A seller package is shorter than a buyer’s, and the stakes per page are higher. One document in it has to be right in a way the others do not.
What is usually notarized
Seller packages vary by escrow company, but the notarized items are typically the deed conveying the property, an excise tax affidavit, and identity or non-foreign status affidavits. Where a seller cannot attend, a power of attorney appears too, and it usually has to be recorded alongside the deed.
Everything else in the pile, settlement statements, disclosures, keys and commission paperwork, is signed but not notarized.
The deed is the one that matters
A typo on a settlement statement gets corrected by email. A defect on a deed gets the deed rejected by the county recorder, and that can hold up the closing, the wire, and the purchase you are moving into.
Recording requirements are specific about margins, legal descriptions, the exact form of names, and the notarial certificate. This is why a seller signing is worth a notary who reads the certificate before you sign rather than after.
Check early: Any difference between the name on title and the name on your ID should reach escrow days before the signing, not at the table.
Names have to match, exactly
The name on the deed should match the name in which title is held, and your identification should support it. Marriages, divorces, and legal name changes since the purchase are the usual complication, along with a middle initial that appears on the deed but not the license.
Tell escrow about any difference well before the signing. They will tell you how they want it handled, and it is far cheaper than discovering it at the table.
If a seller cannot attend
Co-owners who are out of state, deployed, or hospitalised are routine. The two usual routes are a separate signing wherever that seller is, or a recorded power of attorney letting a co-owner sign for them. Both need setting up in advance, a power of attorney that has not been recorded when the deed is presented is a problem the notary cannot solve on the day.
Preparing for the appointment
- Current government-issued photo ID for every seller on title
- All sellers present, or their signing arranged separately in advance
- Escrow’s instructions, including anything about name variations
- A table with room for a full package and two people to work
- Around an hour, even though the notarized pages take minutes
The scheduling reality
Closings do not respect office hours. Documents arrive late, funding dates move, and the signing that was Thursday becomes Wednesday evening. We schedule seller appointments evenings and weekends across Tacoma, Lakewood, University Place, Puyallup, Fife, Federal Way, Gig Harbor, Bonney Lake, and Sumner, and we confirm the package is complete before we travel rather than after.
Notarial fees are $15 per act, with travel quoted by distance and agreed before the appointment.