What a mobile notary does
A mobile notary is a state-commissioned notary public who travels to you instead of making you find a bank branch or shipping store with a notary on duty. They handle the same work — verifying identity, witnessing signatures, administering oaths — but at your kitchen table, your office, a hospital room, or a care facility, often on evenings and weekends when brick-and-mortar options are closed. That flexibility matters most for wills, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives, where the signer may not be able to travel at all.
Many of the professionals in this directory are also loan signing agents: notaries with additional training, background screening, and errors-and-omissions insurance who walk borrowers through complete mortgage and refinance packages. Title and escrow companies hire them for exactly this, and homeowners doing a remote closing can too. Before your appointment, have every signer present with a current government-issued photo ID, and do not sign anything in advance — the notary must watch the signature happen.
How much does a mobile notary cost?
Two parts: the notarization fee, which most states cap (commonly $5–$15 per signature), plus a travel fee the notary sets — typically $25–$75 depending on distance and urgency. Full loan signing appointments are usually a flat package rate in the $75–$200 range. Ask for the total price when you book so there are no surprises at the table.
What is the difference between a notary and a loan signing agent?
Every loan signing agent is a notary, but not every notary handles loan packages. Signing agents complete extra certification (the NNA credential is the best known), pass annual background screenings, and know their way around a 100-plus-page mortgage document set — which pages get signed, dated, and initialed where. For a real-estate closing, ask specifically for a certified signing agent.
What do I need to have ready for the appointment?
All signers physically present, each with unexpired government-issued photo ID; the complete, unsigned documents; and any required witnesses (some states let the notary help arrange witnesses, some do not). Leave every signature line blank until the notary is watching — pre-signed documents usually cannot be notarized.
Can I just get documents notarized online instead?
Most states now permit remote online notarization (RON) over webcam, and for simple documents it can be faster. But some documents and some recipients — certain courts, county recorders, and title companies — still require wet-ink signatures, and some signers do not want to wrestle with identity-proofing software. A mobile notary is the reliable path when ink on paper is required.