When Your Client Is Overseas: Closing With Remote Online Notarization

Some Thursdays a guest hands you something you'll use the very next time a deal gets complicated. This was one of them. Our speaker, Sal Covarrubias, took on a situation every agent eventually meets: your client is buying or selling here, but they're living, working, or traveling overseas when it's time to sign.

This week’s guest: Sal Covarrubias — “When Your Client Is Overseas.”

The short version — a client abroad doesn't have to mean a stalled closing. You just need the right signing method and a little planning up front.

Three ways to reach the closing table

Sal laid out the options title and escrow can offer, and when each one fits:

• Remote Online Notary (RON) — everyone, including the notary, joins a secure video session from wherever they are. No travel, no shipping documents around the world.
• Mobile notary — the notary comes to your client, within reason. Great domestically; much harder across borders.
• In-office closing — the classic, everyone in the same room. Reliable, but it assumes everyone can actually be there.

For a client in another country, RON is usually the one that saves the deal.

How a RON signing actually works

It's more secure than most people expect. Your client gets a link, then:

• Reviews and e-signs the documents online, after agreeing to an eSign consent.
• Verifies identity — their name against a government ID, plus Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA): a short quiz pulled from their credit and address history, along with photos of the ID, front and back.
• Meets the notary on a live video call, signs where prompted, and downloads a complete copy for their records.

The identity check is the heart of it. A valid ID and KBA are what let a notary confidently witness a signature from thousands of miles away.

A few things to prep clients on

• Tech matters. They'll need a computer or a newer phone with a camera, a solid connection, and Chrome or Safari.
• KBA needs a U.S. Social Security number. No SSN — a TIN won't do it — and RON may be off the table, so flag it early and ask your title rep about alternatives.
• RON isn't available everywhere, and lender-involved files need lender approval. Confirm before you promise it.
• Mind the time zones. Book the session around your client's clock, not just yours.

Two guides worth saving

First American's RON guides cover exactly what Sal walked us through — keep them handy for the next overseas file:

• Which closing option is best? — RON vs. mobile vs. in-office
• The RON signer experience, step by step

Thanks to Sal for making a genuinely thorny topic feel routine. That's exactly what these Thursday mornings are for.