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October Research, LLC hosted Title 365 Co. Chief Executive Officer Michael Tafoya and Corporation Development Services President Joseph Piernock at the 2014 National Settlement Services Summit. During their “Mergers, Acquisitions and Expansion: A solid plan for today’s business and a vision for the future” presentation, they shared their experience on what it takes to tackle these transactions successfully.

Regulators have made it clear that they want lenders to beef up their oversight of third-party service providers, but just how those expectations will impact the relationship between lenders and the settlement services industry remains unclear. In a keynote speech at October Research, LLC’s 2014 National Settlement Services Summit in New Orleans, Mike Flynn, executive vice president and general counsel with Flagstar Bank, discussed vendor management from the lender’s perspective. Read on to learn about Flynn’s view of the changes that may be coming.

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.

The goal of October Research, LLC’s 2014 National Settlement Services Summit is to help settlement services companies build their businesses and grow their bottom line, but conference goers took time out from networking and attending panel discussions Monday to focus on a more important goal — helping restore the city of New Orleans, one nut and bolt at a time. The third-annual “Make a Child Smile” charity event, sponsored by Winward Consulting | Software LLC,  saw attendees across industries roll up their sleeves to help assemble 30 bikes that will be donated to New Orleans children in need.

Fidelity National Financial’s stockholders have approved four separate proposals related to the formation of a tracking stock. The company recently announced its plan to create a tracking stock for its portfolio company investments. FNF will contribute these portfolio company investments into a new subsidiary, Fidelity National Financial Ventures and create and distribute a class of shares to FNF shareholders that tracks the performance of FNFV. Read on to learn more about this new entity.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new and proposed regulations have everyone in a tizzy — including notary signing agents whose roles and obligations are changing in the face of compliance concerns — and at the National Notary Association’s (NNA) annual conference June 1 to 4 in Phoenix, notaries got a first-hand account of what’s really happening in the real estate and financial service industries.

During a session titled “How Regulation and Compliance Affect Signing Agents,” a panel educated notary signing agents on the changes lenders and title companies are making to comply with new federal regulations. The panel, moderated by Chris Sturdivant, director of business development for the NNA, included Ryan Flaherty, vice president of Closing Agent Vendor Management for ServiceLink, a Black Knight company; Sally Freudenberg, vice president and business systems consultant for Wells Fargo Home and Consumer Finance Group; Shawn Murphy, executive vice president of ValuAmerica; Jim Sloan, vice president of Vendor Management for JPMorgan Chase; and Sam Zaki, senior vice president of National Accounts for First American Mortgage Services.

Jamie Smith-Liggins, founder of Notary Access Association, presented at the National Notary Association (NNA) 2014 Conference in Phoenix, Ariz. October Research, LLC attended her workshop, “Control the Signing Table: Troublesome Signers and Situations” and learned how to make the closing process as pleasant as possible.

“We are aware that proper planning is important,” Smith-Liggins said. “We have to prepare. We have to be professional and provide good customer service. That’s going to go a long way to diffusing problems.”

There’s a new title search software in town, but the team that is about to put it on the market boasts a combined 70 years of title plant industry experience.

Canaan Title Plant will join the likes of AlphaMax3, Data Trace, RedVision, TitleSCAN Web, TitleSearch and many other platforms when Canaan Title Solutions LLC rolls out the full product this fall.

But for now, the four-year-old, four-employee software company in Hardy, Ark., is gearing up to introduce its software to customers and get their feedback. 

North American Title Group contracted with Real Estate Data Shield to provide online training for its settlement services employees as well as other personnel, addressing compliance with data privacy laws and regulations. Keep reading to learn more about this partnership.

Redfin, a real estate brokerage, added Nela Richardson to its ranks as the company’s first chief economist. She comes to Redfin from Bloomberg LP, where she served as a senior economist with Bloomberg Government and served in past roles in the mortgage industry, capital markets and financial policy. 

Gino Blefari, will assume the role of chief executive officer of HSF Affiliates effective Jan. 1, 2015.  HSF Affiliates was formed in 2012 and operates the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Prudential Residential Real Estate and Real Living Real Estate franchise networks.  Keep reading to learn more.

Prairie Title added three account executives to help manage the company’s growing business across the Chicago Metropolitan area. Keep reading to find out who.

First American Title Insurance Co. promoted Evan Zanic to executive vice president and president of First American Title’s Agency Division. Keep reading to learn more about this industry leader.

Peggy Turner was named Title Financial Corp.’s new chief operations officer. The company services 58 counties throughout Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming. Keep reading to learn about its newest executive.

WFG National Title Insurance Co. added an agency sales representative for the company’s Midwest region. The company provides premium title insurance and settlement services to the real estate and mortgage industry.

Fitch Ratings maintains its stable rating outlook for the U.S. title insurance industry. This outlook reflects a belief that rating actions for the industry will on balance approximate current levels over the next 12-18 months. Keep reading to learn more.

Fortune Title Agency Inc., a full service title agency in New Jersey, announced the appointment of a new chief executive officer and majority owner. Keep reading to learn more about this executive.

The Plus Companies in New Jersey was acquired by Arthur J. Gallagher. The company specializes in liability programs for lawyers, architects, engineers, insurance agents and brokers, surplus lines brokers, managing agents and title insurance and escrow agents. Keep reading to learn more.

Locke Lord LLP added Timothy Kemp as partner in the corporate and transactional department, the Consumer Financial Practice Group and the Regulatory and Transactional Insurance Group in the firm’s Chicago office. Keep reading to learn more.

Lennar Corp., one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, announced the company will release earnings for the second quarter ending May 31, 2014 before the market opens on June 26.

Fore closures on U.S. properties decreased 5 percent from April to May, according to RealtyTrac’s Foreclosure Market Report. Keep reading to learn more about this trend.

IBERIABANK Corp. completed the acquisition of Teche Holding Co. and its subsidiary bank, Teche Federal Bank, both of which are based in New Iberia, La. IBKC has 171 bank branch offices, including four loan production offices in Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas and Florida, 22 title insurance offices and mortgage representatives in 60 locations in 11 states. 

CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, released a new analysis showing more than 300,000 homes returned to positive equity in the first quarter of 2014, bringing the total number of mortgaged residential properties with equity to more than 43 million. However, many borrowers still can’t move and purchase a home. Keep reading to learn more.

The Title Report is on the road with the October Research, LLC team and hosting the tenth annual National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in New Orleans. Attendees were able to choose from several educational professional sessions and networking opportunities.

CoreLogic reports home prices rose by 10.5 percent year over year in April according to its Home Price Index and no states posted depreciation in April 2014. Keep reading to learn more.

Philip Suazo has joined the homebuilder relations regional sales team at Stewart Title. Keep reading to learn more about the newest addition to the company.

The Clinton County Clerk adopted electronic recording of documents with Simplifile. Washington County, Ind. has also begun e-recording with the company.

Although harsh weather conditions, weak new home construction and low inventories made residential real estate activity a mixed bag in the last two  months, much of the country —especially the East Coast — is enjoying a spike in home prices and lending, according to the Federal Reserve Bank’s June 4 Beige Book.

The “Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District,” commonly known as the Beige Book, is published by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System eight times per year. The June 4 report is based on information collected through May 23.

CertainSafe was named a finalist for the American Business Awards. It’s nominated in the new product of service of the year, software category for cloud application or service. Keep reading to learn more about this company and why it received the award.

Stewart Title of California appointed a new senior escrow officer to oversee real estate closing transactions in San Francisco and Marin Counties. 

Global rating agency Fitch Ratings has given “Stable” outlooks and “BBB+” ratings to competitors Fidelity National Financial Inc. (FNF) and First American Financial Corp. (FAF).

FNF’s rating reflects its “market-leading margins, scale and strong capitalization in title insurance,” while FAF’s rating affirms its “strong capitalization, moderate financial leverage and continued profitability,” Fitch said in statements released on June 3.

The National Notary Association 2014 Conference was held in Phoenix, Ariz. June 2 - 4. Among the many topics discussed was e-notarizations and their value to the industry. October Research, LLC attended “E-notarizations Current Use and Trends” and “How to perform electronic notarizations.” The speakers included:  Bill Anderson, NNA vice president of legislative affairs; Nancy Pratt, director, eStrategy, Stewart Title; Darcy Mayer, chief technology officer of DocVerify; Harry Gardner, vice president of eStratgies at Ellie Mae; and Bill Gimbel, vice president of business development at Nations Direct. 

More than 600 notary professionals and signing agents from across the country came together in Phoenix for the National Notary Association 2014 Conference this week.  During the opening ceremony, Thomas Heymann, president and chief executive officer of the National Notary Association, shared with the attendees that “the public needs you more than ever to help protect the customer/the consumer from fraud every day.”  October Research, LLC attended the conference provided live coverage from the event.