Purchase Package Signings: What Notaries Need to Know

Purchase package signings are the appointment where everyone in the deal is waiting on you. A seller has a moving truck booked, a buyer has wired money they can no longer see, and a funder is holding the file open until your scan-backs land. The notarial work is no harder than a refinance — but the consequences of a slow hour are immediate.

They are also the steadiest work on the calendar. Purchase volume rides home sales rather than rate cycles, so agents who work only refinances feel every move in the market. The packages are thick and the fees generally reflect that.

Here's what's in the buyer's package, how the timing differs from a refinance, what to charge, and the mistakes that turn a funding day into a re-signing.

A buyer is borrowing money and taking title in the same transaction, so the package carries everything a refinance has plus the paperwork that moves ownership. Page counts commonly run past a hundred, and you are frequently printing two copies.

Only a handful of those pages get a stamp. Your instructions should say which; if they don't, ask before you print rather than at the table. Check your state's requirements on witnesses and on who may conduct a closing at all — several states restrict closings to attorneys, and rules do not travel across state lines.

The biggest structural difference is rescission. The three-day right to cancel that dominates refinance timing is a refinance feature; a purchase-money loan on a home the buyer is moving into typically doesn't carry one. Follow the package's own instructions rather than any general rule — but plan on the consequence: a purchase package usually funds and records on or near the day it is signed.

That compresses everything downstream. Your scan-backs are commonly the last item between the file and a wire, and the wet package has to make a courier cutoff the same day — a miss can push a recording past a contractual closing date rather than merely annoying a processor.

The table runs longer, too. Purchase signings frequently involve two buyers, sometimes a non-borrowing spouse who signs only the recordable documents, and often people seeing loan paperwork for the first time. Budget more time than a comparable-page refinance, not the same.

Purchase documents are notorious for arriving late, because the final numbers depend on a settlement statement everyone is still negotiating. Accepting a purchase order means accepting the possibility of a hundred-plus-page package with two hours of daylight left.

Most buyers are excited, a little nervous, and full of questions. Your job is to keep the signing moving without crossing into advice: explain what a document is called and where it gets signed, never what it means for that person's situation. The questions that come up most often are the ones you cannot answer, and having a routed response ready keeps the appointment warm instead of awkward.

Purchase packages typically pay more than a refinance and considerably more than a seller package. Judge the offer on hourly profit, not the headline number.

Almost every purchase problem is a paperwork detail, not a notarial one, and it surfaces the same afternoon while people wait.

Purchase package signings are long, well-paid, deadline-driven appointments where preparation does most of the work. Confirm doc timing and print instructions before you accept, protect the hours after the appointment, and treat the scan-back as part of the job.

Identify your signers, match every name to the vesting, keep questions about terms with the lender and escrow, and check your state's requirements rather than borrowing another state's rules. Do that consistently through 2026 and the purchase side becomes the most reliable line on your calendar.