News By Edition

SafeWire’s new Real Estate Wire Fraud Tracker plots wire fraud reports on an interactive map, creating a visual representation of how widespread the problem is.

SafeWire co-founder and CEO Chris Sauerzopf said that title agents can use the tracker as a tool to help them educate others in the industry about the importance of securing online transactions.

Read on for more from Sauerzopf about the wire fraud prevention tool.

Agents National Title Insurance Co. was the fastest-growing title insurance underwriter in the U.S. last year, according to a market share analysis from the American Land Title Association.

Read on for more about the company’s growth.

Cybercriminals tried to scam title insurance employees into wiring funds to a fraudulent account in a third of all real estate and mortgage transactions, according to the results of the American Land Title Association’s (ALTA) 2021 Wire Fraud and Cyber Crime Survey.

However, the scams were successful in only a little over 8 percent of the attempts, according to the survey, indicating education and training are having a positive effect.

Read on for more from the survey.

Texas-based Patten Title has acquired Celebrity Title Co., including its three Houston-area offices in Sugar Land, Katy and Cypress.

With the acquisition, Patten Title increased its workforce by a third. The company now has five locations in Houston, two in Austin and one in Dallas and plans to open two more offices within the year.

Read on for more details.

Maryland-based Passport Title Services has chosen Qualia as its new title production software.

Passport Title Chief Growth Officer Kenney Cotter said the Qualia suite of services will help “future-proof” the digital native title company, which employs remote staff across Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Read on for more details from Passport Title and Qualia.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) monthly jobs report indicates 42 percent of small-business owners reported job openings they couldn’t fill in March, more than twice the 48-year historical average of 22 percent.

Small-business owners also reported raising salaries to the highest level in the past year to try to attract hires.

Read on for more from the NFIB report.

First National Title Insurance Co. hired an agency manager for its Florida team.

Read on for more about the addition.

SETCO Services, LLC, a Florida panhandle-based title and escrow company, has acquired B&R Closing Services, Inc., operating as Odom and Barlow. SETCO Services CEO George Brannon Jr. said Barbara Barlow will join the SETCO team and stay on as manager of the Navarre, Fla., location.

This is SETCO’s 10th office in the Florida Panhandle area.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

Stewart Information Service Corp. has integrated CertifID into its AIM+ title and escrow production system to protect users from wire fraud.

The new integration helps keep real estate transactions safe by protecting wire transfers up to $1 million, according to Stewart Agency Services Group President Tara Smith.

Read on for more details about the application.

Title fraud detection service Home Title Lock announced it has partnered with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Gingrich will serve as spokesperson for the company.

In his role with Home Title Lock, Gingrich will take part in advertisements informing homeowners about the growing dangers of home title theft.

Read on for more about the partnership.

Cloudstar named a new president after founder, President and CEO Gregory McDonald steps down.

Read on for more about the appointment.

Idaho-based title and escrow company TitleOne recently made some personnel changes to its teams.

Read on for more about the new hires and promotions.

National Integrity Title Agency (NITA) launched Robin, a fully integrated virtual assistant that can track the progression of the title insurance process.

Working with the company’s proprietary Resware technology, Robin provides real-time notices, addresses closing milestones and is available 24/7 to give quick answers to users’ most frequently asked questions.

Read on for more about the virtual assistant.

Spruce’s new automated underwriting model can provide a fully underwritten title commitment in minutes, significantly reducing multiple-day searches.

The automated underwriting model is being launched in conjunction with Spruce’s partnership with American Digital Title Insurance Co., which is owned by Digital Partners, a Munich Re company.

Read on for more about the new underwriting tool.

Fidelity National Financial (FNF) has hired a national agency vice president for education and training to coordinate FNF’s education strategy and provide learning opportunities.

Read on for more about the new hire.

ATTOM Data Solutions’ 2020 property tax analysis showed that $323 billion in property taxes were levied on single-family homes in 2020, up 5.4 percent from 2019. It was the largest tax hike in four years.

Read on to learn which states had the highest and lowest effective property tax rates last year.

New Hampshire-based Masiello Group’s new general counsel will work with the real estate company after leaving the law practice he founded 25 years ago.

Read on for more about the new hire.

Ubitquity, which provides a blockchain-secured platform for the real estate and title industry, has partnered with blockchain service provider VeChain to implement a BaaS platform called VeChain ToolChain.

Pacific Northwest title company Rainier Title will be the first Ubitquity client to use the new technology.

Read on for more details about the partnership and blockchain initiative.

The U.S. Senate extended the Paycheck Protection Program beyond March 31, which the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said is good news for the small businesses that continue to rely on the loans as they slowly recover from the pandemic.

According to an NFIB survey, 13 percent of small-business owners still report they will have to shutter their business if the economy does not improve over the next six months.

Read on for more from the NFIB.

Qualia announced a new integration with DataTrace Information Systems which gives Qualia Marketplace users access to DataTrace’s nationwide products and services.

Qualia also launched an integration with DataTrace company Charles Jones LLC, a provider of due diligence solutions for title companies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, that gives Marketplace users access to the company’s public record search products.

Read on for more about the new services.

Title insurance and escrow agency Title Alliance, Ltd., named a director of eastern operations who has more than 20 years of experience in the title industry.

Read on for more about the new director.

After moving most employees to remote work, title production services provider PropLogix finished off the first quarter of 2021 with a record-breaking number of orders.

Read on for more from PropLogix executives.

North American Title Insurance Co. (NATIC) hired a state agency manager for Florida who will oversee independent agent activities throughout the state.

Read on for more about the new manager.

ATA National Title Group, LLC, and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, including Talon Title Agency, has been acquired by a newly formed holding company in partnership with CNL Strategic Capital, LLC, and sub-managed by Levine Leichtman Strategic Capital, LLC.

The management team of ATA and Talon Title will remain unchanged, according to ATA National Title Group Chairman Dave Trott.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

Chicago-based Proper Title, LLC, a residential and commercial title insurance agency, hired a new chief executive officer to oversee the company as it looks to scale nationally.

The new CEO has served as chief transformation officer for States Title and president of its affiliate North American Title Co., and president of First American Title Corp.’s direct division.

Read on for more about the new hire.

Guaranty & Title Co. has named a commercial escrow manager for a new office in its national commercial services division, located in Eden Prairie, Minn.

The new manager brings nearly 10 years of real estate industry experience, most recently as a commercial escrow officer for a national title service provider.

Read on for more about the new office and manager.

Stewart Title recently added to its Florida title and underwriting team, hiring an underwriting counsel, an agency sales manager and a senior commercial title officer.

Read on for more about the new hires.

Home-value growth will slow after the pandemic, but the condominium market will heat up, predicts Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather.

Read on for more from Fairweather’s report.

Patten Title recently hired an escrow operations manager and escrow officer for its Houston offices.

Read on for more about the new hires.

WFG National Title Insurance Co. has expanded its Default Title Services division’s offerings to include national loan modification and foreclosure information reports.

The reports will help prepare for when the moratoriums on foreclosures that were put in place during the pandemic are lifted, perhaps by the fourth quarter of 2021. Industry experts expect a surge of default activity then.

Read on for more about WFG National Title’s new service.

North American Title Insurance Co. (NATIC) has added a northwest regional underwriting counsel to work with title agents and affiliates in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

Read on for more about the new hire.

Although the national median home price increased by 18 percent in the first quarter of 2021, rising salaries and falling mortgage rates kept prices affordable for the average wage earner, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ 2021 U.S. Home Affordability Report.

Read on for more from the report.

SYNRGO’s new director of national operations has more than 25 years of title, mortgage, and post-closing experience.

Read on for more about the new director.