The importance of notaries in commercial real estate cannot be overestimated. Real estate notaries play a crucial role in a broad range of commercial real estate transactions by helping to ensure the integrity and legality of the documents involved.

Key Responsibilities of Real Estate Notaries

The real estate sector relies on notaries to do much more than simply witnessing signatures. They are essential to ensure that all parties involved in a transaction are exactly whom they say they are and fully understand the documents they are signing.

The responsibilities of notaries in the real estate sector extend to the documents of property buyers and sellers alike, stressing the importance of:

Identity Verification and Fraud Prevention

Notarization protects buyer and seller alike from threats of fraud by making sure that the document is entirely original and directly relevant to the parties involved. Furthermore, notaries require proof of identification from each signee before witnessing all document signatures.

This firmly establishes the identity of all parties involved and confirms that those parties actually signed the document at hand. By performing all these actions diligently, a reputable notary can effectively safeguard documents and all signing parties from any future accusations of fraud.

Document Authentication

In most real estate purchase agreements, a notary is responsible for ensuring that all involved parties comply with the set rules and conditions of that agreement. These rules and conditions may be included to protect the best interests of the buyer, the seller and/or any lenders who might be attached to the agreement. For property deeds and other legal documents relevant in the real estate sector, notaries commonly acknowledge and witness newly acquired property rights.

Ensuring Compliance With Legal Requirements

In the real estate sector, many commonly used documents are NOT considered legally binding without official notarization.

Real estate documents that require notarization include:

  • Property Deeds
  • Mortgages
  • Purchase Agreements
  • Lease Agreements

In all these cases, notaries must authenticate documents and confirm the identities of the parties who sign them according to the relevant legal requirements of the jurisdiction of execution.

Types of Notary Services in Real Estate

Traditional notarization, which takes place in the office of a notary, may be just fine for certain real estate transactions. For example, it is quite efficient when both the property’s buyer and seller live in the same geographic area, share similar schedules and agree to an in-person closing. But in many cases, other forms of notarization can be far more convenient. Depending on your circumstances, you may want to choose mobile notary or remote online notary services.

Mobile Notary Services

A mobile notary can make the notarization process substantially easier by traveling directly to you. They perform all the services of traditional notary at the location of your choice. Today, a wide variety of real estate agencies and individual homebuyers/home sellers turn to mobile notarization to authenticate documents on site.

Remote Online Notary/Remote Notary Services

While mobile notarization requires the notary to travel, remote online notarization (RON) eliminates the need for travel altogether. Using advanced digital technology, RON allows all signing parties to meet with a notary online. This is particularly useful for parties who wish to complete property purchase/sale transactions over great physical distances.

In a RON-driven real estate transaction, the buyer, the seller, the notary and the property itself can be in entirely different locations. Although it takes place in virtual reality, RON results in documents that are fully authenticated, validated and legally binding.

The Importance of Notaries in Real Estate Transactions

The world of commercial real estate relies on notaries public to foster trust and ensure legality in all types of property transaction process. Quality notary services can make real estate closings far smoother and more efficient in the short term while helping to protect all parties from fraud and potential disputes in the long term.

Streamline Your Real Estate Closings With Expert Notaries

To learn more about what a dedicated notary services company can do for your commercial real estate business, contact the Real Estate and Title Notary division of First Class Signing Service today. We have a proven record of success with real estate companies of all sizes that span the United States.

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