News By Edition

The title industry’s premium volume jumped by 44.8 percent from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021, according to a recent American Land Title Association (ALTA) market share analysis.

The industry also reported the highest net income for a first quarter ever, according to ALTA.

Read on for more, including the top 10 underwriters by market share.

For the ninth consecutive year, that Clear Title Agency of Arizona has been recognized as one of the Top Companies to Work For in Arizona.

Read on for more about the recognition.

HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, announced it acquired Americana Holdings, a Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices franchisee. The company operates across three states as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona Properties, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties, and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Nevada Properties.

The acquisition also includes Americana Holdings’ interests in three title and escrow companies.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

Knight Barry Title announced it acquired Heartland Title, LLC, which is based in St. Cloud, Minn. It marks the company’s second acquisition in the state this year and its 13th in Minnesota overall.

Heartland Title’s team members, including its two owners, will stay on with Knight Barry.

Read on for more details about the acquisition.

Bloomington, Ind.-based John Bethell Title Co. announced that a longtime team member and executive vice president has become a partner in the company.

Owner John Bethell said although he has no immediate plans to retire, the move was made with an eye toward the future for himself and the company.

Read on for more about the announcement.

Agents National Title Insurance Co. recently named a Southwest agency manager and added a Florida title production manager and a regional underwriting counsel for Midwestern states.

Read on for more about the new team members.

ChainLogix Mortgage Solutions recently named a 25-year mortgage industry veteran as the company’s senior vice president of operations and strategic business development and a 30-year industry veteran as vice president, property tax intelligence and special projects group.

Read on for more about the appointments.

Mortgage Connect CEO Jeff Coury was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year East Central Region Award finalist for 2021.

Read on for more about the recognition.

First American Financial Corp. announced the acquisition of Georgetown Title, a brand within the Texas real estate community with a track record that spans more than 125 years.

Georgetown Title will become part of the direct operations of First American Title Insurance Co. One of Georgetown’s former owners was named First American Title’s vice president of regional business development.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

Fathom Realty Holdings, a subsidiary of Fathom Holdings Inc., will enter the Idaho market with the acquisition of Epic Realty. Terms of the acquisition, which is scheduled to close in the second quarter, were not disclosed.

Epic Realty, a regional brokerage with more than 350 agents, will begin operating under the Fathom name in July.

Read on for more details.

Radian Group Inc. and Mortgage Cadence announced an expanded integration which will incorporate Radian’s title and settlement services into the existing mortgage insurance offerings on the Mortgage Cadence platform.

That means Mortgage Cadence clients can access Radian’s suite of insured and non-insured title and settlement services without leaving the platform.

Read on for more about the integration.

Title technology developer alanna.ai recently unveiled the Campaigns function for its AI assistant, which allows users to initiate conversations via mass text messaging.

Read on for more about the new ability.

First National Title Insurance Co. (FNTI) named a senior vice president, Great Lakes region agency manager. The region is the latest area of expansion for FNTI.

Read on for more.

The coronavirus pandemic dramatically altered the way people bought and sold homes over the last year, according to the 2021 ServiceLink State of Homebuying Report.

Read on for details from the report.

Title Alliance, Ltd., announced the opening of several new offices in New Mexico, Arizona and Washington state.

Title Alliance Advantage is the company’s second joint venture in New Mexico, Title Alliance of Gilbert and Title Alliance of America are its latest ventures in Arizona, and Title Alliance Northwest is its second office in Washington.

Read on for more about the new locations.

Vylla Title, the Carrington Companies’ residential and commercial title business, was granted an all-county license to operate in California. The company said it will expand its existing corporate relationships inside the state.

Vylla Title will continue to support its growth by developing and deploying technology investments in robotic process automation and machine learning, the company said.

Read on for more.

A 30-year insurance industry veteran is Alliant National Title Insurance Co.’s new underwriting and escrow training coordinator for the Southwest.

Read on for more about the appointment.

AmTrust Title Insurance Co. named a 20-year attorney as its new business development representative for AmTrust Title in New York.

Read on for more about the new position.

The national median home-sale price reached a record high of $377,200 in May, up a record 26 percent year-over-year, according to a recent Redfin report. However, leading market indicators of activity are declining into June, signaling the frantic market pace may be slowing.

Read on for more from the report.

Data analytics and SaaS tech company Enverus announced it has acquired Integrity Title Co., a land and real estate verification company that is the largest provider of title plant access in Texas and New Mexico.

Enverus plans to integrate Integrity Title’s technology to create a title evidence research platform.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

On the heels of fintech Stavvy’s $40 million funding round, the company announced several key leadership hires to help facilitate its continued growth.

The new hires include a chief marketing officer, chief impact and culture officer, a head of compliance and consumer protection and corporate counsel, head of digital strategy, head of solutions and partnerships, and head of growth.

Read on for more about the new team members.

Earnestly, a real estate electronic payment platform and division of fintech Payload, announced it has rebranded as Payload Keybox to better reflect the array of payment services it provides.

Payload Keybox is expanding beyond digitizing earnest money deposit payment workflow for brokerages, title companies, and software platforms, according to the company.

Read on for more about the rebranding.

TitleWave Real Estate Solutions, a division of Fidelity National Financial, hired two industry professionals to oversee operations at its new Colorado location.

Read on for more about the company’s expansion.

The housing inventory crunch shows signs of relenting, according to a recent Zillow market report, which found available inventory rose 3.9 percent between April and May.

Read on for more from the report.

 

Only 2.7 percent of all home sales in the first quarter were flipped, according to ATTOM’s first-quarter 2021 U.S. Home Flipping Report. That’s the lowest flipping rate since 2000.

Read on for more for the report.

Fintech Bank Shot announced it has partnered with and received an investment from Rule 1 Ventures.

The company also named a new CEO, who will take over from founders Bernardine Drake and Glenn Drake. The Drakes, who plan to turn their attention back to Drake Realty, will remain with Bank Shot as consultants.

Read on for more.

SimpleNexus founder and CEO Matt Hansen has named a new CEO. Hansen will remain involved with the company, leading a task force of software developers and sales staff that specializes in high-priority projects.

The new CEO, who will lead operations and strategic decision-making, previously served as executive vice president of sales and marketing at Ellie Mae (now ICE Mortgage.)

Read on for more about the new CEO.

AmTrust Title Insurance Co. named a 17-year industry veteran as its new chief underwriting counsel for all direct operations.

AmTrust also announced the addition of a senior corporate counsel, who has 15 years of experience representing title insurance agents and underwriters in various in-house counsel roles.

Read on for more about the company’s new team members.

Highland Title + Escrow opened a new office in Herndon, Va., to meet the growing demand for real estate settlement services in northern Virginia.

Read on for more about the new office.

Notarize named a 20-year mortgage industry veteran to the newly created position of general manager, real estate.

Read on for more about the new position.

Although foreclosure starts grew by 36 percent year-over-year, according to ATTOM’s May 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, last year’s numbers were “extraordinarily low” due to the foreclosure moratorium and mortgage forbearance programs, RealtyTrac Executive Vice President Rick Sharga said.

Read on for more from the report, including the states with the highest foreclosure rates in May.

Independent national title insurance agency Kensington Vanguard National Land Services announced the acquisition of Virginia-based Hometown Title & Escrow, which is led by industry veteran Sharon Keegan. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The transaction is Kensington Vanguard’s fourth acquisition in the D.C. metro area, according to co-CEO Brian Cooper.

Read on for more about the acquisition.

Radian Group Inc. announced the launch of titlegenius, a blockchain-enabled online portal for ordering title insurance and closing services digitally.

titlegenius is offered through homegenius by Radian, a suite of digital products and services engineered to solve challenges customers and agents face today and ones they may face in the future.

Read on for more about the new offering.

ClosingLock, an online service that protects settlement companies from wire fraud, hired a 10-year sales management and SaaS sales veteran as its new chief operating officer.

ClosingLock CEO Andy White said the new COO’s leadership and analytical skills, along with his tech background, make him an ideal fit.

Read on for more about the new COO.

ProperSign expanded its remote online notarization (RON) software to offer a subscription to notaries and loan-signing agents.

Read on for more about the new features.

Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. recently hired a 25-year industry veteran as its Michigan underwriting counsel.

Read on for more about the new hire.

Most of the leading indicators of activity in the housing market are cooling off, according to a recent Redfin report.

Read on for more from the report.