About Us

Matthew Valera

Bay Area Notary was established in 1999 in Oakland, California, and is owned and operated by Matthew D. Valera. Matthew began Bay Area Notary when he saw the need for mobile notarization, serving clients who either did not have the time or the physical ability to go to a notary. Matthew graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration.

While working at a Bay Area law firm, Matthew first got his notary commission as a way of helping his officemates perform notarizations for their clients. Largely, this entailed estate and contractual paperwork. After advertising his notary services to other local businesses, Matthew soon realized there was a need to make notarial services available to a broader range of customers, facing a diverse set of accessibility challenges. Especially with the pressure of the housing and mortgage markets, time and flexibility, reliable and reputable services were at a premium. Bay Area Notary was created to address these challenges, bringing notarizations into home and business environments to better serve clients.

Matthew’s professional background began with his work at a leading notary organization, the National Notary Association (NNA). For over 20 years, Matthew worked for the NNA, experiencing their commitment to excellent notarial support and service in a number of capacities such as customer relations, accounting/finance, and educational seminar instruction. As an instructor, he delivered educational notary seminars in over 20 different states, teaching notaries the legal and ethical standards relevant to their professional practice.

Bay Area Notary is a mobile notary service that serves the San Francisco Bay Area — 24 hours per day and seven days per week. While Matthew is the primary notary and performs many assignments himself, Bay Area Notary has grown to include select notaries as independent contractors. This has enabled Bay Area Notary to be available anywhere in the Greater Bay Area, and offer more flexible appointment times for its customers.