Fall Closing Season: Everything Your October Mortgage Closing Actually Needs Notarized

If your mortgage closing is landing in October, there is a good chance you are feeling a specific kind of dread right now. Not the dread of the house itself – you have already fallen in love with the place. The dread is the pile. Somewhere between now and the day you get the keys, a stack of paper is going to land in your lap, and you are going to be expected to sign it, in the right order, with the right people, at the right moment, before it all goes to the county to be recorded. And somewhere in that stack, someone will say the word “notary.”

Here is the thing I wish every buyer and every seller in a New York closing understood a little earlier: not everything in that stack needs a notary. In fact, in a typical financed purchase there are usually only one to three documents that carry a genuine notarial act, and the most important one of them – the deed – is probably not the document you sign. This post walks through exactly what your October closing needs notarized, what it does not, and how New York’s remote online notary (RON) rules change what is possible when you or the other party are not in the room. I am writing this from where I work every day, as a practicing New York State Remote Online Notary, so you get the practical answer, not the law-review answer.

October is one of the busiest months of the year for New York closings. Summer listers are finally closing, late-summer and early-fall buyers are at the finish line, and so many deals involve people who are not all in the same town – an out-of-state seller, a buyer on assignment, a lender whose title agent works remotely. This is the season where remote notarization stops being a convenience and starts being the whole plan.

Disclaimer: This post is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or title advice. New York notarial, real property, and tax rules change, and the requirements for a specific closing depend on the parties, the property, and the lender involved. For your particular transaction, consult your closing attorney, title agent, or tax professional. Access the references below to verify the current statutes and forms.

The document that matters most (and the surprise about who signs it)

Let’s start with the paper that the whole closing is actually about: the deed.

The deed is the instrument that moves legal ownership of the property from the seller to the buyer. In a purchase, it is granted by the seller and received by the buyer. The seller is called the grantor. The buyer is called the grantee.

And here is the surprise that trips up almost every first-time buyer: in a standard purchase, you, the buyer, do not sign the deed. You are named in it, as the person receiving the property, but the one who signs it – and therefore the one whose signature has to be notarized – is the seller. That matters, because it changes who the notary is actually working with on the single most important document in the file. Your signature shows up on the mortgage, the transfer report, the settlement statement, and a dozen other forms. But the deed is the seller’s act.

Now, a subtle point I like to be precise about. In New York, a deed is technically valid between the parties once the grantor signs and delivers it, even with no notary at all. But that is not really the question you are trying to answer. The question that actually governs the closing is: will the deed record at the county clerk’s office? And the answer to that is yes, it has to be acknowledged or proved. For a New York property, the standard path is a notarial acknowledgment taken by the grantor (the seller), governed by New York’s statutes on who may take it (Real Property Law section 298), what the certificate must say (the uniform form in section 309-A), and the requisites that make it good (section 303). If the deed reaches the clerk’s office without a proper acknowledgment, the clerk will not record it, and an unrecorded deed does not protect you against a later buyer or a later lien.

The standard deed in a New York purchase is a bargain and sale deed with covenant (Real Property Law section 247). If the seller is married, both spouses typically need to sign and acknowledge, because both may hold an interest – so the “deed acknowledgment” is frequently a two-person act, not a one-person act. That one act – the seller’s acknowledgment on the deed – is what I am most often asked to handle remotely in a fall closing: an out-of-state seller signs the deed before me by RON, and the deed then records in the New York county where the property sits. It is the cleanest use of remote notarization in the whole transaction.

The mortgage: where you actually sign (the lien on your new home)

So if the buyer does not sign the deed, what does the buyer sign that needs a notary? The answer, in a financed closing, is the mortgage – formally called the deed of mortgage.

There are two loan documents that are easy to confuse, so let me separate them:

The promissory note is your personal promise to repay the loan. It is the “I owe the bank this much, at this rate, on this schedule” document. The note is normally kept by the lender and is usually not recorded in the county land records.
The mortgage (deed of mortgage) is the lien on the property. It is what ties the loan to the real estate – it tells the world that if you do not pay, the lender has a claim on this specific house. And because it encumbers the title, it gets recorded at the county clerk’s office, right alongside the deed.

Because the mortgage is recorded, it needs its own acknowledgment. So when you, the buyer, sit down to sign on closing day, the signature that carries a notarial act is your acknowledgment on the mortgage, not on the note. (Your attorney or the title agent will have the correct acknowledgment form on that document.)

A few practical wrinkles here. If you have a co-borrower or co-signer on the loan, that person signs their own copy, and each signer’s acknowledgment is its own separate notarial act – two people on the mortgage, two acts. The mortgage has to match the property and the loan amount, which is why I like to see the final document before signing day: a mismatched description or a wrong loan amount gets expensive once it is recorded and on the title. And in New York, the buyer in a financed closing generally is expected to be physically present to sign the loan documents, while the seller may sign ahead of time and have their attorney represent them. That asymmetry is why the seller’s deed is the act most naturally done remotely, and the buyer’s mortgage is the one most often done in person – though, as I will get to below, a buyer’s mortgage can also be remote, and in fall season it often is.

The supporting cast: what is notarized, what is perjury, and what is neither

A New York closing file – especially a financed one – can run to a lot of pages, and it is natural to assume that a notary touches all of it. They do not. Most of the supporting papers are not notarial acts at all.

The RP-5217, Real Property Transfer Report. This state tax form must be filed with the deed at the county clerk’s office (or, in New York City, the RP-5217NYC). It captures the transfer – who is selling, who is buying, the price, and the assessment information. The key: it is signed under penalty of perjury, a sworn self-declaration you make by signing your own name. It is not a notarial act, and a notary does not take it. Both the buyer’s and seller’s sides sign their respective portions; where a party cannot sign, a power of attorney signature is acceptable. You fill it out, sign it, and it gets filed. No notary involved.

The state transfer tax. When property changes hands for a purchase price, New York imposes a real estate transfer tax on the transaction, computed as $2 for each $500 (or fractional part) of the consideration. In New York City there is an additional city transfer tax (the “RPTT”), and for large residential sales an extra surcharge on the portion above a set threshold. By custom, the seller pays the transfer tax. This is a payment, not a signed instrument – nobody notarizes a check. (The exact rates and who pays them vary by municipality and by deal, so your closing attorney confirms the numbers for your specific property.)

The title affidavit and the closing/settlement statement. New York closings run through an attorney or a title agent who prepares a title affidavit and a settlement statement (the closing disclosure). Whether a particular one of these needs a notary depends entirely on the form your attorney uses: some are signed in plain ink, some under penalty of perjury (no notary), and a few, in specific situations, are taken by oath – which would be a notarial act (a jurat). The rule that keeps you safe: do not sign anything in the stack before you have asked which of it carries a notarial certificate. If a form has an acknowledgment or a jurat blank, that is the one that needs a notary; if it has a perjury line, you sign it yourself.

So the honest tally for a standard financed October purchase: the documents with a real notarial act are almost always the deed acknowledgment (the seller) and the mortgage acknowledgment (the buyer), plus, occasionally, one supporting affidavit taken by oath. Everything else – the RP-5217, the transfer tax payment, the settlement statement – is signed by the parties themselves and goes to the clerk without a notary’s hand on it. A much smaller list than the pile looks like, and I hope that already reduces some of the dread.

What “notarized” really means: acknowledgment, jurat, or perjury?

Because this drives everything else, let me lay out the three “sworn” styles you will see in the closing file, because New York uses all three and they are not interchangeable.

Acknowledgment. “I, the undersigned, personally appeared, known to me (or proved to me by satisfactory evidence) to be the person whose name is subscribed to this instrument, and acknowledged that I executed it in my capacity.” This is the standard certificate for deeds and mortgages in New York (the 309-A form). It is a statement about the signature and the signer’s role, not about whether the contents are true. A deed and a mortgage take an acknowledgment.
Jurat (oath). “Sworn to me on this date to be true.” This is used when a document is a sworn declaration about the truth of its contents – certain affidavits fall here. If a title affidavit in your file is taken by oath, it needs a jurat, and that is a notarial act.
Perjury declaration. “Signed under penalty of perjury.” This is the RP-5217 style. You swear to it yourself by the language of the form; no notary takes it. No notarial certificate goes on it.

Why do the distinctions matter? Because a notarial act done on the wrong style for the document is a real defect. A deed that was jurat’d instead of acknowledged, or a mortgage that went to the clerk without a certificate at all, is exactly the kind of thing a title examiner flags later and that costs everyone time and money to cure. As the notary, I match the certificate to the document: acknowledgment for the deed and the mortgage, a jurat only where the form itself calls for one, and nothing on the perjury forms. And I am careful not to decide which act a document needs on my own. The form governs. My job is to do the right act on the right paper and make sure the signer is properly identified and present – in person or by RON. The lawyer is the one who prepared the forms and knows which certificate belongs where.

Can your whole October closing be remote? The New York RON answer

This is the question fall-season clients ask me most, so let me give you the straight answer.

New York’s remote online notarization is governed by Executive Law section 135-c, and two facts about it do most of the work:

The notary must be physically in New York at the moment the act is performed.
The signer (the “principal”) can be anywhere – in another state, or even abroad, so long as they can join a live audio-video session and sign.

That second fact is the whole gift of RON: the person who signs does not have to be in the same room, or even the same state, as the notary. So in a typical financed closing:

The seller’s deed acknowledgment can be done by RON even if the seller is in another state. This is the most common remote act in a fall closing, and it is clean and well understood.
The buyer’s mortgage acknowledgment can also be done by RON, if the lender’s title agent or closing attorney agrees. Some lenders are fully comfortable with a remote buyer signing the mortgage over RON; some still want the borrower in the room. In fall season, with buyers on the move, more closings than not are remote-friendly, but it is not automatic – it is up to the lender and the closing attorney.

So the honest answer to “can my whole October closing be remote?” is: the notarized parts almost certainly can, but only with the lender’s and the attorney’s sign-off, and the rest of the closing still has to happen on the attorney’s side. One thing RON does not do: it does not record your deed. Recording is done by the county clerk (or, in New York City, the City Register through ACRIS; in Staten Island, the Richmond County Clerk). RON gets the proper acknowledgment onto the document; the clerk’s office then records it. Those are two separate steps, and clients sometimes blur them. And while I am here, a timing point: in New York an unrecorded deed is still valid between the buyer and the seller, but recording is what protects you against the world – a later buyer of the same property, or a later lien filed against the seller. That is why the closing attorney or title agent files the recorded package with the clerk promptly after closing. Recording is not something the notary does; it is the clerk’s job, done with your attorney’s or title agent’s help.

What it costs: New York notary fees

New York sets notarial fees by statute, and they are the same whether you are in person or remote. Here is the practical version for a closing:

In person: $2 per notarial act.
Remote (RON): $25 per notarial act.

The unit is the act, not the page and not the document. One signer’s acknowledgment on one document is one act. So a typical financed purchase with two notarial acts – the seller’s deed acknowledgment and the buyer’s mortgage acknowledgment – runs two acts times $25, which is $50. A co-signer on the mortgage is a third act and $25 more; a supporting affidavit taken by oath is its own act and its own $25. A couple of notes: the $25 remote fee is generally treated as all-inclusive, covering the audio-video session, the identity proofing, and the record-keeping the law requires of a remote notary. And there is no statutory “travel fee” for a remote act, because the signer is not traveling to the notary – the notary performs in New York and reaches the signer where they are. If a notary quotes you anything beyond the per-act fee, that is a disclosed service charge, not the statutory notarial fee, and you are allowed to know what you are being asked to pay and why.

What I see clients struggle with (the patterns, every October)

After a fall season or two, the same few stumbles show up on almost every deal. The most common is “I thought I was signing the deed.” In a purchase, the seller grants and signs the deed; the buyer is named in it. If you are the buyer and the notary is asking you to acknowledge the deed, stop and ask why – in a standard purchase, that is almost always the wrong document for you. Your notarial signature is on the mortgage.

The second is “Does the RP-5217 need a notary?” No. It is signed under penalty of perjury. You sign it yourself, and it travels with the deed and the transfer-tax payment to the clerk. The third is “Will the notary record my deed?” No. The notary puts the acknowledgment on the document; the clerk records it. Two different offices, two different jobs.

The fourth, and the one that costs people the most, is waiting until the day of closing. A remote notarization is not something you do standing at the closing table. It is a scheduled session that needs the final, signed-ready document in front of the notary, a live audio-video connection, and the signer’s identification. You do it days before the closing, not the morning of, so the acknowledged and notarized papers are ready to hand to the attorney on the day. The fifth is the out-of-state party problem, discovered late – “oh, the seller lives in New Jersey and can’t make the 2 p.m. appointment.” That is exactly the person for whom RON exists. The earlier you tell the closing team that a party will sign remotely, the more the attorney and title agent can build it into the schedule.

The theme across all of it: know which document carries the notarial act, who performs it, and when. Most of the panic in a closing comes from treating a 30-page file as 30 notarial acts when it is really two, plus a few perjury forms.

A fall-season checklist before your October closing

If you are heading into a financed closing this month, here is the sequence I would suggest. You do not have to do all of it yourself, but if you know where each piece sits, you will not be caught off guard.

Ask your closing attorney one question early: “Which documents in my file carry a notarial act, and which act is each?” You should get back a short list – typically the deed (seller, acknowledgment), the mortgage (buyer, acknowledgment), and maybe one affidavit (oath).
Identify the out-of-state party. That is your RON candidate. The seller’s deed is the natural one; the buyer’s mortgage is possible with lender approval. Get the name and location to the closing team now.
Pull the document drafts early. A good remote notary will want to see the final deed and the final mortgage before signing day, to confirm the acknowledgment form is the right style and the property description matches. That review happens before the session, not during it.
Book the remote sessions days before closing. Schedule the seller’s deed acknowledgment and the buyer’s mortgage acknowledgment as separate sessions, each with the right person and the final document, with a buffer in case a document needs a reissue.
Confirm who records. The deed, the mortgage, the RP-5217, and the transfer-tax payment all go to the county clerk (or the City Register / Richmond clerk, depending on where the property is). That is the attorney’s or title agent’s job, not the notary’s, but you should know who is doing it and when, because the recording is what locks in your protection against the world.
Plan the future discharge. When your mortgage is eventually paid off, the lender records a discharge (satisfaction) of mortgage, signed by the last holder of the lien, to clear it off your title (Real Property Law section 321). No one thinks about it at the first closing, but it is worth a mental note now.

Frequently asked questions

Does a first-time home buyer ever sign the deed? Usually, no. In a purchase, the seller (grantor) signs and acknowledges the deed; the buyer is named in it as the grantee. If your situation is unusual – a transfer within a family, for example – your closing attorney will tell you, because the deed is always about who is granting what interest.

Do both the deed and the mortgage need a notary? Both need an acknowledgment, but signed by different people: the seller acknowledges the deed, the buyer acknowledges the mortgage. In a typical deal that is two notarial acts, each its own act and its own fee.

Can I do my part of the closing from out of state? For the notarized acts, yes – New York RON lets a New York notary (who is physically in New York) take your acknowledgment while you sign from anywhere, as long as the closing team approves remote execution. The rest of the closing still runs through your attorney.

What does a remote notary cost in New York? The statutory fee is $25 per notarial act for remote acts ($2 in person). A financed closing with a deed acknowledgment and a mortgage acknowledgment is two acts, so $50 for the remote portion.

How early should I book my remote sessions? Days before the closing, not the morning of. You need the final, ready-to-sign documents, a live audio-video connection, and identification in place. Book with a buffer in case a document needs a reissue.

A few final thoughts

An October closing is a lot of paper, but the notary’s part of it is small and specific. In a standard financed purchase, it usually comes down to two acknowledgments – the seller’s, on the deed, and the buyer’s, on the mortgage – with the occasional supporting affidavit taken by oath. Everything around them, the RP-5217, the transfer tax, the settlement statement, is signed by the parties themselves and goes to the clerk without a notary’s hand. Once you separate those two acts from the rest of the pile, the transaction gets a lot less frightening, and a lot more manageable.

And the good news for fall season in particular: New York’s remote online notarization means that being in a different state, or even a different part of the country, no longer has to be the thing that stalls a closing. The signer can be anywhere; the notary just has to be in New York, and the document has to be ready.