Industry News

During its Aug. 27-30 Annual Conference held in Providence, R.I., the Property Records Industry Association elected six directors in three categories to serve two-year terms on the Board of Directors. Read on for more details.

Less than a year ago, it seemed that the future of 1031 exchanges was on life support. But as the tax-advantaged way of exchanging real property survived the tax reform bill passed late in 2017, the market has flourished thus far this year, experts told The Legal Description.

Whenever the words real estate and innovation are mentioned in the same sentence, it is often a safe bet that the last word in that sentence will be Blockchain. (See?) John Heck, director and industry general manager at DXC Technology; Matt Einheber, principal at Transfer: Real Estate Intelligence; and Piper Moretti, CEO of the Crypto Realty Group, detailed what ways Blockchain is the invisible X factor poised to reshape the real estate transaction during the 2018 National Settlement Services Summit (NS3). Find out what they had to say about the technology’s potential for reshaping the real estate transaction.

It’s been more than two years since the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network began requiring title agents and underwriters in certain areas to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used to pay all cash for high-end residential real estate. New legislation being introduced in the Senate looks to make those requirements permanent and nationwide. American Land Title Association (ALTA) Senior Counsel Steve Gottheim talked with The Legal Description about what the move could mean for agents and underwriters.

A University of Miami study on money laundering and real estate in the Miami market, published in December 2017, found that work by the title insurance industry was helping stem the tide of illegal money into the market without harming the broader real estate market. As the Senate considers legislation which would expand geographic targeting orders to the entire nation, the American Land Title Association is asking for agents’ and underwriters’ to share their stories and help make that potential process as least burdensome as possible.

The Senate Banking Committee recently announced that it would postpone its vote whether to advance President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to the full Senate for consideration.

MISMO announced that it will create two new groups designed to help improve risk management of third parties, and is looking for industry experts to participate in each. “A collaborative effort to develop best practices and standards that includes lenders, service providers, investors and regulators, offers the opportunity to foster more efficient and productive third party risk management strategies that will benefit lenders, service providers and others,” MISMO Executive Vice President Rick Hill said.

Jaime Kosofsky, founding partner, Brady & Kosofsky PA, began a session on eClosings at the National Settlement Services Summit by stating that although eClosings are talked about as something of the future, they’ve been going on since the early 2000s. This began an in-depth conversation with panelists from a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), major lender and national title agent about where eClosings stand and how to move forward. Read on for more from their conversation.

After it was announced that Michelle Korsmo was resigning her post as chief executive officer of the American Land Title Association, industry leaders shared their gratefulness for Korsmo’s accomplishments during often uncertain economic and political times. Read on for more.

The CEO of the American Land Title Association (ALTA) has accepted another position and resigned from the association, ALTA announced.