News By Edition

Wire fraud protection provider CertifID Inc. has worked with federal law enforcement to issue a new warning about vacant property fraud, a scam trending up in recent months.

Fidelity Land Title Agency of Cincinnati recently stopped one of those fraud attempts using CertifID tech, which leadership called the perfect tool in rooting out the crime before it took place.

Read on for the Fidelity Land Title Agency CEO's conversation with The Title Report.

Agents National Title Holding Co. and Boston National Holdings LLC have been sold by Incenter LLC, a subsidiary of Finance of America Companies Inc.

Holding company Essent Group Ltd. will take ownership of the entities in a $100 million deal that remains subject to regulatory approvals. Incenter acquired Agents National and Boston National in 2018 and 2016, respectively.

Read on to find out more information.

Near North Title Group has acquired Chicago-based O’Connor Title Guaranty, according to a recent announcement.

O’Connor Title Guaranty is a 20-year-old agency serving Chicagoland and Southern Illinois commercial and residential real estate markets, while Chicago-based Near North Title Group has been serving commercial and residential customers for over 30 years.

Read on to learn more.

Real Advantage Title Insurance Co. (RATIC) of Santa Ana, Calif. expanded its offering to most states through a new agency division.

RATIC, touting strong capital and surplus, is licensed to issue policies in 30 states and boasts a combined 100 years of industry experience across its underwriting team.

Read on to find out more information.

CATIC brought on a long-time title insurance executive and attorney as its new senior vice president – national account manager. He will oversee the national and multi-state division within the CATIC Family of Companies.

Read on to find out more information.

SimpleNexus technology will be utilized in AmeriCU Credit Union’s mobile mortgage lending platform. AmeriCU is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial institution with more than 150,000 members and $2.4 billion in assets.

Read on to find out more.

According to new data from Redfin, the housing market is on its way to recovery with requests for first tours increasing by 17 percent since November 2022. Individuals contacting Redfin agents to start the homebuying process has gone up by 13 percent over the same period.

Read on to learn more.

Old Republic International Corp. reported its fourth quarter and full-year 2022 financial results during a recent conference call, showing title segment premium and fee revenue of $836 million in the fourth quarter.

That represented a 29 percent drop from the fourth quarter of 2021 and was also down 14 percent from just over $968 million in the third quarter of 2022.

Read on to find out more.

Information tech firm Cognizant extended its partnership with property information provider CoreLogic under a $1 billion agreement, the companies announced.

Terms of the new deal include expansion of Cognizant’s services and anticipated value for CoreLogic, leveraging Cognizant’s digital transformation expertise particularly in cloud migration, automation, and industry-specific platform innovations.

Read on to find out more information.

Bousquet Holstein PLLC recently announced the addition of one attorney and two paralegals to its real estate group, with all three hires having previously worked for the same private practice.

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Zillow is now letting users browse its listings with an AI-powered native language search, which takes voice inputs such as “$700,000 homes in Charlotte with a backyard” or “open house near me with four bedrooms.”

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New reporting from Redfin shows pending home sales still on the decline year-over-year, but falling at their lowest rate in three months.

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Proptech company Welcome Homes raised $29 million in a Series A funding round led by Era Ventues. The funding will be used to hire talent and expand into new markets.

Welcome Homes’ platform aims to make building on teardowns and vacant lots more scalable, letting homebuyers and real estate investors access thousands of pre-vetted and price-locked properties.

Read on to learn more.

Investor title and closing partner Spruce is preparing to launch SpruceProtect: HOA Guarantee. The product will provide investors financial coverage in the event of rental restrictions within an HOA that could negatively impact rentability.

SpruceProtect: HOA Guarantee is offered as an endorsement to a title policy issued in partnership with American Digital Title Insurance Co.

Read on for more.

Nestfully, a new consumer portal created by Multiple Listing Service organizations, is set to launch early this year.

Consumer-facing features reportedly include the ability to search for properties and apply filters based on individual needs, as well as the ability to schedule a showing. Consumers will also be able to directly ask listing agents questions about homes.

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An integration of Xperience Title with LendingPad, a loan origination system, has been announced. Leadership said the move will help personalize client needs and optimize software.

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Fidelity National Financial’s National Timeshare Division has a new title manager, who will help spearhead legal and title resources for clients.

Read on to find out more information.

A year-end 2022 U.S. Home Sales Report from ATTOM shows homeseller profits jumped 21 percent compared with 2021. A $112,000 typical profit on median-priced homes last year also spelled a more than 50 percent return on investment.

Read on to learn more.

Real estate blockchain-secured platform Ubitquity, LLC, has found its first chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer. She will spearhead efforts to use AI in cutting down on many redundancies in the housing industry while also maximizing iBuyer functionality.

Ubitquity CEO Nathan Wosnack shares his thoughts on AI with The Title Report, laying out how the technology can  enhance processes within the title space.

Read on for more.

North-Carolina based cloud banking provider nCino will cut its workforce by 7 percent just as it finds a new chief financial officer, the company recently announced.

Company leadership attributes job cuts to widespread economic downturn, rising mortgage rates, geopolitical challenges abroad and other factors. In late-2021, nCino acquired homeownership platform developer SimpleNexus.

Read on to find out more information.

Real estate software company Inside Real Estate has acquired cloud-based sales and marketing platform Boomtown. Company leaders say the deal will improve client support and services while combining service outlets for roughly half a million industry professionals.

Inside Real Estate is headquartered in Salt Lake City, with offices in Charleston, S.C. and Carlsbad, Calif.

Read on to learn more.

A small increase in median home sale prices over the past month was reported by Redfin. Experts believe this could be the result of mortgage rate declines, but also specify that numerous factors are still causing year-over-year declines across sales categories.

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Mobility Market Intelligence (MMI) of Salt Lake City has appointed a former SimpleNexus executive as its regional director of enterprise sales. He will be tasked with expanding MMI’s growing roster of mortgage enterprise clients.

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According to new analysis from Fannie Mae, a modest recession is still on the horizon considering ongoing challenges in the housing market and broader economy. Reporting says outcomes can be improved in 2024 if interest rates continue to drop from 2022 highs.

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Doma is partnering with digital payment solution provider paymints.io with an aim to cut down on wire fraud and use of paper checks in real estate transactions. Leaders say the collaboration also will allow homebuyers to digitally deposit earnest money.

Paymints.io will offer its services to Doma’s independent and affiliated title agent and attorney customers nationwide.

Read on to find out more information.

New reporting in the Federal Reserve System’s Beige Book indicates continued troubled waters for the housing market and other economic sectors.

Housing markets continued to weaken with a drop in construction reported across all federal districts. Data is published eight times per year with the latest Beige Book containing data collected between mid-November 2022 and Jan. 9.

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Texas-based homebldr introduced HOMEBLDR Property Reports, which company leadership says will increase return on investment for iBuying programs, fix-and-flip investments, and home renovation projects.

According to homebldr, sellers are more than twice as likely to accept an instant cash offer when it’s presented by a local agent as opposed to coming directly from an iBuyer.

Read on to learn more.

New data cited by Zillow shows housing market indicators as slow but close to expected seasonal norms. Just over a quarter of homes nationwide sold above their first list price in November, the lowest portion since June 2020.

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Black Knight is preparing for loanDepot’s migration into its cloud-based version of the Empower loan origination system, a process reportedly set to be complete in 2024.

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ACES Quality Management reported significant growth in its client base over the past year, a period in which it also enhanced its QT auditing software to improve loan quality and mitigate risk for mortgage lenders and financial institutions.

ACES also launched a new compliance-driven oversight process for ACES CONNECT users via a role-based permission system.

Read on to find out more.