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ALTA: Title premium volume increases 45 percent
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2021
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.
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HomeServices of America acquires Americana Holdings
Posted Date: Thursday, July 8, 2021
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.
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Knight Barry acquires Heartland Title
Posted Date: Thursday, July 8, 2021
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.
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John Bethell Title names company partner
Posted Date: Thursday, July 8, 2021
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.
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Agents National boosts teams
Posted Date: Thursday, July 8, 2021
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.
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ChainLogix appoints two lead team members
Posted Date: Thursday, July 8, 2021
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.
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First American acquires Georgetown Title
Posted Date: Friday, July 2, 2021
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.
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Fathom Holdings to acquire Epic Realty
Posted Date: Friday, July 2, 2021
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.
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Radian expands integration with Mortgage Cadence
Posted Date: Friday, July 2, 2021
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.
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Alanna.ai rolls out automated marketing capability
Posted Date: Friday, July 2, 2021
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.
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First National adds Great Lakes region agency manager
Posted Date: Friday, July 2, 2021
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.
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Survey: Pandemic drove shifts in homebuying trends
Posted Date: Friday, July 2, 2021
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.
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Title Alliance opens offices in New Mexico, Arizona, Washington
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2021
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.
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Vylla Title licensed in California
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2021
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.
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Alliant National hires training coordinator
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2021
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.
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AmTrust Title adds business development rep
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2021
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.
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Over half of homes sold above list price in May
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2021
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.
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Enverus acquires Integrity Title
Posted Date: Friday, June 25, 2021
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.
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Stavvy announces leadership team
Posted Date: Friday, June 25, 2021
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.
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Payment platform Earnestly rebrands as Payload Keybox
Posted Date: Friday, June 25, 2021
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.
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TitleWave expands into Colorado
Posted Date: Friday, June 25, 2021
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.
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Report: Housing inventory starting to rebound
Posted Date: Friday, June 25, 2021
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.
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Home-flipping rate falls to lowest level in 20 years
Posted Date: Friday, June 25, 2021
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.
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Bank Shot partners with Rule 1 Ventures, names CEO
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2021
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.
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SimpleNexus appoints new CEO
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2021
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.
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AmTrust Title names chief underwriting counsel
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2021
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.
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Highland Title + Escrow opens Virginia office
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2021
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.
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Notarize names general manager, real estate
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2021
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.
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Report: Foreclosure starts up 36 percent a year after moratorium
Posted Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2021
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.
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Kensington Vanguard acquires Hometown Title & Escrow
Posted Date: Friday, June 18, 2021
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.
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Radian launches digital closing service
Posted Date: Friday, June 18, 2021
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.
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ClosingLock names new COO
Posted Date: Friday, June 18, 2021
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.
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ProperSign adds features for independent notaries
Posted Date: Friday, June 18, 2021
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.
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Westcor hires Michigan underwriting counsel
Posted Date: Friday, June 18, 2021
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.
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Report: Housing market starting to slow
Posted Date: Friday, June 18, 2021
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.
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