Reverse mortgage signings, handled with time to spare

Counseling comes first, and it isn't ours

HUD requires homeowners interested in a federally insured reverse mortgage (a HECM) to receive counseling from a HUD-approved counseling agency, and the counselor completes HUD's Certificate of HECM Counseling (Form HUD-92902). That happens before the signing is ordered. The notary does not counsel, does not check the certificate's contents, and must not try to answer the questions a counselor would.

What your order should tell us

• Every borrower, and any non-borrowing spouse who signs documents in the package.
• Where they will sign: at home, or at a care facility or hospital. Facilities have visiting rules; tell us the unit and any contact so the visit can be arranged.
• Whether a family member, an interpreter or another helper will be present (signers who need an interpreter).
• Whether anyone signs under a power of attorney and whether the lender has accepted it.
• The scanback deadline and, if the package has a notice of the right to cancel, how its dates are filled in.

At the table

• Time. The notary does not rush the borrower and does not let anyone else rush them either.
• IDs are checked, and each document is named and shown where it is signed. The mortgage and affidavits are notarized and journaled.
• Family may sit in, but the borrower signs for themselves and decides for themselves.
• If a borrower seems confused, pressured or unable to say what they are signing, the notary stops and calls your closer. That is a notary's duty, not a judgment about the loan.

What the notary won't do

• Explain how the balance grows, the occupancy, tax and insurance obligations, or what happens to the house later.
• Advise heirs or relatives, or discuss alternatives to the loan.
• Continue a signing the notary isn't satisfied the borrower understands.

Scanbacks and originals

The scanback deadline is yours to set; for long packages, give the notary a realistic window after the appointment ends. The notary uploads the signed pages to the order and your team gets one email with the link; the originals go back on your label or by courier, with tracking on the order.

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. A reverse mortgage is ordered as a loan signing.
• When the signing is at a hospital or care facility, the desk confirms the price before the order is booked.
• 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.
• Outside New Jersey, each file is quoted first and placed with a notary commissioned in the signer's state (loan signings in other states).

Coverage

In New Jersey we cover all 21 counties directly from Cranford in Union County, including homes, care facilities and hospitals. 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
• Hybrid e-closings
• 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: Reverse mortgage counseling and closing, for borrowers and families.

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