EDUCATION: What Are Remote Online Closings?

Web: www.JonesHealthLaw.com Phone: (305)877-5054 Instagram: @JonesHealthLaw Facebook: @JonesHealthLaw Youtube: @JonesHealthLaw Once a real estate purchase reaches the closing process, there are many standard and procedural documents that must be signed and notarized. All closings require many pages of paperwork filings and signatures from all parties in a transaction. Traditionally, parties would need to sign documents and appear at a physical location at a predetermined time to have signatures verified and notarized. Many states have now adopted laws that allow for virtual signature verifications. Remote Online Notarizations (also known as RON) are the backbone of remote closings. Without Remote Online Notarizations (RON), it would not be possible to conduct a remote closing. Florida became the twenty-first state to adopt remote online notarizations. On January of 1, 2020, Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 409 into law allowing for Florida to accept closings using the remote online notarization system. This came at a convenient time for Florida’s real estate market with the looming pandemic soon to be underway. This new process streamlined the closing of transactions within the State of Florida. Some states do not accept remote online notarizations but provide other options for online notarizations.  Remote-Ink Signed Notarizations, (known as RIN), are notarizations with wet-ink signatures. Parties are able to use a video conference technology such as zoom to appear before a notary and sign documents virtually. The documents are then sent to the title company for processing. In-Person E-Notarization (also known as IPEN) are notarizations where closing documents are signed electronically but not remotely. This method merely eliminates the paper involved in signing. While this method is not technically ‘remote’ it cuts waste on paper and allows an electronic signature as an alternative to a ‘wet ink signature’.