News By Edition

Homebuilder and title insurance provider Dream Finders Homes (DFH) has entered into an agreement to acquire Colorado-based Alliant National Title Co., with closing subject to regulatory approval.

DFH builds single-family homes throughout the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. Alliant National is the largest independent title underwriter in the country with no direct or affiliated operations, employing more than 700 agents in 32 states and Washington, D.C.

Read on to find out more information.

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Sun Title has put forth a suite of resources to help Hispanic homebuyers and sellers navigate the real estate transaction.

Features of the new initiative include bilingual customer support, educational workshops, a free artificial intelligence resource in Spanish and personalized guidance throughout the process. 

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Small business optimism remained historically low in September, with uncertainty among owners reaching a record high, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.

About one in three small-business owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, down from August and the lowest reading since January 2021.

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Associated Bank has brought on a long-time financial services industry leader to help guide its new specialty deposit and payment solutions national vertical.

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Sourcepoint is investing in the construction of a large language model tailored for the mortgage process, with capabilities including classification, extraction, recommendation and summarization.

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Pending home sales posted their biggest year-over-year increase since 2021 in mid-October, but some house hunters are starting to pull back, according to Redfin.

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A Jacksonville, Fla.-based homebuilder has entered into an agreement to acquire underwriter Alliant National Title Insurance Co. and an affiliate. 

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A wire and title fraud analytics report for the third quarter from FundingShield showed nearly half of transactions in an $82 billion portfolio had issues leading to heightened fraud risk.

Wire-related errors were also a significant concern, affecting 8.1 percent of transactions in the third quarter. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter in which wire-related issues have surpassed 8 percent.

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Adoption of real-time payments continues to increase across the title insurance industry, with innovation representing a leap in transaction speed as well as a shift in how transactions are processed.

Services such as The Clearing House’s RTP Network have experienced rapid growth, now utilized by hundreds of financial institutions and processing tens of millions of transactions every month.

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New data from AM Best showed a still-subdued housing market remaining a detriment for title insurance premium volume, but recently lowered interest rates could spell improvement.

According to the report, the volume of direct premiums written declined for the second-straight year in 2023, by 32 percent to $14.3 billion.

Read on for more findings from the AM Best report.

Florida-based Vantage Point Title has tapped a new CEO, promoting an industry veteran who’s served in leadership roles with the company since 2021.

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A title industry digital marketing provider is partnering with a web accessibility firm to improve the functionality of title websites for individuals living with disabilities.

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Builders are turning to higher density projects such as condos and townhomes as widespread affordability hurdles continue to stifle homebuyers, according to Zillow.

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Home equity investment originator Splitero has received a $300 million investment that will go toward providing services to more homeowners, the company announced.

This announcement comes at a time of record home equity. Homeowners collectively hold $11.5 trillion of accessible home equity, according to ICE Mortgage Monitor.

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At October Research’s second annual Women’s Leadership Summit, Life Coach and Counselor Michelle Fraley presented “Stress Management for Busy People” and offered strategies for coping with stress and getting out of flight-or-fight mode.

She described stress as the physiological response to perceived danger that causes the brain to go into fight-flight-or-freeze mode.

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Westcor Land Title Co. has brought on a veteran attorney with more than 35 years of experience in real estate transactions and title disputes to serve as underwriting counsel.

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TitleTap announced the launch of its automated customer relationship management solution tailored for title agents and law firms, with artificial intelligence-powered features such as automated follow-ups.

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There are four major metros in two states where the typical starter home went from unaffordable to affordable in the last year, according to Redfin.

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DataTrace has expanded its geographic title plant footprint and announced enhancements to its Starter Xchange program as well as to other platforms.

In addition to continued geographic expansion, DataTrace has significantly deepened the historical data coverage and increased the document image availability for nearly 2,000 counties this year.

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A Maryland-based title group has become affiliated with a growing law firm, allowing for title services to be provided to the firm’s clients and providing customers access to an expanded range of the legal services.

The title group serves real estate title and settlement needs throughout Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia.

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To continue to get the word out about the important role the title industry plays in the real estate transaction, The Title Report invites settlement services providers to share their stories about Title Insurance at Work.

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First American Title promoted a state underwriting counsel to regional underwriting counsel for Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.

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Title Success announced the launch of a new website that features a merger and acquisition listing service, providing detailed listings and the ability to filter based on criteria such as location and asking price.

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New home listings and sales moved closer to pre-pandemic norms in September, with buyers who could have afforded the typical home in May seeing buying power boosted by more than $40,000, according to Zillow.

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Aaron Davis, CEO of Florida Agency Network, is stepping up in his local community after the disastrous Category 3 landfall of Hurricane Milton.

The Hillsborough Title office is serving as a staging area for recovery efforts in Plant City, Fla., and according to those working with Davis on the recovery, he has personally purchased close to 100 chainsaws to assist with clearing debris in affected areas.

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ALTA ONE 2024, the American Land Title Association’s signature annual event, will take place this week in Orlando, Fla., welcoming title professionals to discuss numerous industry topics.  

The Title Report will be live on the ground attending education sessions and taking the opportunity to sit down with industry leaders. Follow us on social media all week for live updates.

Read on to find out more information.

An expanded AgentNet platform from First American Title Insurance Co. aims to provide a single, easy-to-use home for title agents, organized to complement their businesses operations.

Building on the strengths of the existing AgentNet application, the new platform’s navigation allows title agents to easily access business-critical tools and reduces the complexity often associated with multiple systems.

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A white paper recently published by Razi Title Inc. offers advice on leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), tailoring services for different markets and the best utilization of other industry technology to keep up with market changes.

According to Razi Title, agents in larger urban areas often benefit from having dedicated business development officers focused on lead generation and client acquisition, while agents in smaller towns find success through more personal, community-based outreach.

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Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. has added a long-time sales and marketing leader and regional agency manager to its Southwest region business development team.

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Cloud-based title, escrow and accounting production platform provider Settlor has integrated with CloseSimple, the companies announced.

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Foreclosure starts in Q3 are down 10 percent year-over-year while bank repossessions fell 12 percent over the same period, according to ATTOM.

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Independent agent referral network ReferralExchange and technology provider Grid151 are teaming up to launch a new company, ReferralExchange Settlement Services, Inc. 

In addition to building on decades of experience in the title industry through its Grid151 partnership, ReferralExchange Settlement Services has appointed an industry veteran to lead its operations.

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The eClosing process is one of many pieces of the title insurance and real estate industry that has become the target of increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals.

Experts recently shared insight on how companies are walking a fine line of customer experience and cybersecurity when it comes to adopting new eClosing technologies.

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A Fathom Holdings title insurance subsidiary is expanding into Rhode Island, making it the 29th state in its service net, the company announced.

The company said its expansion into Rhode Island supports a mission to provide seamless, high-quality services to real estate professionals and clients across the country.

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Doma Title Insurance has tapped a new regional agency manager for its Texas region, an industry veteran who’s held business development, sales and management positions.

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Anywhere subsidiary Coldwell Banker Realty has integrated with Payload to offer its payment workflow platform across its affiliated real estate agent network.

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Redfin reports 48 percent of all homes for sale in August had been on the market for at least 60 days, up from 43 percent a year ago.

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