News By Edition

Title industry senior executives at Qualia’s virtual Future of Real Estate Summit discussed what they think the post-pandemic workplace might look like.

Qualia Director of Product Marketing Priyanka Srinivasan led the discussion about how a year of remote working reshaped both employee expectations and employer strategies to recruit and retain top talent.

Read on for more from the “Workplace of the Future” session.

First American Financial Corp. made the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the sixth year in a row.

Read on for more about the recognition.

ClosingCorp.’s first national refinance closing cost report shows that closing costs for residential refinances last year were nearly half as much as those for home purchases.

Most third-party fees, including for lender title and settlement service, also were lower for refinances, according to the report.

Read on for more details, including the states with the highest average closing costs.

RedfinNow is expanding from Maryland and northern Virginia into the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., region. Redfin’s iBuying arm already serves markets in Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas and Washington.

Redfin also plans to expand its concierge service available in the District of Columbia to northern Virginia and Maryland.

Read on for more about the company’s expansion plans.

Notarize raised $130 million in Series D funding, led by fintech firm Canapi Ventures. Notarize has raised $213 million in total funding to date.

The investment comes after the remote online notarization pioneer experienced 600 percent growth over the last 12 months, as digital commerce skyrocketed amid the pandemic.

Read on for more from CEO Pat Kinsel on plans for the new financing.

Stewart Title appointed a new senior vice president and regional manager for southern California, Arizona and Nevada, as well as a senior vice president of strategic partners and business development officer for its Dallas/Fort Worth commercial services team.

Together, the new executives have more than 50 years of experience in the title industry.

Read on for more about the new senior VPs.

Ohio-based Title First Agency expanded its national footprint by opening its first Texas office in Dallas.

The new office allows the independent title agency to enter one of the largest markets in the country and serve the increasing number of families and companies relocating to Texas.

Read on for more from Title First President and CEO Sean Stoner, including future expansion plans.

The tight housing market is making it especially challenging for first-time homebuyers to find affordable homes. First American’s First-Time Homebuyer Outlook Report details where to find the largest supply of affordable homes.

Read on to learn the cities that top the list.

Title Alliance, Ltd., recently named a training and implementation manager and an area operations manager who will oversee three of its Pennsylvania companies.

Read on for more about the two new managers.

A record number of homebuyers looked to relocate this January and February compared with last year, according to a recent Redfin report.

Read on for more from the report, including which cities are attracting the most out-of-towners.

Amidst the uncertain housing market and continued effects of the pandemic, what can title agencies do to be ready to adapt to any changes that might come?

That’s what two senior title industry executives discussed at the “Business Resiliency in Uncertain Times” seminar at Qualia’s virtual Future of Real Estate Summit.

Read on to learn what the speakers had to say.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) announced its support of bills introduced in the U.S. House and Senate to repeal the federal estate tax.

Easing the regulatory burden of the estate tax, known as the death tax, would more easily allow small businesses to continue after the owner passes, according to the NFIB.

Read on for more about the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2021.

Pennsylvania-based Title Alliance, Ltd., is partnering with Keller Williams Yuma to open Title Alliance of Yuma in Yuma, Arizona.

The new location will expand Title Alliance’s footprint to more than 10 offices in Arizona and more than 50 offices in 11 states.

Read on for more from Title Alliance CEO Jim Campbell about the company’s plans.

Even if mortgage rates continue to rise, increasing household formation and more favorable market conditions will keep homebuying demand high, predicts First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming.

Read on for more from First American’s Potential Home Sales Model for February.

eMortgage services provider DocMagic, Inc., and risk-reporting firm Secure Insight, Inc., partnered to offer a remote online notarization (RON) certification program that includes a database of notaries trained on the Total eClose platform.

Read on for more about the new offering.

Offering all cash at or above the listing price gives homebuyers the best chance of winning a bidding war, according to a recent Redfin report.

Read on for more successful strategies from the report.

Stewart Information Services Corp. acquired A.S.K. Services, Inc., which provides search and support services to the title industry.

Stewart Agency Services Group President Tara Smith expects the move to strengthen and expand the company’s ability to provide integrated title production to Stewart’s independent agency customers.

Read on for more from Smith and A.S.K. Services executives about the acquisition.

Corridor Capital recently made an investment in independent title and settlement services agency World Wide Land Transfer.

World Wide CEO Marc Shaw will continue as CEO and remain a material owner of the business, and Jeff Lender will continue as president of the company’s New York operations.

Read on for more about the deal from Shaw and Corridor Capital CEO Craig Enenstein.

The country’s top iBuying companies purchased .3 percent of homes that sold in the fourth quarter of 2020, up slightly from .2 percent in the third quarter.

But that’s still below the .8 percent market share they held a year ago, according to a recent Redfin report.

Read on for more from the report, including the strongest iBuying cities.

BSI Financial Services affiliate Entra Solutions named a mortgage industry veteran with experience at Old Republic Title and Wells Fargo as its national sales director.

Read on for more about the new hire.

The number of homes flipped in 2020 dropped to the lowest point since 2016, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ 2020 U.S. Home Flipping Report.

Read on for more from the report, including what areas of the country saw the largest drops in home-flipping rates.

Four people who took part in the 2021 Voice of The Title Agent survey are this year’s winners, with one receiving a registration to the National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) scheduled for Aug. 31-Sept. 2 in Naples, Fla.

Read on to learn who the lucky winners are and how to register for NS3.

Title management provider AccuTitle has partnered with online marketer TitleTap to offer “automatic reviews” to its title management platform users.

AccuTitle CEO Bill Bartzak said the move will help clients gain valuable feedback from customers as well bolster positive online reviews, which will drive more referral business.

Read on for more details about the customer service offering.

Stewart Information Services Corp.’s new group vice president for the Southeast worked for more than 20 years at First American Title, six of them as vice president of operations.

At Stewart, the group vice president will be responsible for overseeing direct operations in Florida, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee.

Read on for more about the new appointment.

Closing and title software provider SoftPro launched an integration with ClosingCorp which allows lenders and settlement agents to collaborate in real time and electronically fulfill title, closing and document signings.

Read on for more about the new offering.

Title insurance agency Proper Title created a new position, director of digital media and education, which will be responsible for generating networking opportunities and facilitating educational seminars.

Read on for more about the internal appointment.

Neighborhoods in formerly redlined areas tend to have more people of color and are more likely than greenlined areas to have homes damaged by flood waters, according to a report from Redfin.

Read on for more from the report.

Through a collaboration with title and title software providers, Lone Wolf Technologies has created a direct integration between real estate agents and title agents called Digital Title Orders.

The new feature, which launched March 15, and the industrywide collaboration to create it, mark huge steps forward for digital-first real estate transactions, Lone Wolf CEO and President Jimmy Kelly said.

Read on to learn more about the venture.

Boston National Title’s new national commercial division president will remain at the helm of the company’s New York office.

Boston National President Nathan Bossers expects the division president to bring the same strength and innovation shown in the highly competitive New York market to the commercial operation.

Read on for more about the new appointment.

The NFIB’s Small Business Optimism Index rose slightly to 95.8 from January to February, but it’s still below the 47-year average of 98.

While there was a small increase in the number of small-business owners who said they hired or tried to hire workers, 40 percent said they had job openings they couldn’t fill.

Read on for more details from the NFIB report.

Mainspring Services’ new software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering for title production automatically inserts hyperlinks to search documents, creates the title exception summary and publishes a web format.

Read on for more about the platform.

Alliant National Title Insurance Co. named a chief underwriting counsel and senior vice president who will lead the company’s legal team in Florida and the Southeast while also supporting underwriting operations throughout the country.

Read on for more about the internal appointment.

The median home-sale price reached $328,350 in March, an all-time high, according to a recent Redfin report. The average sale-to-list price ratio also soared to 100.1 percent nationwide, the first time in Redfin’s records that a typical home has sold above its list price.

Read on for more from the report.