|
Westcor grows, adds reinsurance
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. has grown over the past few years, especially in 2014, and not just geographically. President and CEO Mary O’Donnell told The Title Report she wanted Westcor to continue to grow nationally through its agent base. Westcor now is licensed in 48 states, expanded its agent base in 37 states, and opened 10 regional offices around the country. Keep reading to learn more.
|
|
|
Value of Title Insurance
Posted Date: Thursday, December 4, 2014
Title insurance is still a mystery to many consumers, at least according to a recent survey conducted by Forum Strategies on behalf of the American Land Title Association (ALTA). CEO Michelle Korsmo told The Title Report she wanted to know how the industry could explain the value of title insurance and the role of the agent in a more meaningful way.
|
|
|
|
Real estate activity expands in latest Beige Book
Posted Date: Thursday, December 4, 2014
Reports from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts suggest that national economic activity continued to expand in October and November in the latest Beige Book. A number of Districts also noted that contacts remained optimistic about the outlook for future economic activity.
|
|
|
|
Title365's Michael Tafoya discusses acquisition
Posted Date: Monday, November 24, 2014
Solutionstar Holdings LLC, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc., entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Experience 1 Inc., the holding company for Title365 and technology subsidiaries X1 Labs and X1 Xpress.
“Title365 has been on an amazing growth path for the last six years,” CEO Michael Tafoya told The Title Report.
|
|
|
Watt testifies before Senate committee
Posted Date: Monday, November 24, 2014
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Melvin Watt testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on banking, housing and urban affairs on the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Banks.
Watt testified that as regulator and conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FHFA has taken actions during 2014 to ensure their safety and soundness, to ensure that they provide liquidity to the housing finance market, and to preserve and conserve the assets of both enterprises.
|
|
|
Old Republic moves to Florida
Posted Date: Monday, November 24, 2014
Old Republic has made Florida its new home.
“Old Republic has been a reliable, steadfast company since it was first licensed in Florida in 1941 and we are delighted to have them join a growing number of insurance companies domesticating here in Florida,” Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said.
|
|
|
MBL Title launches as agency
Posted Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014
MBL Title launches as an agency office, joining an elite group of full-service Dallas title companies.
|
|
|
Liberty Title registers with Secure Settlements
Posted Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014
Liberty Title, a Michigan title company based in Ann Arbor, now officially is registered with Secure Settlements Inc. The company’s registration as a Closing Provider is valid for the next year.
|
|
|
reQuire integrates with SnapClose
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2014
SnapClose is integrated fully now with reQuire’s Release Tracking service. SnapClose users now are able to electronically order release tracking with reQuire from within the SnapClose environment. Keep reading to learn more.
|
|
|
New portal used to quote title insurance pricing
Posted Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Title insurance policy pricing is now available to research for real estate investors who use the national portal at quotespros.com. Read to learn more about this new tool.
|
|
|
Three more jurisdictions now eRecording
Posted Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Two new Michigan counties, Berrien and St. Joseph, have made eRecording of land documents and records available to customers through Simplifile, along with Jefferson County, Alabama Probate office.
|
|
|
eRecording jurisdictions continue to grow
Posted Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014
As of Nov. 1, more than 1,200 recording jurisdictions are eRecording enabled. Mark Ladd told The Title Report more than two-thirds of the population lives in an eRecording jurisdiction.
|
|
|
Post-closing is important, but neglected part of the process
Posted Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014
A panel of four industry experts discussed how agents can use technology to improve their post-closing process at the 2014 ALTA Annual Convention.
The panel was made up of Vicki DiPasquale, vice president at Simplifile; eLynx Director of Title Solutions John Ralston,; Dick Reass, CEO of RynohLive and Liz Tanner, business development under reQuire, and their session was titled, “Don’t Forget the Post-Closing: Using Technology to Support Audit and Compliance.”
|
|
|
Knight Barry appoints football fan to director position
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Knight Barry Title has appointed a new director of corporate development, who will be responsible for working with the branch office network, organizing and training the sales force. Keep reading to learn who.
|
|
|
Stewart announces agency services leadership realignment
Posted Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014
Stewart Title Guaranty Co.’s Senior Vice President, Western States Agency District Manager Mike Cranmer will be retiring. George Houghton now will take on that role. Read on to learn more.
|
|
|
First Nationwide Title expands legal team
Posted Date: Monday, November 24, 2014
First Nationwide Title expanded its legal practice, which now totals six attorneys. Felix Tschanz, a commercial real estate title insurance veteran with more than 23 years of experience, has joined the firm as senior underwriting counsel/senior vice president. He is based in FNTA’s Uniondale, N.Y., office.
|
|
|
Refinancing activity grew 4 percent, Ellie Mae says
Posted Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014
October refinance transaction volume rose to 40 percent of title mortgage volume, the highest level in six months, according to Ellie Mae’s latest Origination Insight Report.
|
|
|
HARP grows modestly in third quarter
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2014
The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), established in 2009 to assist homeowners unable to access a refinance because of a decline in their home value, saw 44,136 homeowners take advantage of the program in the third quarter of 2014.
|
|
|
|
|
Accurate Group launches eSign
Posted Date: Thursday, December 4, 2014
Accurate Group launched its eSign closing solution to help mortgage lenders streamline loan closing and improve the borrower’s experience. Keep reading to learn more.
|
|
|
Investors announces third quarter earnings
Posted Date: Thursday, December 4, 2014
Investors Title Co. announced its results for the third quarter that ended Sept. 30, 2014. Net income attributable to the company decreased 53 percent to $2,594,490, or $1.28 per diluted share, compared with $5,515,798, or $2.66 per diluted share, for the prior year quarter.
|
|
|
|
Experian releases Data Breach Industry Forecast
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Preventing and managing data breaches have become two of the highest priorities facing businesses today. To help executives plan ahead, Experian Data Breach Resolution announced the release of its second annual Data Breach Industry Forecast, a whitepaper outlining key issues and trends to watch for in 2015.
Many evolving factors such as new threats, regulatory changes and technological advances make the data breach landscape difficult to navigate.
|
|
|
Fidelity National Title uses game theory to train agents
Posted Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Morf Media Inc., a developer of gamified intelligent eLearning systems, has partnered with Fidelity National Title and other top financial services firms to provide professional education in a new pilot program. Tapping into what makes games so alluring, such as a shared sense of purpose, challenge and reward, the new Morf Media e-Learning app delivers enterprise training that can be played as a mobile game.
|
|
|
Federal jury convicts three Miamians for mortgage fraud
Posted Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2014
A federal jury convicted three Miami real estate developers for their roles in a $20 million mortgage fraud scheme involving the sale of condominium units in the Miami area. Read on to learn more about their scheme.
|
|
|
Home prices at highest level since Sept. 2008
Posted Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Median sales prices of U.S. single family homes and condos in October was up 2 percent from the previous month and 16 percent from a year ago to the highest level since September 2008, according to RealtyTrac’s Residential and Foreclosure Sales Report. Keep reading to learn more.
|
|
|
First American Financial hires new senior vice president
Posted Date: Monday, November 24, 2014
First American Financial Corp., a global provider of title insurance, settlement services and risk solutions for real estate transactions, appointed Dianna Serio as senior vice president of enterprise data strategy.
|
|
|
Title Alliance partners with NextDeal
Posted Date: Monday, November 24, 2014
Title Alliance, a national developer of RESPA and state compliant title affiliated business arrangements, is implementing NextDeal technology in affiliate offices nationwide.
|
|