News By Edition

The Market Snapshot is a monthly look at closing percentages across the country, brought to you by The Title Report and eLynx. eLynx provides the most widely used network for data-centric document collaboration, distribution, and connectivity services for the financial services industry and real estate industries.

Did you ever read or hear the story of Faust? The tale has been retold in a million different ways as it’s just one of those legendary, classic tales. Since we are discussing cyber fraud scams today, it seems like an appropriate cautionary tale to bring up, as fraud scams are all very Faustian in nature. However, that isn’t the analogy I’m drawing up today.

Just before the printing of our Feb. 11 print edition, RynohLive President Dick Reass sent us an alert about an attack his software discovered that had a different twist than other cyber attacks his system had previously discovered. The malware, instead of entering directly using the agent’s online banking system to steal funds, found its way through the settlement software, moved funds into fictitious files and issued checks. We followed up with several settlement software providers to pool all of their fraud protection advice in order to help others avoid a similar attack in their own shop and just generally learn more about the cyber fraud threat.

If you aren’t into reading the longer feature covering the topic of cyber fraud, here is a simple list of best practices that each of our experts echoed during our discussions. If you aren’t doing these things yet, now is the time to start.

D. Bello Associates announced a business relationship with a new offshore service provider as well as the hire of a new operations manager and the return of its company founder from near retirement. Read on for the details.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed its ratings for the Old Republic International Corp. (ORI) holding company and its senior debt as well as the Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) ratings of its insurance subsidiaries. Read on for the full ratings information, as well as why the title insurance group is labeled as ‘very important’ in the overall picture of the holding company.

The housing market is in better shape than is being reported, according to an online technology-enabled residential real estate brokerage company. ZipRealty Inc. announced that according to its Home Price Report, which is based upon authoritative transactional and MLS data in 33 major metros, U.S. median home sale prices have increased 11 percent on a year-over-year basis to $211,312.

CoreLogic released its National Foreclosure Report, which provides data on completed U.S. foreclosures and the overall foreclosure inventory. According to CoreLogic, there were 56,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in December 2012, down from 71,000 in December 2011, a year-over-year decrease of 21 percent.

Logan Coulter, owner of Salt Lake-based The Title & Escrow Sales Co., has authored and published “Dominate Title and Escrow Sales in 21 Days,” which is a practical how-to book for title and settlement services salespeople seeking to improve their sales techniques. Read on for more about the book, including some quick examples of the advice Coulter provides.

Akcelerant, a provider of hosted and on-premise solutions to the financial services industry, announced a partnership with FirstClose, an aggregator of mortgage settlement services. The Akcelerant and FirstClose partnership will provide mutual customers the ability to order real estate services from nationally recognized vendors directly from the Akcelerant Framework.

A Miami title agent and former mortgage broker was found guilty for her role in a reverse mortgage fraud scheme in connection with a loan worth more than $400,000. She was convicted of four counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and making false representations related to the occupancy of the property and its subsequent short sale.

The number of improving housing markets continued to expand for a sixth consecutive month to a total of 259 metropolitan areas on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index for February. This is up from 242 markets listed as improving in January, and includes entrants from all 50 states and the District of the Columbia.

Independence Title Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., promoted one of its office managers to the new role of company compliance manager. Read on for more about the personnel move and position.

First National Title Insurance Co. announced its first-year financial results for year-end 2012, and the numbers met the company’s expectations and then some, according to President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Phillips. Read on for some of the numbers and the company’s latest initiatives.

Hopefully you took a look at the profile on our first Trendsetter Craig Haskins, executive vice president of Knight Barry. Parts of our talks with Haskins didn’t make it into the feature, but we thought some of the insight could be valuable for enterprising title agents out there, especially his advice on buying an already existing agency to enter a new market versus just starting from scratch.

Mortgage applications increased 3.4 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Feb. 1.  Last week’s results included an adjustment for the Martin Luther King holiday.

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc., a residential mortgage services company, announced that it acquired Equifax Settlement Services Holding LLC from Equifax Inc. on Feb. 6. ESS is a provider of appraisal, title insurance and settlement services and serves a broad array of blue chip clients, including the largest financial institutions in the country.

Alliant National Title Insurance Co. announced a key personnel move this week: Kyle Rank has been promoted to chief compliance officer. Read on for more about Rank and his new position.

This year, TSS Software Corp. marks 20 years of offering technology solutions to the real estate title and settlement services industry with plans for special offerings for many of its long-time, loyal customers.

October Research LLC has announced that Emily Murray has joined the staff as advertising and sales manager and also announced that Glen Stout, former Vice President, has taken a position with RynohLive as vice president of sales and marketing.

RynohLive issued the following release as a warning to all title and settlement agents out there after discovering a new ZeuS Bot that found its way into an agent’s escrow account through the agent’s settlement software. Read on for the details and what Rynoh said you can do to protect yourself.

Pioneer Technology Group, developers of the YourDox online homebuyer document delivery and archiving system, announced a partnership and integration with GreenFolders’ electronic office management system. Read on for more about the paperless capabilities now available through this integration.

Carrington Mortgage Services LLC announced a new program offering 25-day loan closings to borrowers looking to purchase or refinance properties. Carrington said that this program, available through its retail operations, will reduce closing times by nearly 50 percent compared to average industry processing times. Read on for more information.

A.M. Best Co. has assigned a financial strength rating and an issuer credit rating to Fidelity National Financial Title Insurance Co. Ltd. (FNF Malta). During the first quarter of 2012, FNF Malta was formed to write legal indemnity and title coverages in the United Kingdom and Europe. Read on for the ratings and some of the rationale from A.M. Best.

Williston Financial Group, the parent company of WFG Lender Services and WFG National Title Insurance Co., has named Donald O’Neill as its chief compliance officer. O’Neill will continue to serve as executive vice president of institutional services.