News By Edition

The National Settlement Services Summit has come and gone once again, but the business education doesn’t have to end there, as evidenced in the July 1 edition of The Title Report and throughout the last few weeks here on TheTitleReport.com. The most apparent takeaway from the conference, for me, was the dichotomy in the title industry right now. What are your thoughts? In your business, does it feel like the best of times or the worst? What keeps you up at night?

During the National Settlement Services Summit in Cleveland, Phil Schulman, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of K&L Gates, informed attendees about the current regulatory landscape and explained how the new regulatory reforms, like the ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage (QM) rules, affect every real estate settlement service provider.

ServiceLink, an end-to-end origination, servicing and default solutions provider for the top mortgage lenders and servicers, announced from the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) 2013 User Conference the availability of its MERS Reconciliation and Resolution program.

Baillie & Hershman P.C. announced that Elton “Bud” Harvey III has been elected chairman of the Connecticut Bar Association Real Property Section for 2013-2014. Harvey has been a member of the Real Property Section Executive Committee since 1994.

Deedback Solutions, a division of Reservation Services International (RSI), has confirmed a strategic partnership with Stewart Title Co. to provide a professional and seamless service that sees the return of recovered timeshare inventory to a resort or its designee.

Entitle Direct, the title industry’s only direct-to-consumer title insurance underwriter, released a new guide to help consumers understand the title process and services, called the Smart Consumer’s Guide to Reducing Closing Costs. Read on for the details, and what the tips the guide provides to encourage consumer comparison shopping.

Williston Financial Group, the parent company of WFG National Title Insurance Co., has acquired Community Title Services of Nevada. Based in Las Vegas, Community Title Services of Nevada will now operate as WFG National Title Co. of Nevada.

A regional underwriter in 2013 isn’t so much defined by geography as it is by capital surplus. That surplus increases the focus on claims response and mitigation, on applications and audits, and it can limit the availability of certain larger real estate deals. But that size is also used to an underwriter’s advantage.

The core business of the title underwriter is claims. All decision-making, in one way or another, comes from how this will affect or is affected by the claims experience.

“Claims is the most critical issue with our agents,” said Dave Ginger, president of Alliant National Title Insurance Co. “It is negative, but it’s a critical issue because we are smaller capitalized.”

Ginger was joined by Scott Chandler, executive vice president, director of agency at Westcor, and John Fries, executive vice president and chief underwriting counsel at North American Title Insurance Co., on stage, June 12, at the National Settlement Services Summit to share the advantages, opportunities and challenges present for regional underwriters. Part one of this panel covered audits, applications and agent review procedures.

Real Estate Data Shield announced the launch of a web-based Compliance Management Platform for the title and settlement industry. The platform is set up so title and settlement companies can immediately access and find the tools they need to meet the data security compliance mandates of regulators, lenders and the title industry's best practice initiatives. 

RealtyTrac reported that foreclosure filings inched up 2 percent in May from April, but is still down 28 percent year over year. The monthly increase in overall foreclosure activity was caused largely by an 11 percent month-over-month increase in bank repossessions (REOs), although REO activity was still down 29 percent from a year ago.

A research analyst at Stephens Inc. recently was quoted on The Wall Street Transcript discussing how Stewart Information Services Corp. is positioned well in the market for when the decrease in refinance activity hits its full swing. Read on for his reasoning.

Linear Title, one of the leaders and top innovators in the title industry, has recently assigned someone to the position of vice president of compliance and quality control. Read on for more about the new assignment and his background at Linear.

Throughout the National Settlement Services Summit, the buzzword was compliance. That word permeated through several regulatory-focused sessions, but also made its way into business development sessions. In one such session, speakers described ways to communicate value to customers in this new era of compliance. Read on to find out more.

The application process and ongoing audits and reviews are key pieces of building a quality title agent network for any underwriter, but the attention paid to these processes has increased. A panel of top executives at three regional underwriters took the stage at the National Settlement Services Summit to discuss these processes and how they contribute to their business models, and how they hopefully will help build a bridge to the lending and regulatory community.

Local knowledge key in application

One could argue that these processes are even more vital for regional underwriters because their smaller capital surplus minimizes their margin for error in choosing whom to do business with. That is true, but that smaller, more regional focus also enhances these companies’ ability to know who they are signing up and allow all of the key decision makers to have a say on the process and outcome.

Scott Chandler, executive vice president, director of agency at Westcor, said it starts at the field level and relying on local agency representatives that understand the area and the agents even before application or recommendation for application. From there, an applicant would progress to the regional manager for review.

“Often they know the agent as well, so that’s easy,” Chandler said, further commenting on the importance of local knowledge and developed relationships. “Then there is a period of time where we go through the application approval process. I’m at end of that trail. By the time I get the application, it’s been vetted, looked at carefully, and often I know who that agent is.

Riverside Abstract hired a new senior vice president and Eastern regional sales director, who boasts many years of experience within the title industry, as well as a background in the banking and lending industries.

Mortgage applications increased 5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 7.  Last week’s results included an adjustment for the Memorial Day holiday.

Interthinx has released its quarterly Mortgage Fraud Risk Report, covering data collected in the first quarter of 2013. With the debut of its new interactive report, Interthinx has made major changes and enhancements to its Mortgage Fraud Risk Index. It is now possible to explore different views of meaningful data simply by clicking on the various elements of the online report.

Work together and speak up about concerns you may have about how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will enforce its requirement that lenders oversee all of their vendors. These were two of the main takeaways from a session on lender liability at the National Settlement Services Summit on June 11. The group also discussed how agents could start working with lenders now, despite the lack of clarity from the CFPB at this point.

“I think the stage is set, it’s time to take action even though the specifics of this vender due diligence, management and oversight have not been completely fleshed out,” said Francis “Trip” Riley, of the Princeton, N.J., office of Saul Ewing. “I think it’s time for you guys to start talking to, on the front end, your creditors and mortgage servicers about what they expect from you if they haven’t already, and on the back end, if you have third-party vendors yourselves who talk to consumers, you should do the same thing your creditors and mortgage servicers are doing to you.”

Penny Reed, vice president at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, agreed, and noted that while lenders are working on third-party vendor issues, they are also dealing with several other rulemakings that have nothing to do with the settlement industry.

“It has been difficult, from the lender side, even to get focused on this part of it,” she said. “My recommendation to all of you is to reach out to the lenders that you deal with and make sure you are finding the people at that lender who are working on third-party issues and integrated disclosures because you are not going to find it in the team that is doing financial reform, necessarily, because they are bogged down with some of those other things that are out there.”

She noted that the initial reaction she had when she saw the memo that came out in 2012 was that it appeared to be a restatement of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s original statement in 2001. However, she said banks knew what the OCC was looking for because they were a safety and soundness regulator. If the bank had a multimillion-dollar relationship with the vendor, it did a significantly higher level of due diligence.

Title industry participants continue to speak out about the efforts of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to combine the mortgage disclosures required under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Attendees at the National Settlement Services Summit in Cleveland had the opportunity to share some of their biggest concerns with a top CFPB rule maker on June 11.

The National Settlement Services Summit isn’t just about title industry support and improvement; it’s also about community improvement. That’s no more evident than at the Make a Child Smile: Charity Bicycle Building Event sponsored by Winward Consulting | Software LLC. At this year's Summit, volunteers spent an afternoon with the October Research staff assembling bicycles that will be donated to a northeast Ohio organization named Guidestone.

Day one of the National Settlement Services Summit contained all sorts of practical, every day information for running a title business in 2013, in addition to some of the high-level talking points about industry change involving regulators and lenders. The standout nugget, for me, was this simple idea: “The market has never put anybody out of business.”

Positivity permeated the grand ballroom of Cleveland’s Marriott at Key Center hotel as Bill Cosgrove, vice chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the chief executive officer of Union Home Mortgage Corp, kicked off the 2013 National Settlement Services Summit. As the housing market continues to improve, it’s becoming a key component to pulling the country out of the recession. While housing numbers are encouraging, Cosgrove cautioned that we need to ensure we have the proper mortgage industry structure in place as we continue through the “year of implementation.”

October Research LLC, publisher of The Title Report, The Legal Description, Valuation Review, RESPA News and Dodd Frank Update, today announced the winners in its annual awards program, launched to honor men and women in the mortgage and settlement services industries for exemplary accomplishment in the areas of leadership, innovation and philanthropy.

Mandrien Consulting announced the launch of a custom website design and digital marketing package specially tailored to promote financial services companies. Read on for more information and to take a look at the company’s PDF presentation.

SoftPro, a provider of real estate closing and title insurance software nationwide, is a finalist in support and customer service at the 2013 American Business Awards on June 17 in Chicago. Read on for more about the recognition and the company.

ClosingCorp, a provider of residential real estate closing cost data and technologies for mortgage lenders, real estate professionals and consumers, announced a partnership with TSS Software Corp. at the National Settlement Services Summit. Using ClosingCorp’s SmartGFE Calculator, customers of TSS Software’s TitleExpress receive title and settlement orders from lenders through the online calculator. 

RedVision, a provider of title reports and real property research solutions, has created a new Loan Modification Services Bundle that the company says directly coincides with the Obama administration’s announced focus on increasing loan modification alternatives for at-risk consumers.

The April Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services found that the rate of foreclosure sales in judicial foreclosure states hit its highest point since 2010. However, the length of time that process is taking — as well as the disparity in foreclosure timelines between judicial and non-judicial states — continues to grow.

Corporate Service Company announced that Diane Matousek, clerk of the Circuit Court, Volusia County, Fla., has begun to electronically record real estate and land use records with their company.

A.M. Best Co. has commented that the ratings of Fidelity National Financial Inc. and its core title insurance subsidiaries remain unchanged following the group’s recent announcement that it has agreed to acquire Lender Processing Services Inc., a provider of integrated technology, data and services to the mortgage lenders. Read on for what the company had to say.

Hamilton National Title, a Carmel, Ind.-based title company, announced the addition of a general counsel and commercial escrow manager. Hamilton National Title is a full-service title and escrow company affiliated with Chicago-based Near North National Title.

As the remaining entities in the title industry reap the rewards of surviving the downturn, the obvious questions become how strong will this recovery be? Contributor Paul D. Osborne, senior financial analyst at Demotech Inc., takes a look at the significant improvements in the title underwriting data and asks if the problems that contributed to the bubble been rectified, or will the cheap money available contribute to the forming of a new bubble? Will the economy support a sustained housing recovery or are austerity measures, whether current, potential or perceived, enough of a check to forestall a more vigorous recovery? 

RealtyTrac announced that two of Oklahoma’s most predominant real estate brokerage companies Prudential Alliance Realty and Prudential Detrick Realty have been selected as members of the RealtyTrac Network, a licensed network available to leading independent and franchised brokerage companies across the nation.

Mortgage applications decreased 11.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 31. Refinance applications and the share of refinances both hit their lowest point since 2011.

More than 750 homebuilders from across the nation converged on Capitol Hill for the annual National Association of Home Builders Legislative Conference to urge their lawmakers to support policies that they believe will keep the housing recovery moving forward. Read on for a list and explanation of the group’s top four issues up for debate.