Notarize Blog

Since the first online closing in 2017, we’ve helped thousands of title agents use remote online notarization to power homebuying experiences built for the 21st century. With unparalleled convenience, easy of use, and cost, both signers and title companies have said that online closings are the future to a world where your phone or computer is the keys to your new home.

In this blog post, we’ll go over how you can bring remote online notarization to your title company, and why it’ll unlock the customer experience you need to take your business to the next level.

Remote online notarization is helping people plan for their future, buy homes from their couch, and replace lost or stolen passports in a fraction of the time. Connecting with a notary via your phone or computer has not only made the notarization process easier, but more accessible. Its adoption is one of the fastest enactments of public policy in our country’s history, shaping how technology can better support life’s biggest moments.

Millions of homes will soon be bought and sold entirely online, replacing pen and paper with clicks and keystrokes. That’s why today we’re proud to announce Rewired: a conference aimed at tackling the future of the real estate industry.

With featured speakers including Shane Hartzler, Fannie Mae’s Director for eMortgage Strategy and Operations, and Selene Kellam, Thrive Mortgage’s COO, we believe that Rewired will serve as the pulse for the future of the industry. 

Since completing the first online closing in 2017, more than 10,000 real estate professionals have joined the Notarize platform to embrace technology that makes the home-buying experience easier, faster, and more accessible to all.

With the rapid adoption of eClosings and a growing appetite for better education and training, we saw an opportunity to create the industry’s-leading educational resource hub to bring home buying into the digital age. And, our customers have asked for more training about remote online notarization. That’s why today, we’re excited to launch Notarize Academy!

There’s no doubt that the future of real estate is digital, but everyone’s journey there is likely to be a little different. Some folks jumped right in. Others are waiting for their partners to voice interest, and until then, believe that online closings have no place in their workflow.

The truth is there’s plenty that companies can do to prepare for fully digital closings and help their partners understand the value of moving their workflow online.

Here is what title agents can do to prepare for when lenders want to close online.

More than half the world’s population is now online, and as we look for simpler, more convenient solutions to everyday issues, we’ll move our most sensitive information online – if we haven’t already.

This is a great concern for many in the real estate space, where thieves have used this information to steal the down payments – often the life savings – of thousands of prospective homeowners.

Fraud is becoming more common as Internet scams become more creative and complex. Here are 50 statistics that show the threat of real estate fraud in 2019.

Wire fraud and phishing scams are growing issues in the real estate space. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reports an 1100% increase in Business Email Compromise scams: financial fraud that targets wire transfers by both businesses and individuals.

Unlike most Internet scams, there are several vulnerable targets in a single mortgage transaction – buyers, sellers, real estate agents, attorneys, mortgage lenders, title companies, notaries. Here is how one title agency, Community Title Network, uses remote online notarization to identify real estate fraud.

Real estate fraud is on the rise. As an industry, it’s on us to combat these growing threats head-on to ensure the integrity of online real estate transactions.

That's why we're proud to announce our latest eBook: 3 Easy Ways to Identify Real Estate Fraud. This free guide uses the latest research and real-life anecdotes to highlight the growing complexities of fraud, the clues that may hint at a fraudulent transaction, and the business processes you can adopt to stop fraud in its tracks.

Below is an excerpt from 3 Easy Ways to Identify Real Estate Fraud. You may access the complete guide here.

Since we announced our Notarize for Title Agents product just over a year ago, we’ve heard a ton of feedback on how to make a more seamless experience for anyone placing closing orders with Notarize.

Today, we’re thrilled to share that any title agent can integrate with ResWare right from their Notarize dashboard in 30 minutes or less. Every title or closing agent who has a Notarize account now has the ability to add their ResWare credentials and start sending transactions right from their ResWare accounts.

When Brian Lemke joined Elevated Title as Chief Business Officer nearly three years ago, he was determined to take the national title company through its next phase of growth. A pillar in the real estate industry for more than 15 years, Elevated Title was seeking new technology to drive a consumer experience built for the 21st century.

“We knew that homebuyers were becoming more tech-savvy, and the way we wanted people to close on their home simply wasn’t the way they wanted to anymore,” said Lemke. “We needed to use technology to bring the home buying and refinance process to them, on their terms.”