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A.M. Best: Blockchain won’t make title insurance obsolete
Posted Date: Friday, April 12, 2019
Blockchain will support, not replace, title insurance, according to a commentary published by A.M. Best.
The commentary notes that clients always will need an insurer behind the Blockchain that can compensate them and defend property rights.
Read on to learn what challenges A.M. Best believes must be met before Blockchain implementation in the title industry.
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Industry premiums hit 12-year high
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2019
The title industry generated more premiums in 2018 than it did in the previous year, according to a market analysis by the American Land Title Association (ALTA).
The amount generated last year was highest premium volume since 2006, when $16.5 billion was generated, and included a 6 percent increase in net income.
Read on for more details from ALTA’s market share analysis.
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Old Republic exec to lead Pavaso, RamQuest
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Old Republic Title has hired a senior vice president who will have leadership responsibilities for Pavaso and RamQuest, which are part of Old Republic Title Tech Companies, Inc.
Old Republic’s newest executive has led and managed a variety of companies as a C-level executive for more than 25 years, previously serving as the chief financial officer of one of the largest title insurance groups in the country.
Read on for more details.
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Tennessee Title completes state’s first online closing
Posted Date: Monday, April 1, 2019
With the help of Notarize, Tennessee Title Services recently completed the first online closing in the Volunteer State, the two companies announced.
Notarize founder and CEO Pat Kinsel said online closings and digital mortgages will save the real estate industry more than $1 billion each year.
Read on to learn how many additional online closings Tennessee Title expects to complete this year.
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Optimism among small-business owners improves
Posted Date: Monday, April 8, 2019
Small-business owners recently surveyed had increasingly positive views about future business conditions, and more thought the current period is a good time to expand.
NFIB President and CEO Juanita D. Duggan said the best thing Washington can do for the small business half of the economy is to continue tax cuts and deregulation.
Read on for more details.
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ePN adds 28 jurisdictions
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2019
During the first quarter of 2019, eRecording Partners Network added 28 jurisdictions across the U.S. to its eRecording network.
Read on for more details.
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Third-party vetting platform attracts new banks
Posted Date: Monday, April 8, 2019
A third-party vetting platform designed to manage risk and create standardized best practices has attracted a group of 12 leading regional and digital financial institutions as new investors.
The new investors join existing bank design partners Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and UBS.
Read on to learn which financial institutions are the latest to join this collaborative effort.
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Proper Title gains community, industry recognition
Posted Date: Friday, April 26, 2019
Proper Title, LLC. recently was named one of Chicago’s “Best Places to Work” by Crain’s Chicago Business. The company also received the “Excellence in Action” award from Fidelity National Title Group, Inc.
ead on for more details.
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First American earns perfect score on LGBTQ issues
Posted Date: Friday, April 26, 2019
First American Financial Corp. earned a perfect score on the 2019 Corporate Equality Index, the nation’s premier benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ workplace equality.
Read on for more details.
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364 Title Group launches new agency
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2019
364 Title Group has finalized all licensing requirements and has been approved as a new title agency in New Mexico under the name Azure Title, the company announced.
Azure Title is licensed in nine counties across New Mexico and will provide strategic escrow closings and title evidence searches for large national title agencies and other business sources.
Read on for more details.
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Blockchain app for escrow introduced
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2019
A Los Angeles company has introduced a Blockchain-based mobile application it said targets wire fraud and introduces efficiency into home purchase transactions.
The company said its app enables real estate brokers to close home transactions from their smartphones or tablets, and vendors and customers to collaborate in real time.
Read on for more details.
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Newman Title gains escrow officer
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Title Alliance, Ltd. has appointed an escrow officer for Newman Title.
Read on for more details.
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Foreclosure filings hit 11-year low
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Foreclosure filings during the first quarter were the fewest since the first quarter of 2008.
Read on for more details.
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Alliant National completes ISO certification
Posted Date: Friday, April 12, 2019
Alliant National Title Insurance Co. has successfully completed its 2019 ISO 27001 Certification annual surveillance audit, the company announced.
The company said successfully completing the audit is evidence that Alliant National continues to meet rigorous international standards in ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, availability and protection of non-public information.
Read on for more details.
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Cybersecurity platform for small businesses launched
Posted Date: Friday, April 12, 2019
A portfolio company of The Wicks Group has launched safeguards especially designed to protect small businesses and their employees from potential cyber threats and data breaches.
The company said its platform enables small businesses to pinpoint and understand risks, develop a customized cybersecurity action plan, and identify the tools needed to safeguard the business.
Read on for more details.
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Simplifile names vice president
Posted Date: Friday, April 12, 2019
Simplifile has promoted a company veteran to vice president of national accounts.
Read on for more details.
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Soaring prices increasing multi-generational homes
Posted Date: Thursday, April 11, 2019
A comprehensive study examining home purchasing trends found that more and more buyers are purchasing multi-generational homes, often because their adult children have either moved back or never left home.
The study from the National Association of Realtors also found that millennials are the most active generation of buyers for the sixth consecutive year.
Read on for more details.
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NS3 Preview: Learning practical applications of Blockchain
Posted Date: Thursday, April 11, 2019
During the National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) June 18-20 in Phoenix, SafeChain co-founder and CEO Tony Franco and Fidelity National Financial’s Jason Nadeau will discuss the practical applications of Blockchain.
Read on to learn what session attendees can expect to learn.
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Stewart selects business developer for Puget Sound
Posted Date: Thursday, April 11, 2019
Stewart Title has selected a former WFG vice president to spearhead its growth in Bellevue, Wash., and in the surrounding areas of King County, the company announced.
Stewart’s newest executive has more than 30 years of escrow and title insurance experience, including previously owning a title and escrow agency that eventually was sold to First American Title Insurance Co.
Read on for more details.
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ClosingCorp integrates with Blend
Posted Date: Thursday, April 11, 2019
ClosingCorp’s residential real estate closing cost data has been integrated into Blend’s lending platform.
Read on for more details.
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OS National expanding Georgia headquarters
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2019
OS National LLC will invest more than $15 million in an expansion of its suburban Atlanta headquarters that will create more than 1,000 jobs, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
OS National Managing Partner Jamie Wunder said the company believes its Gwinnett County headquarters can support its explosive growth and strategic expansion efforts across the U.S.
Read on for more details.
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NS3 Preview: Working together improves efficiency
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2019
At the 2019 National Settlement Services Summit (NS3), Christopher Gulotta, a founding principal of the Gulotta Grabiner Law Group, PLLC, will serve as the lead panelist of “Partners Working Together.” Read on for more details.
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Blockchain platform introduces tokenized contracts
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2019
The developer of a Blockchain-based real estate platform has introduced a tokenized, industry-agnostic digital contract platform, the company announced.
The company’s co-founders said new contract platform will enable individuals or organizations to make deals, create contracts and close transactions on immutable, auditable and transportable tokens for the first time.
Read on for more details.
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NS3 Preview: Sales, marketing in focus
Posted Date: Monday, April 8, 2019
How do title agencies market their companies to create new relationships to maintain their current level of business or spur growth?
That’s one of the topics to be discussed during the National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) June 18-20 in Phoenix in a session featuring Rich Griffin, vice president, national sales manager of North American Title Insurance Co.; and James Schlimmer, managing partner of Cottrell Title & Escrow.
Read on for more details about that and the other sales and marketing focused sessions on stage at NS3.
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HomeStar Financial Group selling title agency
Posted Date: Friday, April 5, 2019
As part of a definitive agreement to be acquired by Midland States Bancorp, Inc., Illinois-based HomeStar Financial Group has agreed to sell its title agency, the companies announced.
The company’s title agency provides residential, farmland and commercial real estate title underwriting and production, construction escrow, closing services and HUD REOs in Kankakee, Iroquois and Will counties in Illinois.
Read on for more details.
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NS3 Preview: Privacy, wire fraud issues to be tackled
Posted Date: Friday, April 5, 2019
In the last year, several states introduced, and some have passed, data privacy legislation. This year’s legislative session will include several more bills designed to protect consumers’ privacy.
During this same period, wire fraud has more than doubled as fraudsters are getting more knowledgeable about whom to target in the real estate transaction.
Both issues significantly impact the escrow industry and two industry leaders will share their insights during the National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) June 18-20 in Phoenix.
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Stewart selects ZOCCAM
Posted Date: Friday, April 5, 2019
Stewart Title has partnered with ZOCCAM to allow its agents in select markets to receive earnest money and documents through the latter’s secure platform designed to reduce the risk of fraud, the companies announced.
Stewart CEO Matt Morris said customer experience and security both are paramount to the company, and the partnership with ZOCCAM supports those objectives.
Read on for more details.
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ServiceLink integrates with Tavant
Posted Date: Friday, April 5, 2019
ServiceLink has integrated its EXOS Title, EXOS Valuations and EXOS Close with Tavant’s AI-powered digital lending platform.
Read on for more details.
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Loan defects continue to rise
Posted Date: Friday, April 5, 2019
The five states with the greatest year-over-year increases in defect frequency in February were Maine, New York, West Virginia, Nebraska and Iowa.
Read on for more details.
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Working to improve title searches
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Title agents sometimes struggle with their third-party relationships, especially regarding accuracy, turn time and meeting compliances.
Visionet Systems Inc.’s latest solution, D-TRAC (Digitized Title Research and Collation), seeks to simplify matters for title agents, especially related to bulk title searches.
Read on to learn what Managing Director Alok Bansal told The Title Report about Visionet’s latest offering.
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Zillow rebrands mortgage business
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Zillow has rebranded the mortgage origination business it acquired last year to become Zillow Home Loans.
Zillow’s acquisition of Mortgage Lenders of America is part of the company’s effort to capture customers selling to the company or buying from it via its portfolio of real estate brands.
Read on for more details.
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Vendorly partnering with BitSight
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Vendorly now is an authorized reseller of BitSight Security Ratings.
Read on for more details.
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Median-priced homes too expensive for most
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Median home prices in the first quarter of 2019 were not affordable for average wage earners in more than 70 percent of U.S. counties.
Read on for more details.
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IDS adds eClosing option to platform
Posted Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2019
International Document Services, Inc. has enhanced its idsDoc platform to include full eClosing capabilities.
Read on for more details.
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Simplifile eRecording now statewide in Maryland
Posted Date: Monday, April 1, 2019
With the recent addition of St. Mary’s County, Maryland has become the 10th state in the Simplifile network to implement eRecording statewide.
Read on for more details.
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