News By Edition

Roughly one month after the widespread CrowdStrike IT outage, Aaron Davis, CEO of Florida Agency Network, and Robert Zwink, chief technology officer and co-founder of Razi Exchange, discussed how prepared the title insurance industry is for a similar event.

The pair agreed more needs to be done to properly prepare for outages and mitigate effects after one happens. They added that continued data centralization industrywide increases the risk of larger consequences.

Read on to find out more.

Stewart Information Services Corp. has announced the planned retirement of its international operations and commercial services group president, who has been with the company since 1995.

CEO Fred Eppinger called the departing leader a “driving force behind opening Stewart’s Canadian operations in 1997 and responsible for our successful expansion outside of the U.S.”

Read on to find out more information.

Latest data from the Federal Reserve System’s Beige Book shows a mixed bag of economic activity across districts, with three reporting slight growth.  

Residential construction and real estate activity were mixed, though most districts' reports indicated softer home sales. Reports on commercial construction and real estate activity were also mixed.

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All Redfin agents will earn competitive splits as high as 75 percent with zero expenses as part of a nationwide expansion of the Redfin Next agent pay plan. 

Redfin Next initially launched in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego in January 2024 and has expanded to additional markets over time.

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Doma Title Insurance, Inc. has brought on a real estate author and teacher with more than three decades of experience in real estate and title insurance as its new Texas region agency manager.

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The American Land Title Association (ALTA) has added Alliant National’s fraud prevention tool SecureMyTransaction to its ALTA Elite Provider program.

Read on to find out more.  

A new report from ATTOM shows California, New Jersey and Illinois once again having the highest concentrations of the most-at-risk markets in the country, with some of the biggest clusters in the New York City and Chicago areas.

Read on to learn more.

Insight on what to expect for title transaction volume and the broader housing market was recently provided by Title Clearing & Escrow CEO Dax Junker in an exclusive interview with The Title Report.

The possibility of a sudden interest rate drop, as suggested by recent Fed signals, means industry members must be prepared to handle an influx of volume, Junker warned. 

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Fidelity National Financial’s Linda Grahovec, senior vice president and director of agent relations at Fidelity National Agency Solutions, presented “Cringe-Free Negotiations” at October Research’s second annual Women’s Leadership Summit.

She highlighted the key skills necessary for success and shared some of the most common mistakes made during negotiations and how to avoid them.

Read on for more from her presentation.

Oklahoma-based American Eagle Title Insurance Co. has expanded in its home state with a new title plant license, company leaders recently announced.

With the new addition, American Eagle Title holds licensed title plants in 11 Oklahoma counties, including Cleveland, Coal, Creek, Garfield, Johnston, Lincoln, Oklahoma, Osage, Rogers, Tulsa, and Wagoner.

Read on to find out more information. 

First National Title Insurance Co. has brought back a former leader in its Texas market to serve as agency director.

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Title and escrow accounting production platform provider Settlor has announced an expanded integration with Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. to include policy jackets and more.

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Investors bought one of every six homes sold in the second quarter — purchasing $43 billion worth of properties — and one of every four low-priced homes that sold, according to Redfin.

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Viant Eye CEO Ben Sherman sat down with The Title Report to detail his company’s new partnership with MISMO. MISMO has chosen to utilize Viant Eye’s LINK, a compliance and developer enhancement tool designed to accelerate adoption and management of MISMO standards.

LINK could reshape how mortgage and title organizations integrate, according to Sherman.

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CATIC has commenced operations in the state of Texas and announced a pair of leadership additions who will help spearhead that expansion.

The CATIC Family of Companies is currently doing business through an independent agent network in 25 states. Its sister company, CATIC Title Insurance Co., issues policies in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

Read on to find out more.

Homeownership fintech company Unlock Technologies announced it has netted $280 million in new Series B funding and capital commitment for continued growth and innovation.

Unlock Technologies also plans to strategically invest in marketing and brand awareness initiatives to establish a strong presence in new markets, according to leaders.

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Premier One has appointed a new national sales manager who will be tasked with spearheading company growth as well as nurturing and supporting existing relationships with partners and clients.

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Applied Systems has announced new enhancements to Applied Pay, its AMS-native payments solution. Those additions further automate workflows for collecting and reconciling digital payments, enabling an agency to reduce time and effort.

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A new report from ATTOM shows foreclosure filings in July up 15 percent compared with June, with foreclosure starts up 18 percent over the same period.

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Cybercriminals are creating fraudulent copies of title company websites as their newest tactic in increasingly sophisticated scams, according to Knight Barry Title.

Knight Barry leaders recently shared details of the alarming trend, adding that the company has also communicated on the matter with the U.S. Secret Service and American Land Title Association.

Read on to learn more.

First American Title’s Galileo, a tech-driven underwriting tool released in late 2023, is paying dividends for users, according to recent comments from Chief Innovation Underwriter Justin Earley.

Galileo is a map-based tool that combines a wide array of data—everything from prior policies and claims to geographic features and Native American lands—into a single visual hub.

Read on to find out more information.

California-based Wonderland Escrow has expanded its Golden State service net with the acquisition of a Conejo Valley escrow firm that’s been operating for nearly 25 years.

In addition to its Westlake Village, Calif., headquarters and the newly acquired location, Wonderland Escrow operates offices across southern California in Sherman Oaks, Santa Clarita and Palm Springs.

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A pair of economists from Moody’s Analytics provided insight on what to expect for the rest of 2024 as part of October Research’s Economic Forecast webinar series.

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Zillow Group has tapped a new CEO, promoting its long-time chief operating officer who joined the company 15 years ago.

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In half of the 50 most populous U.S. metros, a family earning the local median income can’t afford a starter home, according to new data from Redfin.

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La Rosa Holdings Corp. finalized its acquisition of a prominent title agency headquartered in Orlando, Fla., roughly two months after intentions to make the deal were announced.

La Rosa has more than 20 La Rosa Realty corporate real estate brokerage offices and branches located in Florida, California, Texas and Georgia.

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Florida Agency Network and Closingsuite.com CEO Aaron Davis and Chief Operating Officer Mike LaRosa, as well as The Duncan Duo Team at LPT Realty CEO Andrew Duncan, shared insights into how to build a lucrative and compliant affiliated business arrangement at the National Settlement Servies Summit (NS3) in Naples, Fla.

Duncan, LaRosa, and Davis came together when Duncan’s independent brokerage was looking for an in-house title company.

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First American Trust’s Sheri Olsen and Futura Title & Escrow’s Jenny Martin presented “Growing Our Journey Together” at October Research’s second annual Women’s Leadership Summit, sharing how perceived failures can help shape actual successes.

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Mortgage technology provider ServiceLink has added a former leader at multiple real estate firms with more than 20 years of industry experience as vice president, national sales executive for its default division.

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A new website aimed at better connecting homebuyers and sellers with real estate agents has been launched by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties.

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The median U.S. housing payment has dropped to nearly $250 below its springtime peak as mortgage rates decline, but home sales are not springing up in tandem, according to Redfin.

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Comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicate that an interest rate cut is imminent, possibly happening as soon as September.

At the Fed’s July 30-31 meeting, officials elected to leave the benchmark interest rate unchanged at the 5.25-5.50 percent range. However, further comments hinted at a cut during the September meeting.

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The title insurance industry, like many sectors, has experienced a paradigm shift towards remote work, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating adoption of numerous tools and platforms.  

While this transition has provided flexibility and continuity, it has also introduced a new array of compliance concerns and cybersecurity threats.

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Title insurance technology provider VizionX has appointed a new CEO, promoting a former vice president with more than 25 years of industry experience.

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The New Jersey Land Title Association has tapped a long-time leader at Kensington Vanguard National Land Services as its new secretary/treasurer.

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Home prices grew 0.2 percent in July — equal to the slowest pace since January 2023 — with more than 40 percent of the most populous metros recording a drop in home prices, according to Redfin.

Read on to learn more.