Seller package signings: the deed and the seller's affidavits

What a seller signs

The deed that conveys the property, an affidavit of title, the Affidavit of Consideration (RTF-1) that usually accompanies a New Jersey deed for the realty transfer fee, the seller's side of the settlement statement, payoff authorizations and the tax-reporting forms your file includes. The deed is acknowledged before the notary; the affidavits are sworn, so the notary administers the oath. The type of deed and any exemption claimed on the RTF-1 are set by the contract and by you, never by the notary.

What your order should tell us

• Every owner on title who must sign, and anyone else your title review says must join (a spouse not on title, for example).
• Where each seller is. Sellers who have moved away can sign where they live through our network, or by remote online notarization where you and the underwriter accept it.
• Whether a seller is signing under a power of attorney, and whether it has been recorded or must record with the deed.
• How the original deed comes back: courier to your office, overnight on your label, or straight to the county clerk as a recording request.

At the table

• Each seller's ID is compared with the name in the vesting deed and on the new deed; a difference is raised with your closer before signing.
• The deed acknowledgment and the affidavit jurats are completed with the venue, date and seal; each act is journaled.
• The settlement statement and payoff pages are signed where marked. The notary does not discuss the figures.
• The originals are checked page by page and packed separately from any copies the seller keeps.

What the notary won't do

• Choose or explain the type of deed, the RTF-1 exemption, the realty transfer fee or any tax form.
• Discuss net proceeds, payoffs or commissions.
• Notarize for an owner who isn't present, or accept an ID that doesn't match without your closer's instruction.

Getting the deed to the county

Scanbacks come first, on the deadline you set, so your office can review the deed before the paper arrives. The original then comes back by courier or overnight with tracking on the order, or, if you prefer, we take it to the recording office as a document recording request (from $50 per document, with county recording fees and any realty transfer fee billed at cost). Where it goes in each county: recording a deed in New Jersey.

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 seller package is ordered and billed as a loan signing.
• The notarial fee on a deed is capped by New Jersey ($15 for a transfer) and listed on its own invoice line.
• Courier of the original deed: from $60 (pickup or drop-off within 20 miles).
• 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.
• Sellers outside New Jersey are quoted per file before anything is booked.

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)
• HELOC signings
• Reverse mortgage 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: What sellers sign at closing, in plain words.

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