News By Edition

Stewart Information Services Corp. named a new chief information officer (CIO) for its global technology operations. He will oversee the company’s technology department and strategy and said he was attracted to the position by Stewart’s willingness to invest in technology.

He spoke with The Title Report about his priorities and goals.

Read on for more about the new CIO.

Digital homeownership company Better partnered with operating system builder Palantir to create Tinman Marketplace, the next evolution of Better’s loan platform which automates 70 percent of the mortgage process.

The combination of Tinman and Palantir’s Foundry operating system will lead to better data-driven decision-making in allocating home lending and expand access to mortgages, according to Better.

Read on for more about the partnership.

Voxtur Analytics Corp. rolled out Voxtur AOL (attorney opinion letter) with multiple lenders, a top tier bank and several mid-sized national lenders.

The Voxtur AOL is an alternative to title insurance that pairs scalable data analysis with the reliability of a legal opinion and facilitates life-of-loan tracking.

Read on for more about the expanded offering.

Fidelity National Financial appointed a president of eastern operations. He will assume responsibility for all direct commercial, residential and ancillary operations in the eastern United States and for direct title operations throughout Canada.

Read on for more.

The market share of $1 million-plus homes more than doubled during the pandemic. However, buyers are getting less than they used to, according to Zillow, as million-dollar homes are getting smaller.

Read on for more.

Earlier this year, First American unveiled renovations at its Santa Ana, Calif., headquarters that focus on fostering collaboration, flexibility and innovation among its team members.

The changes were made to reflect what the company learned from employees working from home during the height of the pandemic, according to Chief Information Officer Geraldine Ramezani.

Read on for more.

PLACE, a real estate technology and business services platform, hired a chief financial officer and named a chief administrative officer and head of industry.

Founded in 2019, the proptech startup closed its Series A round led by Goldman Sachs for $100 million in late 2021. The company has over 150 PLACE Partner real estate teams and 600 employees.

Read on for more.

Digital mortgage shopping service Own Up announced a commercial relationship with Realtor.com which will allow homebuyers to gather financing information as they search listings and find real estate agents.

Along with the collaboration, Own Up closed a $25 million round of funding which will allow the company to build out its technology platform, expand its product offerings and invest in people and culture.

Read on for more.

Fee Favor now offers services in all 50 states, completing its nationwide expansion. The company’s platform allows real estate professionals to connect to public records examiners.

Read on for more.

Title Resources Group named a Midwest underwriting counsel. He will support the company’s expanding market reach in the region.

Read on for more.

Investor purchases of residential homes increased sharply year-over-year, according to First American Data & Analytics. Did investor participation worsen housing affordability or did rapid house price appreciation entice more investors?

Read on to find out.

Financial technology company Milo launched a crypto refinance offering. The product enables borrowers to access U.S. dollars by pledging crypto assets and property to cash out up to 100 percent of their property’s home equity value.

Milo also launched what it said is the first undercollateralized crypto mortgage backed by USDC.

Read on for more.

Fitch Ratings affirmed First American Financial Group’s title insurance subsidiaries’ insurer financial strength ratings as A (strong), its long-term issuer default rating at BBB+ and senior unsecured debt rating at BBB.

Fitch also revised the rating outlook for First American Financial and its subsidiaries to stable from positive.

Read on for more from Fitch Ratings.

Real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield named a 20-year data science veteran as its first chief data officer.

In the newly created role, he will advance enterprise data management capabilities worldwide while optimizing the use of technology to deliver digitally enabled experiences and insights for the firm and its clients.

Read on for more about the new position.

SoftPro released two integrations to its SoftPro Banking platform for managing wire transfers. One with First American Trust allows wires to be transferred through SoftPro Select, and the other allows First American Title agents to use PCN Network’s SAFEvalidation within SoftPro Banking.

Read on for more.

Alliant National Title Insurance Co. hired a 20-year title insurance veteran as underwriting counsel. He will focus on Minnesota, Missouri and Kansas.

Read on for more.

Refinance mortgage lending in the second quarter was down 36 percent from the first quarter and 60 percent year-over-year. That’s according to ATTOM’s latest residential property mortgage origination report.

Read on for more.

Shaddock National Holdings acquired Santa Fe Title Co. in New Mexico. The Santa Fe Title president will continue to run the company with all current staff after the acquisition.

The Shaddock president said the company has been looking for some time for the right opportunity to enter the New Mexico market.

Read on for more.

Fidelity National Financial posted net earnings of $382 million in the second quarter. That’s a 31 percent drop from the second quarter of 2021.

For the title segment, total revenue in the second quarter was $2.6 billion, a 13 percent drop year-over-year, from $3 billion. Total revenue excluding recognized gains and losses was $2.8 billion, down 7 percent.

Read on for more from the earnings report.

California state-chartered commercial bank Genesis Bank launched Genesis Bank Exchange, its 1031 exchange division.

Genesis Bank Exchange will serve as a qualified intermediary for Section 1031 exchanges of like-kind investment and business real property, will hold client funds in trust accounts and will fulfill administrative, legal and tax-related compliance obligations for clients.

Read on for more.

Doma Title Insurance named an agency manager for Georgia. He has more than 25 years of experience in sales, multimedia marketing and title technology.

Read on for more.

The Fidelity National Financial Family of Companies named an associate regional counsel for the region of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. He has over 15 years of experience in residential and commercial real estate.

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As homebuying demand cools, competition is now hottest for the lowest-priced homes, according to Zillow. That reverses the trend during the pandemic, when buyers in the middle and top price tiers faced the strongest competition.

Read on for more.

Omega National Title Agency, a subsidiary of HG Holdings, Inc., acquired the assets of six branch offices of Omega Title of Florida (OTF). The president of OTF has been named president of title operations for Omega National Title.

With the acquisition, Omega National Title has 17 branch locations throughout Florida.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

titleLOOK introduced a quality control feature that analyzes title reports for specific phrases, exception types and customized clearance scores. It can also target sub-sections such as legal descriptions, notes or requirements.

Alerts are delivered on-screen through titleLOOK reports, the cover pages of PDF/DOC reports, or real-time email, text and API integration.

Read on for more.

Real estate data management and analytics platform Cherre and Salesforce partner Fortimize entered a strategic alliance to help real estate firms increase deals and improve the accuracy of underwriting for acquisitions and dispositions.

With the partnership, Cherre and Fortimize will arm real estate organizations and teams with key data points.

Read on for more about the alliance.

SoftPro released a new integration with Doma Title Insurance, Inc. The integration allows the ordering of closing protection letters (CPLs) and policy jackets without leaving the SoftPro environment.

Read on for more.

WFG National Title Insurance Co. named a 33-year industry veteran as executive vice president of national commercial title services. In the newly created role, he will lead the growth and expansion efforts of WFG’s national commercial business.

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Potential existing home sales dipped again in July, according to the First American Potential Home Sales Model. The slowdown indicates the housing market is settling into a pace that’s more in line with historical norms.

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ATTOM acquired Estated, a property data licensing company. It follows ATTOM’s recent acquisitions of GeoData Plus and Home Junction, and the divesture of RealtyTrac.

The move will help enhance ATTOM’s value proposition and solidify its position as the “one-stop shop” for comprehensive property data, according to the company’s CEO.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

Network Transaction Solutions (NTS) introduced its remote online notarization (RON) services in Texas. NTS, a title support services provider, provides RON through Notarize.

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Stewart Title’s legal services division named an Illinois state underwriter. She joined Stewart in 2003 and has extensive residential and commercial experience.

Read on for more.

Chicago-based Proper Title expanded its title services through three new hires. It named a senior underwriting counsel and an escrow manager and processor in northwest Indiana.

Read on for more.