News By Edition

Necessary changes in New Jersey’s notary training process as well as advice for title companies on vetting notaries was laid out for The Title Report by Leonna Sylvester, owner of New Jersey Notary Signing Agency (NJNSA).

She detailed pandemic-related changes such as the massive increase in notary signing agents and demand for online notarization, and how they’ve led to less stringent vetting and customer service training.

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Texas Family Title has rebranded as Emerald Title of Texas as the company also launches Emerald National Title, which provides settlement services in 11 states.

Emerald CEO Melissa Daniels sat down with The Title Report to detail what it takes to carry out such an expansion and some unique aspects of the Texas housing market.

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Fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings results from Anywhere Real Estate show declines in companywide revenue and title segment transaction volume.

The company generated $5.6 billion for the full year and $1.25 billion in the fourth quarter, respective declines from $6.9 billion and $1.32 billion in 2022.

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October Research’s strategic planning webinar series recently featured Aaron Davis, CEO of AMD Enterprises, and Jim Campbell, CEO of Title Alliance.

The pair detail four pillars of successful strategic planning: people, process, product and profit. They also delve into areas such as AI implementation and finding the most accurate profit projections.

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FundingShield and CoreLogic have partnered to bring comprehensive title fraud solutions to the CoreLogic Digital Mortgage Platform.

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Doma Title Insurance, Inc. has appointed a new agency manager for its Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky territories, tapping a former agency president who’s held leadership positions for large underwriters.

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New listings posted their biggest increase in two months in mid-February, but mortgage applications and pending sales declined as rates stayed stubbornly high, according to Redfin.

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South Carolina-based Lighthouse Title Insurance Co. recently sat down with The Title Report to detail new artificial-intelligence-powered enhancements to its title search process.

Lighthouse founder Tyler Gregg said the technology is spelling a near-perfect title search accuracy rate while drastically cutting down on manual tasks and the time it takes to get search results.

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A recent earnings report from Radian Group Inc. showed year-over-year net income declines for both the fourth quarter and full year 2023.

Radian’s homegenius segment, which offers an array of title, real estate and real estate technology products and services, brought in $15 million during the fourth quarter, a 21 percent drop year-over-year.

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An updated loan origination system and new delivery method are part of Mortgage Cadence’s version 4.0 MCP platform.

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Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. has brought on an underwriting counsel with more than three decades of experience in the real estate and title insurance industry.

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According to property data curator ATTOM, commercial foreclosures rose by 17 percent in January, essentially doubling what was seen in January 2023.

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Fidelity National Financial reported declines in title segment revenue for both the fourth quarter and full year 2023, with full year segment earnings totaling $7 billion.

Across the fourth quarter, direct title premiums came in at $489 million, a 10 percent decrease from the fourth quarter of 2022.

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New York-based Pippin is launching a new commercial services division, with recent related transactions including solar and wind power farms across the Midwest and Texas.

This past November, Pippin brought in $8 million during a seed funding round earmarked to expand Pippin Green, which applies company title data to renewable energy projects including wind farms and solar farms.

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FedNow, the real-time payment network launched this past summer by the U.S. Federal Reserve, has reported continued significant growth in use of the service.

Since launching with 35 participating institutions, FedNow has seen steady growth with a broad geographic reach and current use base of more than 300 institutions.

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A new partnership between Constellation1 and Fathom Holdings will aim to leverage decades of data service experience and the latest RESO standards for improved Multiple Listing Service data management.

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Skyline Lien Search has brought on a mortgage industry veteran as its new national business development manager.

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According to First American Data & Analytics’ monthly Home Price Index Report, a December dip in mortgage rates may have pushed house prices in many markets to new peaks. However, some markers are staying well below prior peaks.

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With a focus on improving the client experience and reducing administrative burden, St. Louis-based Clever Real Estate has established its own title and escrow company, Clever Title.

The company also promoted a long-time leader to president of closing services, where he’ll help spearhead the launch and management of Clever Title.

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Investors Title Co. posted earnings results from the fourth quarter and full year 2023, showing year-over-year drops in net income and revenue.

Leaders said the reduction in title insurance revenue is attributable to an overall decline in the level of real estate transaction volumes resulting from higher average mortgage interest rates.

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Arizona-based Landmark Title Assurance Agency has opened a new branch in Nevada after establishing operations in that state roughly four years ago.

Landmark currently operates seven offices in the greater Phoenix area, one in Prescott, Ariz., and four in Nevada. The business is a part of Shaddock Companies.

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A new AI-cloud analytics module from Paradatec allows clients to automatically analyze and compare data from multiple documents and systems.

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Ardan, Inc. has appointed a new controller, who brings more than a decade of company experience to the position and will be tasked with overseeing financial operations, to its community of companies.

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Redfin reported new home listings in January dropped for the first time since June and pending sales growth slowed. The report blamed stagnating mortgage rates and the biggest home-price jump in over a year for the market losing momentum.

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Real estate fintech firm Stavvy is preparing to integrate SMART Doc technology into its loss mitigation platform, made possible through a late-2023 acquisition.

Chief Strategy Officer Angel Hernandez sat down with The Title Report to detail the technology’s benefits for real estate professionals and homeowners as well as what he’s seeing in loss mitigation trends industry-wide.

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Chicago-based Proper Title, LLC has launched a new national commercial services division, a move that also entails a significant promotion and multiple new hires.

To date, Proper Title has handled a wide variety of commercial real estate transactions, ranging from multi-unit buildings and car dealerships to condominium deconversions, student housing, medical office buildings and farmland.

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Optimism on Main Street remained low to start the new year, according to new data from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

As reported in NFIB’s monthly jobs report, 39 percent (seasonally adjusted) of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period. Seasonally adjusted, a net 39 percent reported raising compensation.

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Alanna.ai’s virtual assistant has conducted 10 million communications between title agencies and customers, the company recently announced.

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Anywhere Real Estate, Inc. has appointed a prominent figure in data, engineering and product development as its new chief technology officer, while its chief operating officer moves to a new role.

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Completed foreclosures increased month-over-month in 19 states in January while foreclosure starts jumped nationwide year-over-year, according to ATTOM.

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