3/7/2021 Commercial Mortgage Loan Course by Brenda & Jake

The Notary Lounge on Clubhouse - Notes from 3/7/2021 – About Jake & Brenda’s Commercial Loan Documents Course

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Graphics version of the notes in MindManager.

MODERATORS

Michelle Riley - TheBondLady.org

Phyllis Traylor - TexasNotaryPatreon.com

Brenda Stone - StoneDigital.me & NotaryStart.com

Jake Burkhalter - NotaryStart.com

INTRODUCTION

Brenda: I had been a loan document preparer in a law office doing commercial loans.

I had also been doing Commercial assignments as an NSA, but never gave thought to writing a course about it.

Jennifer Glover & I meet at NNA conference in 2016. She encouraged me to write it all down and share the knowledge.

So I did!

It took me 3 years to write it all and then I got worried that I might not have commercial loan documents down correctly enough to share with others. So, I sat on the content another year.

In January 2018, I met Jake, and he looked over my content and “blessed it.”

Once we finished writing our NSA Fundamental Skills Course, we begin to polish this one.

JAKE: I want to read an email that I received this morning.

“Hi Jake,

I just had the pleasure of listening in on the clubhouse chat. So glad to have found you. I am new to it so not sure how it all works but definitely want to be a part of it.

I heard you mention you have a signing service and wondered if I can sign up for it. I completed your commercial class with Brenda and I actually had my first commercial loan 45 minutes after putting the certificate info on my profile lol!

Thank you for all you share with us!”

PURPOSE OF THE COURSE

The purpose of our course is to provide notaries with a new skill and a Certificate of Course Completion showing that they have taken this course. Right on the certificate, we list all the sections covered so hiring parties can see.

Mine & Jake’s philosophy: If the notary places a high priority on professionalism and providing excellent services as a signing agent, opportunities will come.

JAKE: That’s right because commercial title people are the elite of the elite. No foolery, straight-laced, very traditional.

Your credentials should be up-to-date. If you are going to handle commercial, the stakes are higher, purchase prices and refis are multi-million deals. You need to have a sound E/O policy.

We recommend Michelle for TN, TX, AL, what other ones Michelle?

You just might be handling the personal refinance of their largest client. Attorneys often seek referrals from title companies for mobile notary services.

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WHAT IS A COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE LOAN?

Our course starts by defining commercial real estate and loans. I am not going to do that here, but I will give you a quick overview of what a commercial loan is.

Commercial loans come in many different types: construction, interim, purchase, equity, refinance, renewal and extension, to name a few. The packages run from large to very large (150 to 500 pages). You may have 50 or more documents to notarize. The good part is that the borrowers are usually experienced and they sign quickly.

New notaries should be able to handle residential loan packages flawlessly before jumping into commercial mortgage work. The notary should be experienced, competent, and professional. Multiple signers are common, and the notarial certificates will be for companies or entities, not individuals. There may be multiple properties involved.

We cover the differences between commercial and residential property.

The reason we cover this is because the more you know about the process the more likely you will know how and where to market your services.

Further into the course and tie all that together to illustrate that the pool for marketing your services starts with offering your general notary work to all of the stakeholders in the process. LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE THERE.

Jake: In commercial business, relationships are everything.

Accuracy, professionalism, and commitments to being successful will likely land referrals from a commercial EO.

They aren’t limited to just commercial.

You just might be handling the personal refinance of their largest client.

Attorneys often seek referrals from title companies for mobile notary services.

BORROWERS & SIGNERS

Borrowers are not “people.” They are companies / entities.

The people at the table will not be the same as you are accustomed to.

You’ll be meeting with savvy borrowers/signers.

Everything should go smoothly.

Not always, but mostly.

SETTLEMENT STATEMENTS

We will cover the difference in the closing statements. You won’t see a typical CLOSING DISCLOSURE.

Does anyone want to comment on why you won’t see a CD? Or what you might see?

HUD-1

You need to know how to read a HUD-1 if you handle these loans

COLLATERAL

In a residential mortgage, the collateral is a home or house or land that will have a house.

It’s different in a commercial loan.

Again, the reason we tell you these things are to beef up your marketing skills.

CORE DOCUMENTATION

The documents are different and there are always five documents where a cml is concerned. There are a couple of other documents, also, but this is where we begin to introduce you to the documents.

If you know these five, you will be more comfortable.

We will go through two sets of loan documents and give those to you along with another set that we don’t cover.

SIGNATURE BLOCKS & NOTARY CERTIFICATES

Correct Notary Certificates are critical in commercial loans.

Friday, I was handling 3 documents online for a flooring contractor. Not exactly a commercial loan but he was a commercial signer.

The notary certificates were not complete. One was a recordable document, so I had to do it right. If you don’t use the correct entity verbiage on the certificate and it somehow makes it past title, the recordable document could be rejected by the clerk or actually make it through and a smart attorney finds a reason to bring it to light later (in the next 2 years to count) and the document can be judged invalid.

I was not sure what the position of the principal was -- but Jake gives tips from a title perspective in our course that will help you find the information you need to complete the notary certificates. I put myself in the shoes of a new person for that moment and realized that OUR training helps new notaries figure out things like this.

Our course covers what to do if you run into that situation.

We also provide examples of what the certificates say if you run into an incomplete certificate.

Many times, there are five or more entities referenced in the notarial certificate which is confusing.

LOAN DOCUMENTS, SCRIPT.

I have already mentioned that we provide loan documents.

We will review them and provide a script for you to use that is in alignment with the SPW guidelines.

FEES & PACKAGE SIZE

Jake: Fees – yes, this is where the higher fees are, title companies have more wiggle room.

A 5-million-dollar title policy provides $24000 to the title company. They have room to up your fees for you to go above and beyond.

For instance Commercial deals can transfer with few pages, to several hundred.

And there are documents that don’t require attention but are necessary to be covered.

PRE-APPOINTMENT

Tasks you need to cover before the appointment.

You need a checklist, and we provide one of those.

DURING THE APPOINTMENT

We’ll cover how to conduct the signing if there are many people at the table other than the borrowers.

On Notary.net, I published an article about my first commercial mortgage loan experience; you can read it here. The room can be overwhelming!

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO AFTER THE APPOINTMENT?

We cover that, but to save time for questions, we will not go into that right now.

MARKETING TIPS

Every city/region will be different.

Now that our students have learned a lot about who is involved about commercial loans, that will be a start for you. We will discuss reaching out and we provide marketing letters.

HOW TO PURCHASE

Please note that we record each session and allow purchases until we do our next course. Our next course is May 8.

To purchase the replays of 3/13/2021 Commercial Mortgage Loan Documents for NSAs - link:

https://stone-courses.teachable.com/purchase?product_id=2983881

If you have taken Jake & Brenda's NSA Fundamental Skills course, please reach out before purchasing and let us know.