading “The House of Representatives Said Yes to Remote Online Notaries. Senate Next, NAR Urges!”

Are Federal RON Standards Coming?

When people buy homes, they have the deeds notarized and publicly recorded in the home’s city or county. Traditionally, people have always gone to the notary public in person. This is changing.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted in-person business, the world of real estate has accepted that home purchases and mortgage agreements can occur from a distance.

Remote online notarization (RON) uses an online platform to carry out a notarization, with the signer in one place and the notary in another. (Hence the word remote. Note that RON is one step beyond eNotarization, which uses an electronic form of notary seal, but happens in person.)

Just two years ago, remote technology for home purchases was considered futuristic and risky. Today, for many people, it’s enabling transactions when in-person meetings have to be placed on hold. It’s turning homeowning hopes into realities. The key reason it’s gaining acceptance? It’s safe.

Continue reading “Remote Online Notarization Wins Home Buyer Confidence”

Next time you use a notary, your certification might look a little different. Notary statements on documents have changed over the last year, amidst a rush to adopt digital notarizations. Today’s notarial certificates often explain whether the notarization was done in a physical meeting or online, and where the parties were when the document was executed.

Continue reading “Notaries Go Remote: A Digital Shift Is Changing Notary Language”

An update from Deeds.com on the fast-moving evolution of remote online notarization and the standards supporting it.

If you transfer or accept a piece of real estate, notarization of the deed will likely occur. For your deed to be recorded, it is notarized first. Recording puts the world on notice of the conveyance, by updating the county’s public land records.

Today, with so much documentation first going (first) digital and (now) remote, can real estate deeds be notarized from afar? In most states they can. The signers and the notaries can sign and notarize a document digitally (eSigning and eNotarizing it); and notaries are now taking it all one step further: performing their work without the need for in-person appearances by signers.

Continue reading “Deeds by Distance: Which States Are Moving to Remote Notarization?”

The notary seal and signature make the transfer of a home official. A notary readies the property deed for recording with the county for all the world to see.

Notarizing a document means witnessing a signature, and verifying that the right person signed a document, knowingly and voluntarily. Yet bad actors can, and often do, turn up at the recorder’s office with bad deeds, wrecking the rightful homeowners’ lives. The notary system is vulnerable. Is it obsolete?

Consider a squatter in San Antonio who, in 2019, faked a notary seal to “verify” the signatures of a long-dead couple. The point of this was to file a fraudulent general warranty deed and thereby sell the property to an investor. The squatter botched not just one but both of the deceased owners’ names — but also got away with filing a corrective deed for the property.

Continue reading “Modernizing an Archaic Notary System for Real Estate Documents”

A notary’s acknowledgement is vital to the integrity of the residential property deed. Why?

The real estate deed is a formal instrument. It must verify the grantor’s interest in, and right to convey, the property. It must protect the interest transferred to the grantee. Notarization gives the deed a strong presumption of validity relative to other types of property documents. The careful stewardship applied to a home deed helps keep a clear chronicle of ownership and preserve the chain of title. Without such care, a bona fide purchaser might one day be forced to confront claims by others who believe they hold interests in the same real estate.

Here, we outline a notary’s job, and how it becomes an integral element of a real estate transaction.

Continue reading “Why Do Real Estate Deeds Require a Notary?”

Today, many real estate documents are handled electronically. But it remains clear that notarizing a document, under the laws of all states, means witnessing a signature in real time. The notary’s witnessing role serves to verify to the public that the person who signs a paper has been personally identified, and freely signed the document.

Not to be deterred, technology is changing the way society defines witnessing. With the advancement of webcam technology and novel legal provisions, notaries are remotely witnessing signatures and verifying documents in several states. This new process is known as RON remote online notarization.

So far, reviews in the industry are mixed.

Continue reading “Remote Notarization of Real Estate Deeds”