Back to top
Join us on LinkedIn Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram
 
  OCTOBER RESEARCH STORE SUBSCRIBE LOG IN
AddControlToContainer_DynamicNavigation1

What’s in Store for the Title Industry in 2022 and beyond

Email A Friend Printer Friendly Version
0 comments
Sponsored Content
Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Patrick Stone, Founder and Executive Chairman of WFG National Title Insurance Company, cites five areas of change or concern.

On February 23rd, WFG National Title Insurance Company Founder and Executive Chairman Patrick F. Stone laid out key areas within the title industry that he is "concerned about, worried about, or focused on."

It came during WFG's Q1 "Quarterly Economic Outlook" webinar, which Stone co-hosts with noted economist Bill Conerly. These live, web-based Q&A sessions began in mid-2020 as a way for Stone to maintain his company's founding pledge to "communicate, collaborate and co-exist" with title agents and clients during the distancing days of the pandemic.

In 2022, as the webinar enters its third year, its audience is bigger than ever despite the easing of travel restrictions and the return of in-person conference attendance. And, with demand for balanced, insightful analysis of title insurance, real estate and the global economy stronger than ever, the series has expanded to a full hour. Conerly and Stone each offer opening statements before working through a series of questions submitted by audience members in advance.

Stone's remarks ended with five areas of change or concern he believes will impact the title insurance and real estate industries over the next one, three and five years.

1. Cyber security

"Number one is cyber security," Stone said emphatically. "I want to tell you straight up, if you haven't had your system audited and looked at, please do so. Our subsidiary WEST provides cyber security audits. Use us or use somebody, but take a look at your cyber security. Cyber threats and cyber theft have been around awhile, and a lot of it comes from Russia. Now, because of the Ukraine situation, the amount of Russian cyber threats will be going up dramatically, and I can guarantee you it is going to be a real problem in our industry.

He underscored the ancillary impact, even for those businesses that are not breached.

"If you can't assure your clients that you have good cyber security," he continued, "you can lose clients. You may also find lenders are going to be less willing to work with you unless you can state definitively that you have good cyber security – that has been audited – and you stand behind it."

2. Technology

The second thing he discussed was technology.

"We're going to see a lot of automation," he said. "I don't know if we will see tremendous change in eClosings. I don't think eClosings will happen as fast as people want them to, in part because we haven't really quantified the time or cost savings that result from eClosings."

He mentioned hybrid eClosings, which he said will continue, and Remote Online Notarizations (RON), in which he sees progress being made.

"There have been self-funded studies that indicate there is a time and cost savings from eClosings and RON, but lenders need to be able verify and validate the savings and efficiencies for themselves. We can’t expect them to make a lot of changes and invest in these technologies until they can validate that they will experience a return on investment quickly, and we’re not there yet."

On the subject of other changes he sees coming in the next few years, he expects there will be increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as more business services are automated through the cloud.

He admitted that he is not a big fan of blockchain with regard to real estate, but thinks it will have applicability, perhaps with a blockchain certification, or seal, placed on some data packages.

"Nevertheless," he continued, "technology is going to be very important. I think if I could give you any advice at all, it's to be aware, to pay attention, and to make sure you can validate your cyber security right now. Be cognizant of what's happening and stay abreast of it. I don't think you have to lead the charge, but you need to know what's going on."

3. Consolidation in Title

His third and fourth concerns involve consolidation.

"You're going to see a tremendous amount of consolidation in our industry," he said. "It's going to start this year within the title insurance industry. We have a tremendous amount of agents and underwriters, and I do think that the downturn in the market, with refis abating, is putting economic pressure on companies that will result in some consolidation."

4. Consolidation in Real Estate

"You'll also see real estate industry consolidation," he continued. "Lenders, Realtors and title companies will become owned by a single entity. A lot of us have wondered why that hasn't happened sooner, and there are a lot of reasons for it from the regulatory point of view. But I think you're going to start seeing industrywide consolidation occur, probably within two to three years."

5. Regulation

He then offered commentary about regulatory issues.

"You know that the title insurance industry candidly has benefited from the fact that we pay very low premium taxes," he admitted. "So consequently we're not a large part of any insurance department's revenue stream and we don't get a lot of attention. I can guarantee you that will change as you see more consolidation in the real estate industry. And I do believe that you are going to see more data calls and more regulatory examination of our rates.”

"And, liability-based pricing, as I've said for a long time, can't go on forever," he said. "I’ve been surprised how long it has gone on with minimal changes, but I do think you’ll see liability based pricing impacted and modified by some loss analysis through data calls and industry stats. There will still be some relationship to risk assumed, but you won’t see higher premiums on repetitive insurance of the same property. Reissue rates aside, our overall premiums realized are impacted meaningfully through property price appreciation, even with the risk profile mitigated by multiple exams of the same property.”

 

To watch the full hour-long WFG Q1 “Quarterly Economic Outlook” webinar click here, or visit https://wfgtitle.com/news/.

 

Link to this for “click here” hyperlink: https://vimeo.com/681866519.

 About Williston Financial Group

Williston Financial Group (Portland, Oregon) is the parent company of WFG National Title Insurance Company, WFG Lender Services, WFG Default Services, Valutrust Solutions, LLC, WEST, and other title, settlement and technology solutions providers.  It is one of the fastest growing national title insurance and settlement services providers in the mortgage and real estate services industry.

 

Today's other top stories
WFG’s 15-Year Journey: Fueled by Gratitude and Innovation
WFG Celebrates 15 Years of Innovation, Growth, and Gratitude
5 Problems Your Title Production Software Should Solve for You
How WFG Helped Legacy Settlement Services Recover from Wire Fraud — And Come Back Stronger
Surviving Wire Fraud: How WFG Helped Legacy Settlement Services Rebuild and Protect Their Future


COMMENT BOX DISCLAIMER:
October Research is not responsible for the comments posted on its websites by readers. We will do our best to remove comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments.
Comments:

Be the first to leave a comment.

Leave your comment
Please enter a comment.
CAPTCHA Validation
CAPTCHA
Code:
Please enter the word displayed in the image above. Please enter the word displayed in the image above.
: 
Please enter your name.
: 
Please enter your email address.
This field must contain a valid email address.
Your Email is for reporting purposes only. It will NOT be displayed.
Popularity:
This article has been viewed 3848 times.


News by Topic   News by Edition   In-depth Reports   Events   Subscribe
Announcements
Conference Coverage
Cyberawareness
Industry News
Market Data
People on the Move
Technology
Trendsetters
The TRID Journey
 
April 7, 2025
April 21, 2025
May 5, 2025
May 19, 2025
June 2, 2025
Archives
 
2025 Voice of the Title Agent Report
2025 State of the Industry Report
Cybersecurity Today
2024 Title Technology
eClosing Innovations
Technology as a Compliance Tool
Trendsetters
Archives
 
 
National Settlement Services Summit (NS3)
Women's Leadership Summit (WLS)
Webinars
 
Newsletter Subscriptions
Free Email Updates
Try a Free Edition
  Resources   About   Other Publications  
 
Keys to Real Estate Podcast
Blog - Tuesdays with Mary
eClosing Solutions Showcase
Best Practices Provider Directory
Industry Partners
 
The Title Report
Contact / Editors
Social Media
Advertise
Request a Media Kit
Are You An Expert?
Subscriber Agreement
 
The Legal Description
RESPA News
Valuation Review
Dodd Frank Upate
 
                 
Copyright © 1999-2025 The Title Report
An October Research, LLC publication
3046 Brecksville Road, Suite D, Richfield, OH 44286
(330) 659-6101, All Rights Reserved
www.thetitlereport.com | Privacy Policy
VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
> Valuation Review
> RESPA News
> The Legal Description
> Dodd Frank Update
> NS3 The Summit
> Women's Leadership Summit
> October Research, LLC
> The October Store


Loading... Loading...
Featuring:
  • Delivery 3X a week plus breaking news as it happens
  • Comprehensive title insurance industry news
  • Recent acquisitions, mergers, real estate stats
  • Exclusive in-depth coverage of the industry's hottest stories
Featuring:
  • Delivery 2X a week plus breaking news as it happens
  • Comprehensive Dodd-Frank coverage
  • The latest information from the CFPB
  • Full coverage of Congressional hearings
  • Updates on all agency actions
  • Analysis of controversial provisions
  • Release of newest studies and reports
Sign up today and...
  • Be one of the first to know where NS3 is being held
  • Learn about NS3 speakers and sessions
  • Save on registration with Super-Early Bird rates
  • Discover the networking opportunities NS3 offers
  • Find out if CE credits will be offered for your area
  • And much more
Featuring:
  • Delivery 2X a week plus breaking news as it happens
  • Preview the latest RESPAnews.com Top Story
  • RESPA related headline news
  • Quote of the Week
Featuring:
  • Delivery 2X a week plus breaking news as it happens
  • Legal, regulatory and legislative information impacting the settlement services industry
  • News from HUD, Congress, state legislatures and other regulatory agencies
  • Follow the lobbying efforts of all the major national real estate services organizations.
Featuring:
  • Delivery 2X a week plus breaking news as it happens
  • The industry's only full-time newsroom
  • Relevant, up-to-date appraisal industry news
  • Covering the hottest stories and industry trends
NEWS BY TOPIC
NEWS BY EDITION
IN-DEPTH REPORTS
EVENTS
RESOURCES
FREE EMAIL UPDATES
ABOUT
SUBSCRIBE
Announcements
Conference Coverage
Cyberawareness
Industry News
Market Data
People on the Move
Technology
Trendsetters
Sponsored Content
Nominate a Trendsetter
What is Trendsetters
Current Edition
May 5, 2025
April 21, 2025
April 7, 2025
Archives
2025 Voice of the Title Agent
2025 State of the Industry
Cybersecurity Today
2024 Title Technology
eClosing Innovations
Real Estate Compliance Outlook
Technology as a Compliance Tool
Trendsetters
Archives
Nominate a Trendsetter
What is Trendsetters?
National Settlement
Services Summit (NS3)
Women's Leadership
Summit (WLS)
Webinars
Evolving Realtor Relationships
2025 Economic Outlook Series
CFPB's Shake-Up & Its Impact
Artificial Intelligence for Title
Industry and Regulatory Outlook
RESPA Updates You Need to Know
Strategies post-NAR settlement
Fraud Threats Facing Title
Evolving Consumer Relationships
Excess Equity
RESPA Compliance Essentials
Securing Your Cyber Network
Webinar Archives
Cyber Solutions Showcase
Keys to Real Estate Podcast
Title Insurance at Work
Blog - Tuesdays with Mary
eClosing Solutions Showcase
Executive Interview Series
Best Practices Provider Directory
Industry Partners
The Title Report
Contact Us
Social Media
Advertise
Request a Media Kit
Are You An Expert?
Subscriber Agreement