News By Edition

The Title Report caught up with Monarch Title CEO David Bravo Jr., who spoke to The Ohio Land Title Association about proven paths to increased revenue. When considering the best tools to acquire and retain business, Bravo encouraged title professionals not to discount the power of an old-fashioned phone call.

While the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network stated residential real estate reports do not currently have to be filed with the agency following a recent court decision, the CEO of a firm that helps companies comply with the reporting rule said his company recommends that settlement agents continue gathering the data.

Based on the 2026 market outlooks, a potential turnaround may be driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure, Fed rate cuts, and corporate tax reform. Sam Trimble with Fidelity National Financial, and Darryl Turner of Darryl Turner Corp. sat down with The Title Report for an analysis.

CertifID’s hiring of a chief product officer and chief marketing followed the company’s $47.5 million Series C funding round led by Centana Growth Partners.

Homeownership expenses in 2024 rose by 4.6 percent year-over-year, but it was a smaller increase than it had been in the previous two years, suggesting pandemic-era cost pressures may be easing, according to First American Senior Economist Sam Williamson.

BitGo’s addition of the synthetic dollar rewards further expands the range of assets and services available to institutional clients across the company’s platform.

ATTOM’s analysis found that $396.8 billion in property taxes was levied on almost 90 million homes in 2025.

Homebuyers are stepping back due to rising mortgage rates, higher home prices and the Iran war, according to a Redfin report.

Refinance retention has fallen to one of its lowest levels in nearly two decades. The Title Report talked with Cloudvirga CEO Maria Moskver about what the industry can do to address the decline, including the importance of building trust with customers.

Old Republic Property, which will underwrite specialized property insurance products, is the seventh specialty firm that Old Republic has rolled out in the past five years.

The National Federation of Independent Business March Jobs Report showed that the Small Business Employment Index declined by almost 2 points.

Rich Cannan, Executive Vice President, Divisional Manager for FNF, said the combined experience of these new hires “strengthens our ability to support agents in Massachusetts and across New England.”

Ubitquity has a new product that delivers enterprise-grade document signing, complete with immutable cryptographic proof.

Baby boomers living in one - to two-adult households own twice as many three-bedroom-plus homes as millennials do, according to Redfin.

DataTrace’s new white paper, “Title Search Automation: Reality, Risk and Responsibility of AI,” examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping title workflows and where trusted data infrastructure is still essential.

The collaboration between American Eagle Title Insurance Co. (AETIC) and Dono AI will give AETIC agents a faster path from order to commitment. Title professionals remain responsible for the examination, while Dono handles the data work.

Proper Title’s new underwriting counsel has worked in the title insurance industry for 10 years and will support the firm’s growing commercial pipeline.

In the new Friday Harbor, Calyx Path Platform integration framework, lenders can review borrower documents, surface potential problems and resolve them earlier while maintaining consistent, reliable loan data throughout the lifecycle.

Housing payments are climbing because the Iran war and rising oil prices have pushed the weekly average mortgage rate up to a six-month high of 6.38 percent, according to Redfin.

Ardán Inc., the holding company of Westcor Land Title Insurance Co., has named Neil Gulley as its president and chief operating officer, with plans for him to become CEO in 2027.

The American Land Title Association published a report that surveyed more than 400 title professionals in 47 states that highlights the depth of work involved in handling title issues.

The Title Company of Florida’s new communications tool offers features such as real-time milestone tracking, automated updates and secure document and payment portals.

:A two-way integration between Dark Matter Technologies’ Empower loan origination system and Snapdocs allows closing teams to generate orders, track transaction progress with status updates and automate closing and funding workflows, all without leaving their system of record.

Argyle’s integration with Vesta gives lenders the ability to order, view and refresh Argyle’s verification of income, employment and assets within the Vesta loan origination system.

Major monthly expenses for median-priced single-family homes and condos exceeded historic norms in 560 out of the 580 counties included in ATTOM’s 2026 Home Affordability Report.

In connection with Opendoor acquiring Doma’s closing and escrow operations, the companies will partner with Fannie Mae on the Title Acceptance Program, which waives the requirement for lenders’ title insurance policies on eligible refinance transactions.

AM Best assessed Premier Land Title Insurance Co.’s balance sheet as very strong, and also cited its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming said all 50 states and 99 of the top 100 markets reported yearly improvements in housing affordability. However it is still more than 60 percent lower than its pre-pandemic five-year average.

Brady & Kosofsky, PA has named Esther Thompson Merrick to serve as the firm’s chief executive officer. Merrick will lead the firm’s day-to-day business, guiding strategy, operations, technology and team development

Argyle rolled out its 3-in-1 Verification Suite, a product that brings verification of income, employment and assets into a single workflow for mortgage lenders.

This is the highest percentage of February sales deals in that month in records dating back to 2017, according to Redfin.

Stewart Information Services Corp.’s enhancement of it virtual underwriter product includes secure login access and the introduction of an artificial intelligence-powered virtual underwriter agent.

Access Network has been launched to build a long-term connection between real estate agents and title, mortgage, insurance and property management professionals.

Fidelity National Financial Inc. recently announced the appointment of an enterprise solutions-agency president.

Docutech, a provider of the loan lifecycle document, eSign, eClose, and print fulfillment technology, announced its products and solutions are now integrated with ICE Mortgage Technology’s Encompass Partner Connect platform.

There were an estimated 46.3 percent more home sellers than buyers in the housing market in February (or 629,808 more, in numerical terms), according to a report from Redfin.

Blend Labs Inc.’s fourth quarter and full-year 2025 revenue rose by 7 percent, according to the firm’s preliminary earnings report.

AgentBrief’s Buyer Trend Analysis report offers a strategic overview of the likely buyers in each neighborhood, including generational demographics and average household income. Title professionals can relay this data to real estate agents during outreach.

The National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Optimism Index declined by 0.5 points from January to February, but the Uncertainty Index decreased by 3 points.

InfoQuery LLC announced the availability of the InfoQuery Connector for Resware, enabling title and settlement professionals to securely integrate Resware data with Microsoft Copilot, Office 365, the Power Platform and Azure Logic Apps.

A similar share of Democrats (63 percent) and Republicans (57 percentage) believe artificial intelligence will reduce employment options and hurt consumers’ ability to afford homes, according to a Redfin survey.

ATTOM released its 2025 year-end U.S. Home Flipping Report, which showed that 297,045 single-family homes and condos were flipped nationwide.

A multimillion dollar acquisition brought a law firm’s title operation, including offices in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Seminole, Fla., under the Propy Title banner. The firm specializes in the requirements of institutional real estate investment trusts and professional wholesale investors across Florida.

How will the housing market fare this year? The Title Report addressed this question with a contingent of economists and title professionals.

First American Data & Analytics’ February 2026 Home Price Index report showed home prices were unchanged from January to February but annual home price growth had its first year-over-year decline since 2012.

ServiceLink recently welcomed four new members as national sales executives.

SoftPro users can assign title search orders to Dono, which completes the search, and the finished report and data deliver back into the user’s system through Sync.

Americans aged 70 years and older held 26 percent of America’s $48 trillion in real estate wealth, according to a report from Redfin.

Anderson Biro is a recruiting firm based in Cleveland specializing in title and settlement services. The Title Report caught up with company co-founder Eric Biro, who discussed how as the market continues to stabilize, recruiting activity is accelerating quickly and retention strategies need to be a priority.

SoftPro customers can now securely submit electronic Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Residential Real Estate Reports directly to FinCEN through the SoftPro 360 vendor portal.

Beeline Holdings Inc. has established a strategic partnership with a blockchain-enabled platform focused on tokenizing deed-recorded fractional equity interests in residential real estate as real-world assets. Beeline Title will serve as the exclusive title and settlement provider for the transactions.

Stewart Information Services Corp. has hired Nathan Bossers to serve in this role, which will include serving first mortgage, home equity and reverse mortgage lenders.

Westcor’s new underwriting counsel has eight years of commercial title underwriting experience with an agent based in Troy, Mich.

This is the 12th straight month of annual increases in foreclosure actions nationwide, according to ATTOM’s February U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

Qualia CEO Nate Baker talked to The Title Report about the just-launched Qualia Clear 2.0, his firm’s agentic artificial intelligence system that can reduce file processing time by 35 to 50 percent. Fully automated transactions are “no longer theoretical,” Baker said.

Closinglock CEO Andy White talked to The Title Report about the company’s new automated closing updates that can be integrated with title production systems. With it, customized email and text updates are automatically sent to affected parties once key milestones are reached in a real estate transaction.

Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. formed Westcor Agency Product Solutions, a group tasked with helping independent agents maximize the full value of Westcor’s products, services and third-party partner offerings.

The new senior vice president of business development for Covius has worked in the mortgage and financial services industry for more than three decades.

FirstClose has rebranded its point-of-sale experience as XpressEquity, along with a refreshed Encompass by ICE Mortgage Technology integration that delivers an end-to-end digital workflow for home equity originations.

One in five homeowners with a mortgage could save money by refinancing, according to a recent Redfin report the highest share in more than four years.