News By Edition

The Title Report recently had the opportunity to catch up with Steven Black, chief operating officer and president of Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. He discussed continuing the legacy of his former mentor, the late Mary O’Donnell, the leadership qualities necessary for success, as well as his priorities and goals for the company moving forward.

Allied Title and Escrow expanded its footprint and now serves residential clients across 14 states, continuing a trajectory that began with a single office.

The Puerto Rico Privacy Association is leading the latest legal challenge of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network residential real estate reporting rule, which took effect March 1. They argue the rule’s information collection mandates could put those involved in such transactions at risk for doxxing or identity theft.

Loretta Salzano, founder and president at Franzén and Salzano, and Michael Ridgway, president/CEO at Community Title Network and managing member of the Ridgway Law Group, answered a few questions about what they plan to cover in their upcoming October Research, LLC webinar.

Snapdocs recently announced a new hire. The new employee at the company will focus on helping customers translate digital strategy into operational results across the loan lifecycle.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has hit a milestone that underscores the mortgage industry’s accelerating shift toward digital loan production.

The national median sales price for a home hit $365,185 in the fourth quarter of 2025, almost $10,000 less than the prior quarter but still one of the highest typical sales prices recorded, according to ATTOM’s Housing Risk Report.

A Maryland-based title company recently joined forces with Community Title Network (CTN) in a move that CTN’s leader said will strengthen the firm’s ability to provide service to real estate professionals.

The joint venture between Rezervology and Titl brings together artificial intelligence-powered data consumption, parsing, pre-examination and hyperlinking in a single automated workflow.

Acrisure Title of Texas’ new location provide residential and commercial title and escrow services to real estate agents, lenders, builders and homebuyers in the Houston metropolitan region.

Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. has a new agency representative. This individual has spent the past 20 years supporting both residential and commercial transactions.

Zillow, Google will launch NotebookLM, a featured notebook users can utilize to ask home-buying questions and get responses grounded in Zillow’s guidance.

Almost 45,000 homes that were delisted last year were relisted for sale in January, according to Redfin.

Compass Inc. reported revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 was $1.7 billion, a 23.1 percent year-over-year increase and the strongest fourth quarter results in history, according to CEO Robert Reffkin.

Although seven of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts reported a slight to moderate rise in overall economic activity, most districts have experienced a drop in residential real estate sales and activity.

The National Federation of Independent Business February Jobs Report showed that the Small Business Employment Index ticked up nearly 1 point.

Qleario Inc. recently announced a new hire. This individual has nearly 40 years of experience working in title and real estate technology.

Optimal Blue’s new Virtual Economist will address the disconnect between economic insight and day-to-day execution that the company’s lender clients are facing.

The decline of the weekly average mortgage rate has pushed the median monthly housing payment down to a level that is 2.6 percent lower than it was a year ago, according to Redfin.

Radian Group Inc. reported a 3 percent year-over-year decrease in net income in the fourth quarter of 2025, but a nearly 13 percent increase in book value per share in the same time frame.

House-buying power rose from $340,000 In 2022 to $417,000 in December 2025. It’s the first time in three years that median house-buying power is in the surplus territory, according to First American Senior Economist Sam Williamson.

CATIC has a new team member using her background as a paralegal to strengthen agency relationships and support growth.

Clear Title has released a FinCEN reporting solution implementing a system across the company’s operations and is now making the service available to their customers and clients to help them comply with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's Residential Real Estate Rule.

The small drop in the typical first-time homebuying age was due to a moderate improvement in affordability from 2024 to 2025 and a bit more inventory, according to Redfin.

At the TitleCON conference recently held in Nashville, Tenn., four panelists presented the topic “Women Who Lead: Innovating Title Through Tech.” The Title Report spoke with some of them after the conference for more insight on title innovation.

Florida Agency Network’s new title and settlement services company formed in affiliation with a law firm will focus on delivering solutions for clients seeking security, efficiency and expertise in high-value transactions.

While Investors Title Co.’s revenue declined by 1.6 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, revenue for the complete year increased by 5.6 percent compared with 2024.

Title Resources Group has a new appointee with more than 20 years of experience as a real estate and title insurance attorney.

FirstCLose and TruStage recently announced a partnership that will see FirstClose managing the data, workflow and delivery, while TruStage will apply compliance rules to generate documents, according to Tedd Smith, CEO of First Close Inc.

Nearly 40,000 home-sale agreements in the U.S. were canceled in January, the highest amount in January in nine years, according to Redfin.