Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

Finance of America (FOA) indirect subsidiary Incenter is selling its title insurance businesses, according to an announcement made on Thursday. While all parties expect the sale to close, the transaction is still subject to regulatory approvals. Incenter has entered into an agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Essent Group Ltd.

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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

JULY 6, 2023

Finance of America (FOA) announced Thursday that its indirect subsidiary Incenter closed the sale of its title insurance businesses. The company previously announced that it would be selling its title insurance businesses in early February. for $100 million, according to a filing with the U.S.

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Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

When people think about the title insurance industry , what comes to mind is often its core products – title insurance policies that protect property rights of homeowners and lenders. As an industry, our commitment to protection goes beyond title insurance policies. The bill is being considered in several states nationwide.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 20, 2023

Title premium volume continued to drop during the third quarter of 2023, as limited housing supply and high interest rates took their toll on home sales. During the third quarter of 2023, the title industry generated $4.1 During the third quarter of 2023, the title industry generated $4.1 However, the $4.1 With 26.6%

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 24, 2024

Existing home sales fell to their lowest point in nearly 30 years in 2023, while the median price of a home reached a record high, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). 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 5, 2024

Like many in title , Iain Bryant, the newly appointed president of Stewart Title’s agency division, found his way into the industry through family. Services , a title production business, in 1990, and after growing up surrounded by the title industry, Bryant said he was determined to never be part of the industry. “My

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Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

Despite slower housing market conditions , Big Four title firms Stewart , First American and Fidelity National Financial all managed to earn profits in 2023. Despite declines in title transaction volume, Stewart’s title segment still reported an operating revenue of $503 million for Q4, down 14% annually, and a pretax income of $27.3

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 11, 2022

AEGIS Land Title Group last week announced the acquisition of Capital Title of Washington , a boutique independent title and escrow provider operating in the greater Seattle area. Shaddock also founded First National Title Insurance Company , one of the largest title insurance underwriters in the country.

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Housing Wire

AUGUST 9, 2022

Rachel Luna, principal of Patriot Title Company. With over 13,000 followers on Instagram , Rachel Luna, the principal of Texas-based Patriot Title Company , is the self-proclaimed “Texas Title Queen.” Luna has worked her way through the ranks and is now among the most recognizable pros in the title industry. “I

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 27, 2023

With its four largest firms all at least 100 years old, the title insurance industry has a bit of a reputation for being antiquated and technology averse. “I The title industry has worked hard over the last few years to shed that reputation. The unsung heroes of title are examiners, processors and receptionists,” Trimble said.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 18, 2024

As the housing market picked up in much of the country during the third quarter of 2024, so did business for the title insurance industry. During the third quarter of 2024, the title industry generated $4.3 billion in title premiums, up 5.3% In total, during the first nine months of the year, title insurance premiums are up 3.2%

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 20, 2023

It’s easy to show a profit when sales are high, but when the tide rolls out the dangerous rocks appear. In the title industry , like the rest of the home finance industry, the real dangers are high operating costs that come from inefficiency. No platform was completely successful in achieving this goal.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

If a person passes away without an end-of-life document, a property often becomes heirs’ property, meaning that it is passed informally to the next generation without a proper title documenting ownership. How is the title industry helping to address heirs’ property?

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Ron Frasier, a title industry veteran and CEO of title startup Atlas Title , has been watching the commission lawsuit saga closely. “If Instead, he is focusing his efforts on potentially having to adapt to where Atlas Title’s business comes from. It’s easy to see why Frasier is concerned.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 12, 2023

As existing-home sales continue to slide and mortgage rates rise ever higher, all but eliminating any hope for refinance transactions, the title insurance industry is doubling down on technology. At the forefront, is artificial intelligence , or AI.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 14, 2022

Slower housing market conditions , mortgage rate volatility and rising affordability challenges took their toll on the title insurance industry during the third quarter of 2022. During the quarter, the title insurance industry generated $5.4 billion in title insurance premiums, down 20.6% Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co.

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Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

However, while the title space has made tremendous strides in recent years, there is still a tremendous amount of “button mashing” being done. Increasingly, manual processes in title workflows are being eliminated with customized bots and AI. The first example is a well-known headache for title firms. The result?

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Housing Wire

MARCH 10, 2025

Varun and I see how much better real estate could be when AI guides customers not just through that first step in their search, but all the way home, through the sale, the loan and then a lifetime of accumulating equity and wealth.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 6, 2021

So far his venture-backed title company has launched platforms that have sped up title clearance and title insurance acquisition, and they have their sights on expanding into the lending and appraisal space. As title insurers our business practices and our regulatory oversight are different in every single state,” Stone said. “So

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Housing Wire

AUGUST 16, 2023

A week after announcing a pivot in its business strategy , publicly traded title insurance firm Doma announced the sale of its retail operations in Florida on Tuesday. Doma’s Florida operation was purchased by Near North Title Group for an undisclosed sum. Near North Title Group purchased Doma’s Midwest locations in July.

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 20, 2022

In March of 2020, every title company owner, leader and employee all wondered the same thing: “Will I have a job or a company in 90 days?” For more than 36 months title operations thrived, orders were at historical levels, staffs were stretched and profits were higher than likely ever before. Invest for title market share.

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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

MAY 26, 2023

Secret Service , notified the title industry of a rise in what is known as vacant lot fraud, or seller impersonation fraud. “We When it comes to close on the sale of the property the scammer will request a remote notary signing. The title firm then transfers the closing proceeds to the scammer. of total land sales in the U.S.,

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Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 27, 2025

Keough pursued legal action to stop any potential sale of the property soon thereafter. A study conducted by NDP Analytics found that 28% of title insurance companies experienced at least one seller impersonation fraud attempt in 2023, and in April 2024 alone, 19% of firms experienced at least one of these attempts.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

It’s clear that 2023 will be a very different year for the title industry than what we’ve experienced in the recent past. Regardless, it’s clear that title businesses will need to compete for their share of that available volume, in large part, by differentiating themselves from the competition. Processes, or chokepoints?

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Housing Wire

DECEMBER 5, 2022

As the mortgage rate environment became increasingly volatile in August and early September, one in three title insurers reported order volume that was below or far below average. That’s according to PropLogix ’s fifth annual “State of the Title Industry” report. Territories. Presented by: SoftPro. Presented by: SoftPro.

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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. Hoyt Mann is a co-founder and president of McKinney, Texas-based alanna.ai, a conversational AI assistant for title agents.

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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

AUGUST 14, 2023

For a few months now it has been clear that changes were afoot at title firm Doma. Doma executives noted that the sales of its Midwest, Texas, and Central and Northern California retail offices were prompted by this change in strategy and have helped Doma further reduce costs. “We million recorded a year ago.

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Housing Wire

JUNE 18, 2024

RE/MAX has held onto this spot since the publication of the 2020 iteration of The Thousand, which was based off sales data from 2019. RE/Max overtook Keller Williams, which took the title in 2019. ”RE/MAX Agents who join RE/MAX can be squarely focused on closing sales and producing great results for their buyers and sellers.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

Today, pending home sales came in as a big beat of estimates — up 7.5% The title I do believe is fitting: Bear Crusher. From the National Association of Realtors : “The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, rose 7.5% million when adding new home sales.

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Housing Wire

MAY 26, 2023

Whether you believe the worst market conditions are now behind us or that the coming months will remain turbulent, there’s no doubt that title related businesses will need a combination of thrift, ingenuity, innovation and persistence to be successful for the foreseeable future. Fannie Mae forecasts $1.6 This can be a profitable strategy.

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Housing Wire

OCTOBER 31, 2022

Third-quarter earnings season kicked off with a bang last week with three ( Stewart, First American and Old Republic ) out of the Big Four title insurers reporting their earnings on Thursday. The firm’s title segment reported an operating revenue of $647.9 At Stewart , Q3 revenue came in at $716.4 million, down from $836.7

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Housing Wire

AUGUST 29, 2024

Four title insurance firms have agreed to pay nearly $3.3 area, according to the Attorney General for the District of Columbia Allied Title & Escrow, LLC (Allied), KVS Title, LLC (KVS), Modern Settlements, LLC (Modern), and Union Settlements, LLC (Union) will pay $1.9 million, $1 million, $325,000 and $65,000, respectively.

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Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

Similar to the HousingWire TECH100, which celebrates the most innovative companies in mortgage and real estate tech, Tech Trendsetters highlights the individuals who are developing cutting-edge technology and leading innovation for their clients in these industries. This year, 75 honorees were selected. Take a look at the full list below.

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Housing Wire

JANUARY 7, 2025

Shiley, who has been with Mungo Homes for nearly 20 years, most recently held the titles of president and chief operations officer. Before that, he served in roles that included builder, production manager, sales manager, division president and regional division president.

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