Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 26, 2024

From streamlining title verification to enabling collaborative loan processing and automating key title production tasks, these leaders are helping shape a faster, smarter, and more efficient housing market. We call this process VOT or Verification of Title.

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Housing Wire

JUNE 21, 2022

As someone who spent a career in the title insurance industry – both as a builder of a title business and leader of the industry’s trade group, — I am proud of the role we play in helping to protect what most Americans consider the biggest purchase of their lives. Why is a title search necessary for refinancing?

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Housing Wire

APRIL 10, 2023

In December, HousingWire spoke to Flueid about the concept of instant title and why it is a misnomer for mortgage lenders. HousingWire: HousingWire recently spoke to Flueid about the concept of instant title and why it’s a misnomer for mortgage lenders. We’ve seen this shorten the transaction timeline by only about a day.

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Housing Wire

JULY 24, 2024

Attorneys general in 14 states have joined together to send a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Sandra Thompson that urges the termination of the agency’s title waiver pilot program. Title insurance is a state-regulated industry, and homeowners will be better served if it stays that way.

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Housing Wire

JUNE 4, 2024

But while a fraud attempt targeting such a famous structure and family would easily make national news, the vast majority of title theft and mortgage fraud schemes do not. Impersonation fraud has risen “sharply” over the past few years according to Sarah Frano, vice president and real estate fraud expert at First American Title Insurance Co.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 16, 2022

For most real estate industry professionals, title insurance needs no introduction. A trusted product , title insurance has been used to protect real estate transactions and property rights for over a century. Title insurance is different than most other insurance products. Title insurance is a comprehensively regulated product.

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Housing Wire

APRIL 18, 2025

But his first big test came in the mid-1980s during the savings and loan crisis a time when the mortgage market dried up and title companies were hit hard. Title companies have to start thinking of themselves as partners in the clients process. WFG operates its own title plants and offices in seven Western states.

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Housing Wire

MAY 16, 2024

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has launched a new service to handle all the title work for its brokers on refinancings. As a result, brokers no longer need to deal with a title company or settlement agent to close a refi. It said TRAC+ will allow the lender to “manage title review, closing, and disbursement.”

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 24, 2024

Lower interest rates will not only improve the market for buyers, but it will also encourage more refinancing, particularly for recent homebuyers who stretched their budgets on higher rate loans. In fact, for many new buyers entering the market this year, this will be the first time they ever hear the words “ title insurance.”

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Housing Wire

JULY 22, 2024

In a recent episode of “Ten Minute Talks,” HousingWire President Diego Sanchez and Alita Group President Stacy Mestayer discussed an alternative option to title insurance. Sanchez addresses the current version of title insurance and why an alternative is needed.

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Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 3, 2025

Company Name Company Website Markets Served Company HQ MMI mmi.io/ Loan Origination Cottonwood Heights, UT Paradatec paradatec.com/ Loan Origination, Servicing, Secondary and Closing Wilmington, DE Outamation outamation.com/ Servicing Southlake, TX Orion Lending orionlending.com/ Loan Origination Orange, CA Optimal Blue www2.optimalblue.com/

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Specifically, title and settlement fees have been characterized as a high-burden and regressive (costing proportionally more for low- and moderate-income borrowers) cost to borrowers. The research found that title and settlement fees are neither regressive nor represent a significant component of the overall closing costs.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 26, 2022

With the housing market slowing down from its pandemic-fueled frenzy, wire fraud threats, regulatory challenges and the perennial challenge of an aging workforce, the title insurance industry will have a lot to juggle in the new year. For the title insurance industry, she feels this will result in a thinning of the herd.

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Housing Wire

MARCH 31, 2025

Rocket said the the transaction is expected to generate $100 million in additional pre-tax revenue from higher recapture rates and attaching its title, closing and appraisal services to Mr. Coopers existing originations. Cooper, will be president and CEO of Rocket Mortgage, reporting to Krishna.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 12, 2022

HousingWire recently spoke with Matt Regan, EVP of Transaction Management Systems at Flueid , about the need to redefine “instant title” to focus on adding value to loan evaluation and decision-making rather than just delivering the title commitment faster. A faster title commitment should equal a faster closing, right?

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 8, 2025

Mortgage and title clients are undergoing a significant transformation with the shift from Encompass Software Development Kit (SDK) to Encompass Partner Connect (EPC). However, for many lenders and title agents, the path to compliance can be a bit too much to handle while running a business and dodging compliance risks.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 20, 2025

of loans processed in Q4 2024 had issues that lead to wire fraud risks. Adams and his team recently encountered a spoof website for a real title company, something he finds greatly concerning. It was a direct replica of the actual title companys website. Cybercrime losses rose to a record high of $12.8

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

Fidelity National Financial finished out third-quarter earnings reporting for the Big Four title firms this week, hosting its earnings call with investors and analysts Wednesday morning. While the firm’s title revenue was down 18% year over year to $1.9 Also reporting Q3 2023 earnings this week was title firm Doma.

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Housing Wire

APRIL 17, 2024

Nearly half (48%) of a $65 billion portfolio of loans processed during the first quarter of 2024 contained vulnerabilities to wire and title fraud , according to a report released Wednesday by FundingShield. The portfolio of loans examined included residential, commercial investor and business purpose loans.

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Housing Wire

MARCH 10, 2025

We want a customer to be able to check her phone to find out what she can afford, see which homes are just right for her, schedule a tour with a local, expert Redfin agent, and get pre-qualified for a loan, all in a matter of minutes.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 11, 2023

When Thaddeus, the American Land Title Association’s eagle mascot, landed in Colorado Spring at The Broadmoor Hotel after a month-long virtual journey across the country from Washington, D.C., This was the biggest issue we’ve ever faced in my 40-year career in the title industry,” Rattikin said. “It he did so with a new look.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 18, 2024

Wire and title fraud risk reached an all all-time high in Q4 2023 with 51.8% of transactions having issues that led to a risk of wire and title fraud, according to FundingShield ‘s quarterly report. On average, problematic loans had 2.2 BEC is a sophisticated combination of phishing and spoofing used to extract $2.7

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Housing Wire

MARCH 8, 2024

Despite the protests of the title insurance industry, Fitch Ratings does not believe the lender title insurance waiver pilot program for certain refinance transactions announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Thursday will have an impact on title insurer ratings.

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Housing Wire

APRIL 1, 2023

Brena Nath, Director of HW+ and Events When looking at the home-buying process, I’ve always found it fascinating and impressive that the title agent usually wins the buyer-driven social media post. To add to the story, the buyer usually doesn’t even pick the title agent — the seller does.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 20, 2023

In the title industry , like the rest of the home finance industry, the real dangers are high operating costs that come from inefficiency. As the market contracts, experienced title agency executives can feel the shift and know exactly what it means. When loan volumes fall, they reduce capacity by laying off staff.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 24, 2025

A group of 2,769 West Virginian borrowers claimed in the lawsuit, which was originally filed on July 23, 2012, that Rocket Mortgage (known then as Quicken Loans ) and its insurance arm, Amrock (formerly Title Source ), were unfairly influencing home appraisal values. However, a 2021 Supreme Court decision, TransUnion LLC v.

Mortgages 360

Mortgages Loans Title 360

Housing Wire

MARCH 27, 2025

” FinLocker indicated that future initiatives will target other high-cost areas like title expenses. For example, lenders will have lower origination costs and faster loan decision-making through direct-sourced data, while borrowers will benefit through reduced closing costs. This direct-source verification covers 85% of the U.S.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 20, 2022

on Wednesday announced that it has released an Attorney Opinion Letter (AOL) product for VA direct and VA-backed home loans as a compliant alternative to title insurance. Voxtur previously announced this year that it had produced an AOL for Fannie Mae loans. The title insurance industry has spoken out forcefully against AOLs.

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Housing Wire

MAY 11, 2023

This integration allows lenders to access Flueid’s title data and insights during the loan application process, resulting in time savings and a simplified consumer experience. Loan officers and underwriters can now easily check title information and review critical insights to understand the status of a property and consumer.

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Housing Wire

MARCH 9, 2023

The title insurance industry is often bemoaned for being antiquated and making minimal changes, but that has not been the case for the past 12 months. The program would grant certain mortgage lenders a waiver on title insurance requirements for loans sold to Fannie Mae and will be rolled out this spring, according to Politico.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 31, 2024

When loanDepot announced that it was the victim of a cybersecurity incident in early January, it became the fourth publicly traded mortgage or title firm to absorb an attack in as many months. About two weeks later, “Big Four” title firm Fidelity National Financial was hit with a ransomware attack in which data belonging to 1.3

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 25, 2024

Title agencies face unique challenges when it comes to developing a strong company culture. Title companies still rely heavily on their traditional need for institutional knowledge but also find themselves in an era when many more aspects of title work call for technological skills of the younger generations.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 5, 2022

The Federal Housing Finance Agency introduced new upfront fees on Wednesday for some high-balance and second-home loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Upfront fees for high balance loans will increase between 0.25% and 0.75%, tiered by loan-to-value ratio.

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Loans Finance Title Mortgages 525

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

Fintech FundingShield will provide comprehensive title fraud solutions via an advanced programming interface (API) integration to CoreLogic ‘s digital mortgage platform. The partnership comes amid wire and title fraud risk reaching an all-time high in fourth-quarter 2023. In Q4 2023, problematic loans had an average of 2.2

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Title Loans Mortgages Technology 412

Housing Wire

AUGUST 14, 2023

The American Land Title Association (ALTA) is celebrating a huge win in its ongoing war against title insurance alternatives. News of the rumored pilot program came in March, roughly a year after Fannie Mae first announced that it would be accepting attorney opinion letters (AOLs) in lieu of title insurance in limited circumstances.

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Title Closing costs Finance Land 370

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

It’s not a point of pride or badge of honor for any mortgage, title, real estate or valuation firm. Much of that average time to close tends to pile up in the title and settlement stage of the process. Loan officers dread having to email an appraisal firm for the report they’re waiting on. How do your new orders come in?

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Housing Wire

AUGUST 22, 2023

That is why it is critical that the title insurance industry — alongside our industry partners — has made it a priority to help more Americans benefit from homeownership by making the process more affordable and accessible. Fees add up in transaction While the cost of title insurance is less than.5%

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