Hybrid e-closings: wet ink where it's needed, e-sign for the rest

Three ways a file can close

• Hybrid: the disclosures and most lender pages are e-signed on the lender's platform; the note, the mortgage and other notarized pages are printed and signed in ink in front of the notary.
• In-person electronic notarization: the borrower and the notary are together and the notarized pages are signed and sealed electronically. If your platform needs this, say so on the order; the desk tells you before accepting whether an available notary can do it.
• Remote online notarization: the borrower signs on a recorded audio-video session. A New Jersey notary must be physically in New Jersey; the signer can be elsewhere, and the act is performed under N.J.S.A. 52:7-10.10. Whether a closing can use it is decided by the lender, the title underwriter and the county that records the mortgage or deed.

Not sure which a file is? The closing type checker asks four questions.

What your order should tell us

• Which pages are wet-ink (upload them, or say the courier is bringing them) and which are e-signed.
• The platform, and whether the borrower finishes the e-sign pages before the appointment or at the table on their own device.
• For a remote closing: written confirmation that the lender and underwriter accept RON for this file and that the county can record the result.
• The scanback deadline for the wet-ink set and where the originals go.

At the appointment

• IDs checked; the wet-ink set signed and notarized; each act journaled.
• If the e-sign part isn't finished, the borrower completes it on their own device. The notary doesn't sign in to the borrower's account or handle their credentials.
• Platform problems go to the lender's support line; the notary can wait while the borrower calls, within the appointment time.

Remote sessions

For documents that allow it, a remote session is recorded, the signer's identity is verified with the platform's checks, and the act is journaled as New Jersey requires. If a recorder wants a paper original with an ink seal, remote ink-signed notarization may fit instead. Our remote online notarization page covers session hours and what a signer needs.

What the notary won't do

• Decide whether a lender, underwriter or county accepts an electronic or remote notarization.
• Run a remote closing without your confirmation that it is accepted for that file.
• Explain loan terms, whether on paper or on screen.

Pricing basis

• New Jersey loan signings start at $150, with printing and scanbacks included. Starting rates. Your exact price is quoted after we confirm a local notary/runner, before you pay. Accounts with an agreed price pay that price. That covers the wet-ink side of a hybrid closing.
• Remote online sessions for single documents start at $40 per session. A full remote closing on a lender's platform is quoted per file.
• The notarial fee is capped by New Jersey ($25 for a financing) and listed on its own invoice line, separate from the signing service.
• Accounts with steady volume can agree a flat price per order type; that price is set when you open the account, in writing, and then shows on every order in the portal.

Coverage

In New Jersey we cover all 21 counties directly from Cranford in Union County. Elsewhere in the U.S. we work through a network of independent notaries commissioned in the signer's state: we confirm coverage before accepting, and an order outside New Jersey is confirmed only once a notary there accepts it. If a time or place can't be covered, we say so instead of taking the order.

Questions

More for closing offices

• Refinance signings
• Purchase signings (buyer)
• Seller package signings
• HELOC signings
• Reverse mortgage signings
• Witness-only and attorney-run closings
• Vendor compliance answers
• Title companies and lenders: start here
• Signing services and rate card
• The closing package

For your borrowers: Hybrid closings and RON, explained for borrowers.

General information about how our desk works, not legal advice. The lender, underwriter and recording office decide what they accept. Updated November 2026.