News By Edition

SafeWire has launched a new podcast called “The Wire.” In each episode, CEO Chris Sauerzopf and Vice President of Sales Nicole Evans take a deep dive into the latest cybersecurity and wire fraud incidents hitting the title industry.

Their goal is to empower title companies to educate their clients and real estate business partners about cybercrime prevention.

Read on for more about the podcast.

Fidelity National Financial (FNF) recently launched Notarize inHere. It is being used by FNF to close transactions in all 30 online notarization-approved states, allowing consumers to have their documents notarized via a remote online notary video session.

FNF also expanded its digital closing services team, which assists all parties through every step of their digital closing and online notarization.

Read on for more.

The national commercial services division of Boston National Title Agency named a 25-year industry veteran as senior vice president of business development.

Read on for more.

The Stewart Title sales manager for the state of Illinois has been promoted to division president for the Chicago operations office.

Read on for more.

Luxury-home prices soared 26 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, and prices for the most affordable homes grew 19 percent, according to a recent Redfin report. Both outpaced the rest of the market, which also saw home prices rises.

Read on for more from the report.

Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger will speak during the third day of the 17^th annual National Settlement Services Summit. The in-person event will be held Aug. 31-Sept. 2 in Naples, Fla.

Kraninger, now vice president of regulatory affairs for Solidus Labs, will outline enduring principles in consumer protection and highlight areas for modernization.

Read on to learn about the other presentations planned for Sept. 2.

Blockchain-secured real estate and title recordkeeping platform Ubitquity has launched SmartEscrow.us to facilitate real property settlements utilizing cryptocurrency stablecoins. The company anticipates launching a mobile version of SmartEscrow later this year.

Features of SmartEscrow include a preview of funds, collection and disbursement of funds, escrow theft mitigation, real-time settlements, stablecoin support and trusted custodial wallets.

Read on for more about the new offering.

Tech company Flueid recently acquired Vodii, a software company that produces tools for the title and escrow industry.

Over the last four years, Flueid has focused on developing digital solutions for real estate transactions, according to the company. It said Vodii has a long history integrating with back-end production systems to connect all parties in a transaction.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

In light of the recent Cloudstar ransomware attack, the Koogler Group is offering a free industry education bulletin on cyber awareness training.

Read on for more about the special edition.

Clear Title Agency of Arizona recently hired a pair of escrow officers for its builder services division.

Read on for more about the new hires.

Stewart Title Commercial Services named a 35-year industry veteran as its national commercial services manager. The new manager will oversee the Los Angeles, Glendale, Phoenix, and Las Vegas commercial services offices.

Read on for more.

Stewart Information Services Corp. reported second-quarter net income of $94.8 million ($3.50 per diluted share), up from $34.1 million ($1.44 per diluted share) in the second quarter of 2020.

In the title segment, revenue for the quarter increased $248 million, or 50 percent, according to the company’s second-quarter earnings report.

Read on for more from the report.

The annual National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) returns live in Naples, Fla., this year from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2.

During the second day of the conference, Freedom Mortgage Corp. founder and CEO Stan Middleman will share insights on how to lead through the inevitable change coming to the real estate transaction.

To learn about other sessions that day, read on.

Digital homeownership platform Better has been licensed as a title insurance provider for refinance transactions through its Better Settlement Services (BSS) by the state of Virginia.

Virginia marks the 24th state in BSS’ nationwide expansion and follows Better’s launch of its mortgage business and Better Cover, its homeowners’ insurance offering, in the state.

Read on for more about the company’s expansion.

Homeownership platform SimpleNexus recently restructured the tech firm’s organizational chart and made new executive appointments in operations, revenue generation and customer success.

Recently appointed CEO Cathleen Schreiner Gates named a new chief operating officer, chief revenue officer and chief customer officer. She said she made the changes to prepare for future growth.

Read on for more about the promotions.

Punctual Abstract named a director of sales. The new director has 16 years of experience in the title and mortgage industry.

Read on for more.

Housing affordability continues dropping, according to the recently released May 2021 First American Real House Price Index (RHPI.) Affordability dropped in 49 of the 50 markets tracked by First American.

Read on for more.

As remote work became more prevalent during the pandemic, homebuyers began prioritizing affordability over a short commute. That’s according to a recent analysis by Zillow and HERE Technologies.

Read on for more from the analysis.

Real estate technology platform HomeLight opened a regional hub in Tampa, Fla., for HomeLight Closing Services, its title and escrow division.

The location will serve as the company’s operational hub for Florida and will support the hiring of at least 100 people in Tampa, followed by 500 more across the state, according to HomeLight.

Read on for more about the new hub.

Stewart Information Services Corp. recently acquired Ohio-based Title First Agency, Inc., which Stewart Group President Steve Lessack called one of the largest independent title agencies in the country.

Title First has offices in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Texas, and is licensed to operate in 34 states.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

Doma expanded its relationship with lender Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp., aiming to enhance the mortgage experience for Fairway clients.

Fairway is currently using Doma’s closing solutions within its consumer-direct channel, Homefinity, and plans to expand their use, utilizing Doma’s Intelligence platform to help power closings for loan officers and mortgage customers.

Read on for more about the partnership.

Realogy Holdings Corp. appointed a vice president, industry relations. The position will be responsible for driving the company’s advocacy efforts, developing strategic policy objectives, and building collaborative relationships with industry organizations.

Read on for more.

Housing markets in states along the East Coast, as well as Illinois — with clusters in New Jersey, Delaware, the Chicago area, and central Florida — were most at risk to the impact of the ongoing pandemic, according to ATTOM’s second-quarter 2021 Coronavirus Report.

Read on for more.

Investors bought 67,943 homes in the second quarter, according to a recent Redfin report, the highest quarterly figure on record with the company.  That’s up 15.1 percent from the first quarter and 106.7 percent year-over-year.

Read on for more from the report.

Remote online notarization (RON) has been embraced by many in the title space as a must-have tool to facilitate digital closings. But it may not be the immediate industry game-changer that some might think it is, according to WFG National Title Insurance Co. founder and Executive Chairman Patrick Stone.

While RON is a valuable tool, Stone said, he expects it will be some time until it is fully integrated into the real estate transaction process.

Read on for more from Stone.

ATTOM hired a 20-year hi-tech financial veteran as its chief financial officer.

The new CFO has a background in financial planning, analysis, and M&A activity and is skilled in investor relations, strategic planning, metrics and dashboards, valuation, system implementation, leadership, and team building, as well as business development and management, according to ATTOM.

Read on for more about the new CFO.

SoftPro recently released a new integration to help generate approved Stewart closing protection letters and policy jackets.

The integration between the SoftPro 360 business exchange portal and Stewart Access allows SoftPro users who are Stewart agents to generate, update or void approved Stewart CPLs for lenders, buyers or sellers and policy jackets.

Read on for more about the integration.

Millennial Title recently opened an office in St. Petersburg, Fla., which marks its seventh location. It will be headed by the director of business development for Florida, an attorney and former title company owner.

Read on for more.

Nearly a third of home purchases this year were paid for with all cash, according to a recent Redfin analysis. That’s the largest share since 2014.

Read on for more.

Foreclosure filings in the first six months of the year were down 61 percent from the same period last year. That’s according to ATTOM’s Midyear 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

Read on for more.

SoftPro was named one of Triangle Business Journal’s 2021 Best Places to Work, one of only 50 businesses to be recognized.

Read on for more.

Clear Title Agency of Arizona recently launched a builder services division, headquartered in Phoenix, that is aimed at better servicing the growing demand from established and new builder clients in Arizona.

The company also hired an 18-year title and escrow industry veteran to lead the new division as vice president of builder services.

Read on for more details.

Evolve Mortgage Services acquired E-Notary Seal LLC, which enables mortgage borrowers to remotely sign and notarize a document. The acquisition allows Evolve to provide closings for title and mortgage companies through a single, end-to-end digital process, according to the company.

E-Notary Seal’s founder joined Evolve as vice president of the company’s eMortgage division.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

First American Title Insurance Co. announced a new regional underwriting counsel – Gulf Coast. The position will work with title agents in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

Read on for more.

Since mortgage broker F5 Mortgage began utilizing Doma’s title and escrow solutions through the Intelligence platform, it has seen 86 percent of its title commitments delivered in under one minute, according to the company.

Read on for more about the Doma platform.

The housing market might be on the road to rebalancing after a long period heavily in the sellers’ favor, according to a recent Zillow Real Estate Market Report. Housing inventory saw meaningful recovery for the second month in a row, and home value appreciation reached new highs for monthly and annual growth.

Read on for more from the report.

First American Title Insurance Co. announced the initial rollout of a mobile-friendly technology platform in select markets. A full national launch is planned for later this year.

With the platform, real estate professionals can securely share transaction details with First American Title’s escrow team and homebuyers and sellers, access property data, create marketing materials and access educational opportunities.

Read on for more about the platform.

Title Alliance, Ltd., recently rolled out updates to its corporate and career websites that aim to highlight its title and escrow services as well as company job openings across the country.

The websites focus on interactivity and include several video features about the Title Alliance family and its partners.

Read on for more about the updated sites.

Qualia rolled out new automation features within Qualia Connect, its fully integrated partner and client portal.

Read on for more.

North American Title Insurance Co. (NATIC) appointed a director of national commercial services/senior regional underwriting counsel. The position will assist NATIC as it prepares to launch operations in New York, according to the company.

Read on for more.

World Wide Land Transfer appointed a commercial underwriting counsel. The new hire will help the company continue its upward growth, according to CEO Mark Shaw.

Read on for more.

North American Title Insurance Co. (NATIC) appointed a 25-year title insurance veteran as agency compliance manager. The new hire will oversee compliance and operations requirements for NATIC agents, attorneys, and partners.

Read on for more.