News By Edition

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a request for information (RFI) on mortgage closing costs, seeking input on how closing costs “may be inflated and constraining” the mortgage lending market. Richard Horn of Garris Horn LLP and former senior counsel at the bureau shared his initial reaction with RESPA News, as did Marx Sterbcow of the Sterbcow Law Group.

As this story develops, we’ll bring you additional comments from industry experts on what this RFI means, and how market participants should react.

Read on for more details.

IT and cybersecurity provider Premier One has launched SMB Defender, a new cyber defense services suite for businesses designed for rapid deployment and scalability.

The platform features Microsoft 365 cloud response as well as real-time threat detection and neutralization on a 24/7 basis, providing comprehensive monitoring to facilitate immediate incident response.

Read on to find out more information.

Texas-based Patten Title has opened a new office for its south Austin, Texas, team, which company leaders called a response to increased demand for services.

The new office will be led by an area vice president and senior escrow officer with 20 years of experience in the industry.

Read on to find out more information.

 ATTOM added building footprints to its nationwide property database, improving mortgage industry underwriting accuracy as well as risk and cost assessment for insurers.

Existing buildings are realigned with updated parcel data once every quarter and new buildings are incorporated into the system twice a year.

Read on to find out more information.

October Research’s Q2 Economic Forecast Series webinar invited First American Financial Corp. Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi to provide insight on interest rates, housing affordability and more.

Read on to find out more information.

Stewart Information Services Corp. promoted its central states agency district manager to fill the position of group president of agency services following the departure of a longtime leader.

Read on to find out more.

Young people take out the majority of mortgages because they’re of prime homebuying age, gaining financial stability and growing families, and are less likely to pay in cash, according to Redfin analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.

Read on to find out more.

CertifID is launching CertifID Match, an identity verification tool aiming to proactively stamp out recent increases in seller impersonation fraud.

CEO and co-founder Tyler Adams sat down with The Title Report to go over product features and share his views on the future of real estate cybersecurity.

Read on to find out more information.

Chicago Title National Commercial Services has established a nationwide self-storage group, which will be led by Chuck Mills, a 40-year industry veteran, serving as vice president of national sales.

Mills’ foray into the self-storage sector began in 2000, and since then, he has financed more than 500 self-storage loans, totaling over $2 billion.

Read on to find out more information.

A December cyberattack against First American Financial Corp. potentially compromised personal information belonging to roughly 44,000 people, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

On Dec. 20, 2023, First American “elected to isolate systems from the internet” after it identified unauthorized activity in its information technology systems, the company told the SEC.

Read on to find out more.

Corporate Settlement Solutions and GridBase are expanding their integration to allow lenders to order property reports, flood zone determinations and recordings within the Encompass LOS platform.

Read on to find out more.

Dark Matter Technologies has tapped an industry leader with more than a decade of experience in mortgage origination product development as its deputy chief product officer.

Read on to find out more.

A new report from property data curator ATTOM shows second quarter vacant properties matching figures seen in the first quarter.

Read on to find out more.

Alanna.ai has put forth Secure DocLink, a new secure document delivery system that creates a temporary connection between real estate agents, buyers and sellers to their title and closing documents.

For the title agent, there is no need to expose the documents to or store them with third parties with any associated or potential risks.

Read on to find out more.

Radian Group’s first quarter earnings report showed a 3 percent year-over-year increase in companywide revenue but a marginal drop in title services revenue and net title premiums earned.

The company reported total first quarter revenue of $319 million, down from $329 million in the fourth quarter but up year-over-year from $310 million.

Read on to find out more information.

Columbus, Ohio-based Razi Title’s lead generation solution Hot Leads is spelling positive results for title and real estate clients, including immediate increases in new orders.

Among other features, Hot Leads provides users with real-time notifications whenever a property they have previously closed is listed on the market.

Read on to find out more information.

New Jersey-based National Integrity Title Agency has appointed a title industry veteran with three decades of experience as its new director of operations.

Read on to find out more information.

A new partnership between Snapdocs and SitusAMC will allow warehouse banks to scale eNote adoption from within their system of record.

Read on to learn more.

House prices keep rising because this spring’s inventory is lower than usual. The sliver of good news for buyers is that mortgage rates have declined slightly, according to Redfin.

Read on to learn more.

Minnesota-based title and real estate technology provider CloseSimple is launching multiple new portal features to combat seller impersonation fraud and wire fraud.

The new wire fraud and identity verification solutions are now available as part of a full customer experience package, driven by integrations with SoftPro, RamQuest, and Resware.

Read on to find out more information.

Title Leader's new marketplace allows customers to drop in a spreadsheet of parcels, choose three title companies and receive three quotes in one spot.

According to Title Leader CEO M. Monroe Jett, the new marketplace makes it easy to find vendors and title companies, keeps prices down and accelerates turn times.

Read on to find out more information.

The National Federation of Independent Business’ Small Business Optimism Index rose slightly in April, but owners continued to report business hurdles related to inflation.

A net 26 percent (seasonally adjusted) of owners planned price hikes in April, down seven points and the lowest reading since April of last year.

Read on to find out more.

The Closing Agent has added a relationship manager with roughly one decade of industry experience within the company’s home market of central Florida.

Read on to find out more.

Pythonic Corp. is partnering with Michigan-based Legacy Title to provide the firm with technology to automatically split and sort closing packages.

Read on to find out more.

A new report from ATTOM shows median single-family home and condo prices increasing from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024 in nearly half of Opportunity Zones around the country.

Read on to learn more.

Title insurance and mortgage technology provider Viking Sasquatch is launching 24|Seven Fees, a new fee/pricing engine aiming to revolutionize how title agents and lenders deal with fee estimates and quoting. CEO Pat Carney shared his insight with The Title Report.

Carney highlighted the ability for agents to input and update their own fees, a level of control and customization he said is not typically offered by other calculators on the market.

Read on to find out more information.

Attendees at this year’s National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in Naples, Fla., helped bring smiles to the faces of young cancer patients during the “Make a Child Smile” community service event, sponsored by Qualia.

Read on to find out more.

A new study by consulting firm Milliman found the average title insurance claim for fraud and forgery costs $143,000.

Including fraud and forgery, the analysis found nearly 30 percent of title insurers’ losses and claims expenses arose from title problems not discoverable from a public records search.

Read on to find out more information from the study.

SoftPro has released a new integration with TitleLogix Solutions for tax and homeowners association certificates.

Read on to find out more.

Kensington Vanguard National Land Services appointed a new senior underwriting counsel who will lead operations in Chicago.

Read on to find out more information.

Redfin reports the share of houses for sale that are brand new is hovering at a level that’s nearly double the pre-pandemic rate.

Read on to find out more information.

Texas-based National Title Group has broadened its Lone Star State footprint with a new office in Frisco. Managing Partner Danny Helms spoke with The Title Report.

National Title Group has been operating since 2020, but its core leadership has been in the title insurance business for more than 40 years.

Read on to find out more information.

California-based real estate technology provider Realeo is launching its own title business, with licensing secured in all 58 counties within its home state.

Additionally, Realeo announced a new integration with Encompass through Encompass Partner Connect, aiming to streamline processes and allow for greater efficiency and convenience.

Read on to find out more information.

More than 45 speakers will take the stage over three days this week at the 20th National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) at Naples Grande Beach Resort in Naples, Fla.

Over 600 attendees will hear from them during 18 sessions, beginning Tuesday, May 21.

Read on to find out more information.

New enhancements to LoanLogics’ LoanBeam income calculation services provides lenders with expanded automation and a broader array of tools for the same per-application costs.

Read on to learn more information.

WFG National Title Insurance Co. has brought on an industry veteran with more than four decades of title industry experience as its Southwest regional manager for agency operations.

Read on to find out more.

New data from Zillow shows seven out of 10 top homebuying markets are located within Florida or Texas, with Buffalo, N.Y., and California’s Bay Area ranking high for sellers.

Read on to find out more.

Alanna.ai has put forth Secure DocLink, a new secure document delivery system that creates a temporary connection between real estate agents, buyers and sellers to their title and closing documents.

For the title agent, there is no need to expose the documents to or store them with third parties with any associated or potential risks.

Read on to find out more.