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News By Edition
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The Title Report Print Edition
June 11, 2012
In this edition, The Title Report uses some of the latest research from Demotech in a few different ways. First, the company provided us a report on the defalcation prevention procedures among regional underwriters, and we break it down to look at what protocols underwriters are using to protect themselves. Inside, we use state-by-state data to look at policies written, losses paid and which underwriters topped each state in market share. Also inside the edition we have news about Old Republic International’s partial leveraged buyout and an operations feature about building a better website. |
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 Fraud checklist: What are underwriters doing to protect themselves?
Posted Date: Monday, June 11, 2012
We know that three regional underwriters had to shut their doors in
2011 because of agency defalcations. All three were put in unfortunate —
and possibly unavoidable — situations because as the old adage goes
“when there is a will, there is a way.” That’s usually an inspirational
saying, but it applies just as readily to a desperate or motivated
fraudster. With that as the backstory, what are regional underwriters
doing now, in 2012, to try to prevent those motivated individuals from
accomplishing their nef
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Earn your CE/CLE credits at this year’s Summit
Posted Date: Monday, June 04, 2012
The National Settlement Services and Compliance Summit offers title
agents, underwriters and settlement services professionals top-level
education, an opportunity to network with industry partners and
colleagues and a chance to earn CE and CLE credits. Thanks to CE/CLE
sponsor RedVision, this year’s Summit is approved for up to 13 credit
hours. Read on for more on the Summit and to see which states have been
approved.
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Future of U.S. housing markets depends largely on echo boomers
Posted Date: Friday, May 25, 2012
The next two decades in housing markets depends largely on the echo
boomers. That's according to panelists at the "Shifting Demographics and
Housing Choice: A Whole New World?" session during the Realtors 2012
Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo.
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Western Region Report: Las Vegas market remains mystery
Posted Date: Friday, May 25, 2012
The Title Report has teamed with DataQuick to provide a monthly
Western Region Report, which will look at the housing trends among six
Western regions in DataQuick’s database, and report which title
companies gained the most market share in that timeframe. This month
features the up and down market of Las Vegas.
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Insight Title opens new Midwest location
Posted Date: Friday, May 25, 2012
Insight Title Co. LLC opened its newest location in the Midwest, which
will be run by three industry veterans. The company now has a presence
in five states — Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and New York.
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Analysts eye Old Republic upgrades following buyout news
Posted Date: Thursday, May 24, 2012
The partial leverage buyout news from Old Republic International — part
of its plan to reduce the troubles caused by its consumer credit
indemnity product and its mortgage guaranty division — has created a
groundswell of positivity among credit rating analysts. Moody’s
Investors Service and Fitch Ratings are both reviewing possible upgrades
on the debt of Old Republic International (ORI), which only means good
things for the holding company’s outlook and all of its subsidiaries.
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Indecomm improves ViewPoint final document tracking capabilities
Posted Date: Thursday, May 24, 2012
Indecomm Global Services, a business process outsourcing company, is
expanding the functionality of ViewPoint, a platform which enables
financial institutions to reduce business risk on their loans through
real-time tracking of final document submissions from title agents and
correspondent lenders. Read on for more information.
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ClosingCorp adds reissue rate transparency to SmartGFE products
Posted Date: Thursday, May 24, 2012
ClosingCorp, a provider of residential real estate closing cost data and
technologies for mortgage lenders, real estate professionals and
consumers, announced it has added new functionality to its SmartGFE
Service and SmartGFE Calculator related to reissue rates. Read on for
more information.
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April existing-home sales up, prices rise again
Posted Date: Thursday, May 24, 2012
Existing-home sales rose in April and remain above a year ago, while
home prices continued to rise, according to the National Association of
Realtors (NAR). The improvements in sales and prices were broad based
across all regions.
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eLynx appoints new vice president of marketing
Posted Date: Thursday, May 24, 2012
eLynx announced that the company has hired a new vice president of
marketing. The vice president will oversee product planning and
management, internal and external marketing communications, brand
management, and public relations. Read on for more information.
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The Breakdown: Swing states, Carolinas, Pacific Northwest, a Dakota and more
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Last week we kicked off our "Breakdown" series for subscribers, looking
at 2011 year-end numbers for policies written and loss paid by state,
courtesy of data from Demotech. The series is going alphabetically state
by state, so part three features info on New Mexico, New York, North
Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island and South Carolina.
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Old Republic International announces partial leveraged buyout
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Old Republic International Corp. announced that its wholly owned
subsidiary, Republic Financial Indemnity Group Inc., has sold a 20.6
percent common equity interest to a group of investors in a partial
leveraged buyout. These moves have also caused a shuffling in the
management of Old Republic. Read on for more details.
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LPS First Look mortgage report for April
Posted Date: Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Lender Processing Services Inc., a leading provider of integrated
technology, data and analytics to the mortgage and real estate
industries, reports the following "first look" at April 2012 month-end
mortgage performance statistics derived from its loan-level database of
nearly 40 million mortgage loans.
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Fidelity stops mechanics’ lien coverage in North Carolina
Posted Date: Monday, May 21, 2012
Fidelity wrote a note to its approved attorneys that it will be
curtailing mechanic’s and materialmen’s lien coverage in the state of
North Carolina for properties with recent construction or construction
loans because of the risks that these pose to their business and
insureds in that state. Curtailing such coverage, especially if other
underwriters follow suit, could dramatically affect business in North
Carolina until legislative action changes things. Read on for more
information.
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The Breakdown: Almost no one is safe from losses in Nevada
Posted Date: Monday, May 21, 2012
Last week we kicked off our “Breakdown” series for subscribers, looking
at 2011 year-end numbers for policies written and loss paid by state,
courtesy of data from Demotech. The series is going alphabetically state
by state, so part three features info on Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Hampshire, New Jersey.
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October Research announces top finalists for industry awards program
Posted Date: Friday, May 18, 2012
October Research LLC, publisher of The Title Report, The Legal Description, Valuation Review, RESPA News and Dodd Frank Update,
today announced the finalists for its inaugural awards program,
launched to honor men and women in the mortgage and settlement services
industries for exemplary accomplishment in the areas of leadership,
innovation and philanthropy.
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Closing cost comparison tool created by Title-1
Posted Date: Friday, May 18, 2012
Minnetonka, Minnesota-based Title-1 introduced a radical change in how
its customers are able to calculate their expected closing costs. Read
on for more about this tool and the company’s philosophy.
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Stewart’s Malcolm Morris honors agent on 100th anniversary
Posted Date: Friday, May 18, 2012
Stewart Title Guaranty Co. helped independent issuing agency Love Title
& Abstract celebrate its 100th anniversary serving customers in
Robertson County, Texas. Read on for more from the announcement.
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Housing starts trending up during spring
Posted Date: Friday, May 18, 2012
Nationwide housing production gained 2.6 percent from an upwardly
revised pace in March to hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of
717,000 units in April, according to newly released figures from the
U.S. Census Bureau and HUD. Read on for more information.
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Steptoe & Johnson beefs up title claims defense team
Posted Date: Friday, May 18, 2012
Steptoe & Johnson has announced that a veteran of title insurance
claims defense has joined the firm's Southpointe Business Park office in
Canonsburg, Pa. Read on for more from the announcement.
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Foreclosure filings hit lowest level since 2007, starts decrease too
Posted Date: Thursday, May 17, 2012
RealtyTrac released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for April 2012,
which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions
and bank repossessions — were reported on 188,780 U.S. properties in
April, the lowest monthly total since July 2007. Read on for more
information from the report.
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The Breakdown: Losses per policy, market leaders in Midwest
Posted Date: Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wednesday kicked off the start of our “Breakdown” series for
subscribers, looking at 2011 year-end numbers for policies written and
loss paid by state, courtesy of data from Demotech. The series is going
alphabetically state by state, so part two features info on Hawaii,
Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, and
Maryland.
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Homeland Security Capital, Timios acquire California title company
Posted Date: Thursday, May 17, 2012
Pending regulatory approval from the state of California, Timios Inc.
has acquired a privately held title company servicing businesses and
residents within Glenn County, Calif., since 1891. Read on for more
information about the deal.
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Title Resources Guaranty hires VP
Posted Date: Thursday, May 17, 2012
Title Resources Guaranty Co., a subsidiary of Realogy Corp., has hired a
vice president, Arizona underwriting specialist and business
development. Read on for more information from the announcement.
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The Breakdown: Title business for Arizona, California, Florida and more
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Over the next few weeks, “The Breakdown” is going to sum up some of the
most interesting numbers for each state from the 2012 Demotech
Performance of Title Insurance Companies for our subscribers, to provide
an across-the-country snapshot of the title insurance business. We’re
going alphabetically, so part one features Alabama, Alaska, Arizona,
Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida and
Georgia.
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The Breakdown: Intro to the series; Explanation of loss numbers
Posted Date: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Which underwriters lock down the markets in which states? Which states
saw the most losses? Over the next few weeks, we will give you answers
to these questions and more within our “Breakdown” series. Read on for
an introduction to this series and an explanation from Paul Osborne
concerning the big picture of loss ratios and losses paid.
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With spring buying season getting under way, how is the purchase side of your business looking this year? Your Comments:
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