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Patrick Stone delivers economic outlook at Louisiana Land Title Association convention
Posted Date: Friday, December 13, 2013
Patrick Stone, president and chief executive officer of Williston Financial Group, presented a national economic overview to the Louisiana Land Title Association’s annual Convention Dec. 4-6. He said the United States is still the 800-pound gorilla in the world economy and he’s optimistic about the future.
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Fidelity National Financial receives FTC approval for LPS acquisition
Posted Date: Monday, December 30, 2013
Fidelity National Financial (FNF) received Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approval of its previously announced acquisition of Lender Processing Services (LPS).
As part of the approval, FNF has entered into an agreement containing consent orders to divest an interest in or a copy of overlapping title plants in six Oregon counties within a period of five months. There were no other divestiture stipulations in the FTC approval of the transaction. FNF expects to close the acquisition of LPS on Jan. 2.
The FTC said in a statement Dec. 24 that the acquisition would likely substantially lessen competition by combining the firms’ title plant assets in several local markets in Oregon. Both Fidelity and LPS compete for title insurance customers in the Oregon counties of concern.
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Title Talk: Dan Wallace and Nathan Chitty look to their next venture.
Posted Date: Monday, December 30, 2013
Longtime title insurance executive and entrepreneur Daniel Wallace will open his second business venture in 2014, NewCastle Title Services. He and his partner, finance and technology executive Nathan Chitty, will launch NewCastle Title on Jan. 1 with significant personal investments and the backing of a private investment group.
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Research, data critical when entering new markets
Posted Date: Monday, December 23, 2013
In a recent October Research LLC webinar, Michael Tafoya, chief executive officer of Title365, reviewed the importance of proper research and analysis of data when businesses are looking to expand. In this Title Report exclusive, Tafoya goes into detail about the information available and the critical need for it.
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Barriers to multi-state title plants shrinking
Posted Date: Thursday, December 19, 2013
In a recent October Research LLC webinar, Dave Ross, principal at Bazooka Communications, highlighted that the barriers to title plant growth have diminished recently. In this Title Report exclusive, Ross goes into detail about how this is an asset for expanding business.
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Making life easier: Enhancing the user experience
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 17, 2013
We have all seen significant improvements in the user experience made possible through advances in technology over the past several years. So much so that we have come to take it for granted, especially with the technology we use day to day in our personal lives.
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SoftPro prepares for software changes
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Leslie Wyatt and the SoftPro team have been busy reading through the final rule and outlining the new requirements. The company will be adding the new closing disclosure form to its program and making changes throughout the software.
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First American Professional Real Estate Services acquires TSS Software
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2013
TSS Software Corp., a technology solutions provider to the title and settlement services industry, was acquired by First American Professional Real Estate Services, a provider of real estate transaction-based products and services. This acquisition makes significant additional resources available to their respective customers to help them meet the challenges of an increasingly dynamic market.
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Capital Land Settlements acquires Floridian Title, LLC
Posted Date: Thursday, December 12, 2013
Capital Land Settlements, a multi-state title insurance and settlement company, acquired Orlando-based title company Floridian Title, LLC. This new venture will increase Capital’s footprint in the Central Florida market and mark the second new office expansion in the last two months.
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Indecomm was chosen for the Global Services (GS) 100 list
Posted Date: Friday, December 13, 2013
Indecomm Global Services was chosen for the Global Services (GS) 100 list. The list reflects the most important segments of the IT and business process outsourcing industry as well as the diversity and overall landscape of the service provider community.
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Rep. Mel Watt confirmed as FHFA director
Posted Date: Thursday, December 12, 2013
In a 57-41 vote, the Senate confirmed Mel Watt to serve as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). He replaces Acting Director Ed DeMarco.
Watt, a Congressman representing North Carolina’s 12thDistrict, was nominated by President Barack Obama to lead the FHFA on May 1. During his tenure, Watt served on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee and was an advocate for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
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Mortgage applications decrease in MBA weekly survey
Posted Date: Monday, December 23, 2013
Mortgage applications decreased 5.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Dec. 13, 2013.
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Why you should always back up your data
Posted Date: Monday, December 23, 2013
We’ve all had the unpleasant experience of working on something in, say Word, closing out of it without saving and going back only to realize that all the work you did was gone. Now imagine that happening to your financials, software and client information. It doesn’t look good. Here are some things to help you develop a system of backing up your data so that never happens.
Greg McDonald, of Cloudstar Consulting Group said that backing up information is a critical component of a written disaster recovery plan.
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Five tips to selecting a technology vendor
Posted Date: Monday, December 23, 2013
Garry Johnson, chief product officer at RedVision, shares five tips to selecting a technology vendor. Since the technology vendor will become an extension of your business, it’s critical to ensure you are making the best decision.
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Housing Recovery - There Is More to Be Done in 2014
Posted Date: Thursday, December 19, 2013
Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic, gave The Title Report his thoughts on the coming year. He said he was expecting a modest housing recovery in 2013 but instead 2013 was a particularly good year for housing and he expects more growth in 2014.
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All-cash sales reach new high in November
Posted Date: Thursday, December 19, 2013
U.S. residential properties, including single family homes, condominiums and townhomes, sold at an estimated annual pace of 5,146,565 in November. This represents a less than 1 percent increase from a revised pace of 5,128,034 in October and up 10 percent from November 2012, according to RealtyTrac’s November 2013 U.S. Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report.
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ALTA names director of government affairs
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 17, 2013
The American Land Title Association, (ALTA), a national trade association of the land title insurance industry appointed a new director of government affairs to focus on building and strengthening relationships between members of congress and ALTA.
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U.S. foreclosure activity decreases 15 percent in November
Posted Date: Friday, December 13, 2013
Foreclosure filings, default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions decreased 15 percent decrease from the previous month and a 37 percent from a year ago according to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for November.
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New York insurance regulator questions title insurers’ rates, expenses
Posted Date: Friday, December 13, 2013
The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) questioned title insurers regarding their rates and expenses during a hearing on Dec. 10, in the department’s offices in Manhattan that, according to the notice on the DFS website, lasted from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In its notice of public hearing, issued on Dec. 6, the DFS stated the hearing was concerning “title insurance industry rates and other related matters.”
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Applications for new home purchases decreased in November 2013
Posted Date: Thursday, December 12, 2013
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Builder Application Survey data for November 2013 shows mortgage applications for new home purchases decreased by 18 percent relative to the previous month. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.
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Mortgage applications increase in latest MBA Weekly Survey
Posted Date: Thursday, December 12, 2013
Mortgage applications increased 1 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending December 6, 2013.
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North American Title adds executives
Posted Date: Thursday, December 12, 2013
The North American Title Insurance Co. (NATIC) added Mid Atlantic regional underwriting counsel. In addition, North American Title Co. (NAT) added a vice president, major accounts manager for California.
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Simplifile e-recording now available in four Indiana counties
Posted Date: Thursday, December 12, 2013
Four new Indiana counties, Harrison, Perry, Porter and Wabash, have implemented e-recording with Simplifile, an e-recording vendor, enabling faster, more cost-effective land document recording for thousands of customers.
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Ultra high-end foreclosures are up 61 percent
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Overall U.S. foreclosure activity is down 23 percent year-to-date through October 2013, but foreclosure activity on homes in the $5 million-plus value range is up 61 percent from the same period in 2012.
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CoreLogic reports 48,000 completed foreclosures in October
Posted Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2013
CoreLogic, a residential property information, analytics and services provider, released its October National Foreclosure Report which provides data on completed U.S. foreclosures and the national foreclosure inventory. According to CoreLogic, there were 48,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in October 2013, down from 68,000 in October 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 30 percent. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased 25.6 percent, from 64,000 reported in September.
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