Which signings should a mobile notary take in a day? Window and drive-time math
Short answer: pick the set and order of signings whose combined margin, after the drive between them, is highest and that all fit their appointment windows and get you home on time. You can be at one table at a time, so a good signing can be a bad choice if it displaces two better ones.
A worked day
Ten offered signings, one agent leaving at 08:00 and due back at 17:00, costing $35 an hour while driving or working and $0.70 a mile, driving 30 mph over roads 1.3 times the straight-line distance. Fees range from a $40 walk-in to a $200 reverse mortgage with a hospital-bed appointment.
Saying yes in the order the offers came in fits 4 signings and earns $196.25.
Highest fee first fits 2 signings and earns $70.77: it takes the $200 reverse mortgage, a long drive out with a 12:00 start, and that blocks most of the rest of the day.
The best day runs 5 signings, starting with the 09:00 refinance, and earns $265.20 over 62.3 miles, home at 16:36. That is $68.95 more than the best simple rule.
The reverse mortgage is turned down in the best day, and would earn a place only at about $254.65, so the fee to quote is that, not the $200 offered. The $55 apostille drop-off 17 miles out loses money even as the only signing and would need about $132.25.
What to feed it
Hourly cost: what an hour of your time is worth to you, plus insurance, E&O and phone divided by hours actually worked, not hours paid.
Per-mile cost: fuel plus tires and maintenance per mile driven.
For each signing, the fee, your print and supply cost, the appointment length, the window the borrower or title company gives and the miles east and north from your home base.
Check any agreement with a title company or signing service first: some penalise declining or rescheduling, and a borrower waiting on a closing comes before any optimum.
Questions
How do I decide which loan signings to take?
Compare whole days, not single offers: for a set of signings in a given order, add what each pays after print and supply cost and appointment time, subtract the drive between them, and check every appointment window. The best day is the best such set and order. The picker finds it exactly for up to 14 signings.
Is taking the highest fee first a good rule?
Not reliably. The biggest fees often sit far from each other or in overlapping windows, so you drive and wait for them. On the worked day it earns $70.77 against $265.20 for the best day.
What should a signing pay to be worth a detour?
The picker prints, for each signing it turns down, the fee at which the best day would include it. That is the number to quote a far or awkward signing, or the number to give a title company that asks for a discount.