Signing service cuts turnaround times by half

When I purchased my first home the lawyer I paid $1,200 did not explain the difference between a conventional and collateral mortgage, or the differences between a 3 month interest penalty and an IRD. If we think that lawyers are actually doing this because we paid full price for them, we are sadly mistaken.

The benefit of the service is that the fee is a reasonable not necessarily "cheap" fixed cost. The presumption that people or brokerages are going to be sued for offering this service is pure folly. The intent of this and all mobile professional services is to provide clients with an alternative that might be less costly and also quicker.

To Ontario Broker

Very well put. On the flip sign, will the clients be steered to that particular law firm which I have seen in the past. If so, is there any type of referral fee to the agent or discount to the client.

Just my thoughts

Derek Rowley, RMA

Always a good idea to make things simple for customers especially in big cities where parking and cummuting are more difficult..in Rural Alberta we've done this for years with all lawyers in town, but really it's nothing new it's call service or going the extra mile(KM)but good on you folks everyone doesn't give that good of service

Dear Wow wow wow
Just because lenders have used it "for centuries" & its cheap, doesn't mean this
kind of closing shop acts in the best interest of the borrower. TD has been using closing shops for over two years, do the "signing agents" or the organization they work for explain whose interest they represent at the closing? Do they explain the difference between collateral vs conventional mortgages?
Take the time to read the fine print on the docs presented by the closing shop & understand what they mean before you recommend them to a borrower.
Sooner or later the dirt will hit the fan & a brokerage is going to be sued by a borrower over not explaing the cost/benefit/risk of using a closing shop instread of the borrower's lawyer.

Wow- for hard up agents/....anyway - lenders use this service as well - IE Bridgewater used it for centuries - so did others - mostly used for switches sometimes for refi's - the reason I used it was for the attractive low legal costs that were necessary in some situations for my clients not because I was hard up at all- this is a tool not a rule - use it if you want no one is forcing an MA agent/broker to use it- wow wow wow.

The article says they use "signing agents", not lawyers, to visit home/office. Speed is great if the job is well done, but are borrowers getting the whole story from an appropriately educated individual? Are these "signing agents" explaining the legal ramifications of a collateral mortgage? Do they have a fiduciary duty to the borrower or do they work for the lender or broker? Would you go to a surgeon because he can shave an hour off of the surgery & save you a couple hundred dollars?
If you want things done well, so that everyone is aware of most of the ramifications of a transction, it takes time.
This smells more like a recruiting tool for agents who are so hard up for money they need to be paid quickly....and those are the kind we don't need because it leads to other issues of credibility.

This looks like a great idea to save time for clients for sure but I see some flaws with a system like this but if a firm can afford to have the lawyer on the road and going to clients' homes 24/7 rather than working at the office, then perhaps it could be worthwhile - hopefully it is a lawyer going to each home and not one of the clerks. Some of the flaws coule be contact with lawyer, increased risk of fraud, identification of clients, and travel time/time out of office are the major difficulties at first glance.

That sounds like real innovation - well done MAC - anything we can do to make the process less intimidating for our clients!