News By Edition

As supply chain issues diminish and homebuilders look to grow their business, more of them are looking at collaborating with title agencies, real estate companies and other industry partners.

Landmark Custom Builder & Remodeling co-founder Eric Waddell and Josué Soto, CEO of the Soto Legacy Group, powered by EXP Realty, spoke at this year’s National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) about what that collaboration looks like.

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Fintech company Knock announced the close of its previously announced $220 million funding round. The round was led by Foundry Group with participation from Greycroft, RRE, First American Financial’s venture arm Parker89, Company Ventures, National Association of Realtors (NAR) venture capital arm Second Century Ventures and filmmaker and actor M. Night Shyamalan.

Knock has raised a total of $900 million of debt and equity since its founding in 2015.

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LodeStar Software Solutions integrated with Vesta’s loan origination system (LOS). The integration takes advantage of Vesta’s open APIs and will provide mortgage lenders using Vesta’s LOS technology access to LodeStar’s closing fee calculator.

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WFG National Title Insurance Co.’s Default Title Services division expanded its offerings to include foreclosure information reports on a nationwide basis. This complements the national title and closing services already offered by the company’s Enterprise Solutions group.

WFG Default Title Services also has system integrations with foreclosure platforms, helping to enhance operational efficiency for foreclosure attorneys, trustees and mortgage servicing clients.

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CoreLogic appointed a permanent president and chief executive officer. He had been named interim CEO in January.  Prior to being named interim CEO, he served as the company’s chief operating and growth officer.

The new CEO will continue to serve on CoreLogic’s board of directors as well, according to the company.

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Blockchain-secured real estate and title recordkeeping platform Ubitquity is launching a crypto listing service as part of a UbitquityPay add-on for homesellers who want to advertise their properties or land to the global cryptocurrency community.

The service will add a tool for collaboration between homeowners, title companies and Realtors, according to the company’s president.

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Real estate closing software company SnapClose integrated with TitleWave, a title search service. Customers will be able to order title search products and create commitments directly within the SnapClose platform.

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Baker Donelson Real Estate Group added a real estate transactions attorney to its New Orleans office. He will focus on title insurance coverage, commitments and policies as well as complex commercial transactions.

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According to ATTOM’s first-quarter home flipping report, 114,706 single-family houses and condos were flipped, representing 9.6 percent of all home sales in quarter. That’s the highest level since 2000. However, profit margins on those deals dipped to their lowest point since 2009.

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Harrisburg, Pa.-based Stevens & Lee Companies launched Reliance Search and Settlement, LLC, a full-service title agency serving commercial, industrial and residential buyers and sellers, as well as owners looking to refinance.

The agency is led by a shareholder who joined the firm’s real estate department in May and includes two title agents.

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DocuSign’s CEO has stepped down. The chairman of the board was appointed interim CEO to help the senior executive team drive improved execution in all phases of the company’s business. She will also continue serving as board chairman.

The board retained a national executive search firm to assist with succession planning and the search for a new CEO.

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Agents National Title Insurance Co. named a central states regional manager. Previously, she served as the company’s Midwest underwriting counsel.

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In May, 57.8 percent of home offers written by Redfin agents faced competition, the lowest level since February 2021. That’s down from 60.9 percent in April and a pandemic peak of 68.8 percent a year ago, according to a Redfin report.

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Ballooning mortgage costs, driven by skyrocketing prices and interest rates, have made mortgages less affordable than at any time since at least 2007, according to Zillow. Demand for homes has pulled back in response, easing price growth, slowing sales and boosting inventory.

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First American Data & Analytics launched FraudGuard Home Equity, a solution for fraud risk management. It is designed to help home equity lenders streamline their use of third-party vendors.

The FraudGuard Home Equity solution identifies undisclosed liabilities, validates identity, detects occupancy discrepancies, checks all applicable loan participants against industry exclusionary lists and instantly provides a comprehensive property valuation report.

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SoftPro partnered with cybersecurity firm QOMPLX to release a cybersecurity solution for title companies.

SoftPro Protect includes managed detection and response services that provide firms with real-time threat detection, investigation, response, prevention, and reporting from both cybersecurity tools and security operations experts. SoftPro Protect also performs external scans to assess and analyze security vulnerabilities.

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Utah-based virtual reality company Future House Studios minted its office deed as an NFT (non-fungible token), marking the first time an office building has been put on blockchain.

Future House Studios used a new legal model through TruMint that allows real property to remain and transact indefinitely on blockchains with reduced transaction costs. 

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Mortgage servicing infrastructure fintech Brace launched its default management platform, which features an end-to-end solution for both consumers and servicers. The cloud-based solution integrates live workflows, tasking, communications and performance reporting into a single environment.

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AmTrust Title Insurance Co. named a regional underwriting counsel. He will focus on real estate markets in the Southeast.

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Potential existing-home sales decreased to a 5.62 million seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR), a 2 percent month-over-month and 10.5 year-over-year decrease, according to the First American potential home sales model for May. Two trends are keeping homeowners from moving and preventing housing supply from reaching the market, First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming said.

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Proptech company HomeLight announced in a LinkedIn post it is “reducing our headcount.” A spokesperson confirmed that 19 percent of the company’s workforce will be cut, telling The Title Report the layoffs were “across functions and levels throughout the company.”

The move follows an announcement that HomeLight raised $115 million in additional capital to fund operations.

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Doma Holdings released its inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Impact Report, highlighting the initiatives and activities executed during the company’s first full year of launching an official DEI function and its commitment to building an inclusive culture.

Initiatives included launching two employee resources groups, diversity training and celebrating different cultures both inside and outside the company through cultural conversations and heritage month observances.

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Attendees at the 2022 National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in Orlando, Fla., were treated to a special keynote speaker. NBA Hall-of-Famer and successful businessman Rick Barry shared his keys to success.

His presentation centered on having pride in all that you do, explaining how that word includes the specific characteristics required for success.

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Ohio Notary Services has partnered with the Ohio Land Title Association (OLTA) to provide Notary Closer Certification training. The course will provide the necessary training for a notary to act as a mortgage notary closing agent in real estate transactions.

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RamQuest’s Closing Market digital network is now integrated with AREAL.ai, which incorporates artificial intelligence to provide real-time document automation, including data extraction and processing. AREAL.ai’s solution is specifically designed for the title and mortgage industry.

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There were 30,881 properties with foreclosure filings in May, according to an ATTOM report. That’s up 1 percent from a month ago but up 185 percent from a year ago.

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Bismarck, N.D.-based The Title Team expanded its service area through the acquisition of Minnesota-based DCA Title.

The DCA Title president and executive vice president, along with their staff, will join The Title Team’s operations. The two will continue to lead the company’s operations across the Minneapolis metro market.

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Dallas-based fintech OrangeGrid entered a strategic partnership with California-based Timios, making Timios the preferred provider of title, escrow, valuation and asset management services within OrangeGrid’s default management ecosystem.

Timios also made an equity investment in OrangeGrid to increase distribution capacity, and the companies will collaborate on co-marketing initiatives to accelerate market adoption of the solution.

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AM Best affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of A+ (superior) and the long-term issuer credit ratings (long-term ICRs) of “aa-” (superior) of members of Old Republic insurance companies.

AM Best also affirmed the FSR of A+ (superior) and the Long-Term ICRs of “aa-” of the Old Republic Title Insurance Group. The outlook of these credit ratings is stable.

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Indiana-based Bowe Digital recently added two members to its team. The company hired a social media manager and content marketing manager.

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Illinois-based Morreale Real Estate Services has partnered with Pythonic on a new routing solution for payoff documents. The solution has automated 98 percent of Morreale’s workflow.

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The number of homes purchased by real estate investors in the first quarter declined from both the fourth and third quarter, according to a Redfin report. Still, investors bought up a larger share of homes than ever before.

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Virginia-based Title Write launched a new website. The company provides services including title abstract and searches, binders and commitments, policy preparation, lien releases, curative services, processing and escrow accounting to title companies.

Title Write serves clients in Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida.

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Slightly more than two million mortgages (2.1 million) secured by residential property originated in the first quarter, according to ATTOM. That’s down 18 percent from the fourth quarter (the largest quarterly decrease since 2017) and down 32 percent from a year ago (the biggest annual drop since 2014.)

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