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October Research, LLC is pleased to announce it has selected a high-profile mortgage banker and a world-renowned business author to deliver keynotes at the 2013 National Settlement Services Summit, to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, June 10-12 at the Marriott at Key Center. 

Lender Processing Services, a provider of integrated technology, data and analytics to the mortgage and real estate industries, reported the following look at March 2013 month-end mortgage performance statistics derived from its loan-level database representing approximately 70 percent of the overall market.

The 2013 Voice of the Title Agent report is being prepared this week for its May 6 debut, but we wanted to give a sneak peek at some of the interesting results from the survey. Maybe the most notable takeaway this year: In terms of business success, our respondents are the most positive they have ever been. Read on for what our respondents had to say.

Following the challenging days of the 2008 collapse, title companies found themselves impacted by a perfect storm of consequences: an increase in claims, slowed government searches of records, transactional drop-offs, increased competition and rising purchases by investor groups more likely to use the services of real estate attorneys and brokers.  In such a climate, title companies have needed to be astute with regard to their banking relationships – seeking bankers who provide security, responsiveness and creative business solutions for a myriad of situations.

CoreLogic, a residential property information, analytics and services provider, announced the acquisition of Case-Shiller from Fiserv Inc. in conjunction with first quarter 2013 CoreLogic earnings results on April 24. The acquisition closed on March 20.

Title Source announced it will be locating an additional 550 people to the burgeoning technology district at Campus Martius in downtown Detroit, including 250 new, full-time team members and 100 summer interns.

The volume of total dollars insured in Portland, Ore., (Multnomah County) has been trending generally upward over the past 12 months, with a downward trend over the past 2 months, according to DataQuick in this month’s Western Region Report. Check out the chart of activity as well as the top three title businesses in the county by market share gains.

Mortgage applications showed little movement from the prior week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 19. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

Old Republic International Corp. showed further momentum in its title insurance segment while questions linger about the run off of its mortgage insurance subsidiary. Title insurance registered a triple-digit improvement in operating earnings, while the combined mortgage guaranty and consumer credit indemnity run-off segment produced much lower losses.

First American Financial reported increases in revenue and agent premium and shifts in order mix toward higher premium resale transaction in its first quarter 2013 earnings report. The positive returns were somewhat tempered by a few large commercial title claims that required a reserve strengthening.

Stewart Information Services Corp. showed positive net earnings in the first quarter this year, compared to a $12 million net loss in the prior-year period as revenues were up across the board and the company’s claims experience continues to decline.

Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. added a senior vice president of business development to its national lender services division who arrives from First American Mortgage Services. Read on for more about this latest addition.