Jeanine W. (Jeanne) Johnson to Speak at ALTA Business Conference
Jeanine W. Johnson will be a conference speaker at the ALTA Business Conference in Louisville, KY March 26th. A primary function of the American Land Title Association (ALTA) is to provide important educational programs. A “Train the Title Trainer” session will explain adult learning styles and demonstrate how to teach important and complex title issues to staff. Ms Johnson is a professional speaker on title topics, and is often hired to speak at Land Title Association conferences. She also owns an online school for Professionals in Land Title Training. Online Courses include Title Insurance, Closing, Abstracting, Title examination and National Concepts in Title.
WHY ATTEND THIS SEMINAR? WHY EDUCATE STAFF?
- For a better understanding of customer needs
- For Fewer Claims!
- To grow staff, so they have opportunity for a better career path
- So that you can retire someday and they can take over
COME HEAR MORE Jeanne Johnson is a professional Land Title Association (LTA) public speaker and teacher. She has spoken at many Land Title Conferences. At the upcoming ALTA Business Strategies Conference,she will teach a workshop on how to explain complex title topics. While the workshop focuses on understanding adult learning and instructor delivery, she demonstrates tips for training title. A blueprint handout will show specific skills for teaching abstractors, examiners and closers complex title issues.Jeanne will actively demonstrate ways to teach to all types of learners about “rights, title and interests” so staff can identify title issues as “okay” or “problems” needing to be resolved.
And, on top of all that, you might just find a speaker for your next land title conference!
For more information on the conference, go to this ALTA Link
Another Possible Defalcation with Troubled Title Company
The Daily Times, Farminton, NM
New Mexico Title Co. closed abruptly on Jan. 30 when it stopped accepting title work and interim manager Quentin Smith sent employees home. For days afterward, a phone message said that the business was closed. Customers began to stream in to inquire about their escrow accounts and the status of their real estate transactions.
Several New Mexico Title Co. customers told The Daily Times they had not received expected disbursements from escrow accounts, or that their payments to escrow accounts were not properly credited.
Edward Blinzler, a local businessman, filed a complaint with state regulators after an expected escrow disbursement did not appear. He has an escrow account with New Mexico Title for payments from a couple who bought a house from him. The homebuyers’ check has cleared their bank, he said.
Owners of Abstracts Unlimited Arraigned on Charges
Mary Ann Palladino-DeVito, 41, and her husband Joseph, 39, owners of the now-defunct Abstracts Unlimited, have been arraigned on charges that they embezzled more than $1 million from homeowners seeking to clear property titles. “As part of this mortgage fraud scheme, these defendants are alleged to have victimized new homeowners … by accepting payment for mortgage fees, mortgage taxes, customer fees, real property filing fees, and escrow account funds and then misappropriating the funds for their own purposes,” District Attorney Donovan said. More at SILive
LA Court Makes Good Call on Title Policy Coverage
The Louisiana Court made a good call in MGD Partners vs. First American Title, when MGD sued for bad title when the Parrish refused to issue building permits for a new subdivision of homes. Apparently the site had previously been used as a bombing range in WWII. Read the Case at LEGAL
Title Insurance Business Improving
WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The first quarter of 2011 showed improvement for the title insurance industry, according to the American Land Title Association’s (ALTA) First-Quarter Market Share Analysis. Read More at InsuranceNews
In terms of market share, the Fidelity Family of title insurance underwriters captured 33.7 percent of the market during the first quarter of 2011, while the First American Family garnered 27.7 percent, the Old Republic Family recorded 13.5 percent and the Stewart Family had 12.5 percent. Meanwhile, regional underwriters held 12.6 percent of the market during the first quarter of 2011, up from 10.7 percent market share during the same period a year ago.
Condo and Garage Stall Woes
For those who took the abstracting class May 2-3, here is a classic example that hit my email inbox today. It shows what can happen when legal descriptions intended for sale in a condominium are not carefully described. At the abstractor class we talked about garage stalls and storage spaces in particular, being separately salable units or appurtenances, depending on how they are described in the Declaration and Floor plans. Seems to me the Purchase Agreement in the scenario below was the problem. Maybe the two parking spaces were on the street…? After all, we are not mind readers, how are we supposed to know WHAT you bought if you don’t tell us….
Client purchased a condo unit and (he thought) two parking spaces from the developer. The accepted offer to purchase described the condo unit by number, but referred to the two parking spaces without specific designation. A title company prepared the deed of conveyance describing the unit by number, but omitting any reference to parking. The condo declaration provides that parking spaces are “units” rather than limited common elements, and can be separately conveyed as such. The title company acted as closing agent. What duty does the title company owe to the buyer in this case? Is the buyer entitled to rely on the closing agent to prepare a deed which conveys all of the property described by the purchase contract? Unfortunately for my client, he was not represented by counsel, did not notice any discrepancy in the deed, and has no recourse against the seller who went bankrupt. To further complicate matters, the two parking spaces were subsequently sold by an investor who purchased the unsold units out of receivership to an innocent third party. Any suggestions?
Titleserv Agency in 47 States Closes Doors
The website is up and they are still answering phones, but there seems to be much confusion at Titleserv. When asked if they were still operating in states other than their New York headquarters, the response was “No, the corporate headquarters is closed and as of Friday, we are no longer a title company.” The website is extensive, advertising REO, closings, residential and commercial title insurance, and various other title products. The web is abuzz with questions, but as of now, there are no answers.
According to the Wall Street Journal
By Dawn Wotapka
Titleserv, one of the nation’s largest title-insurance agencies, closed its doors Friday, according to employees.“We are considered officially closed,” said a woman answering the company’s main telephone line and identifying herself as an employee. She would not comment further.Another woman answering the sales line also said the company was closed. She offered no details and it is unclear what, if any, operations are being settled. Company representatives for Long Island-based Titleserv couldn’t be reached for comment. Brian Tormey, executive vice president with competitor TitleVest, said his company is receiving requests to fill Titleserv’s title order and lien-search transactions, which caused employees to work through the weekend. Titleserv was founded in 1986 and operates in 47 states, according to its website.
Abstractors – Our Business Has Changed
Certainly the title insurance and abstracting business has changed. The good old-fashioned in-depth abstracting that was required for “marketable title” is disappearing, and at least for residential properties, it has been replaced with a one or two-owner search that is used to provide “insurable title.” Insurable title being a risk-underwriting product, as opposed to the old “fix-the-problem-so-there-ARE-no-claims” product. But, as I have mentioned before, the core business for the best abstractors is not to chase the $35 residential sales, but the more intricate in-depth work that still exists for: commercial work; cell towers; wind farms; mineral titles; gas and oil rights, etc. I am often asked where to find these professionals, and the major underwriters are now developing “specialty teams” that they fly around the country to do such work. But that is a concern, because we all know that title searching is a VERY specialized, VERY localized occupation, and that no one from outside the area can catch those all important nuances that make a title good or not.
Are you staying current with all the changes in titles in your state? Changes have been rampant the last few years, new liens, mortgage rules due to the need for new tax revenue and the mortgage debacle. Are you advertising your professional expertise? Are you taking advantage of the changing market? I hope so, it could mean like or death for your job and your industry.
When Will They Ever Return?
When will the traditional real estate buyer return? Although the current troubled housing market has the lowest interest rates in decades, some of the most affordable home prices we have ever seen, along with considerable investor demand, it is still in trouble. What the market really needs, professionals say, is for the good old-fashioned home-buyer to return to the market and buy traditional residential properties. Historically first time home-buyers have dominated the market. But today, due to the massive volume of houses on the market because of the mortgage debacle, investors make up an enormous portion of buyers. And people “movin’-on- up” to bigger homes don’t exist because everyone is underwater, having mortgaged his home for more than it is worth.
“I think it (recovery) has to come from those who are buying a home to live in the home,” said James “Bart” Patterson, CEO of Phoenix-based Clear Title Agency of Arizona. As a title insurance provider, Patterson said he had a rough idea of how much of the demand for local housing has been coming from investors compared with homeowner-occupants. “Lately the split has been about 50-50”, he said.
When will the market return? Hard to say. But for those of us who are real estate professionals – title insurers, abstractors, attorneys, etc. it can’t be fast enough.
FEDERAL REGULATION OF TITLE INSURANCE – WHY NOT?
There has been much discussion about regulating insurance, including title insurance at the federal level.
Of all the lines of insurance, none are as inexorably entwined in state and local laws as title insurance. Local practices regarding real estate vary from state to state and even county to county within a state. The abstracting, examining and underwriting of title insurance involves a review and assessment of these state and local-specific records, so that title policies can only be properly issued in connection with inherently understood local transactions. I believe it would represent an enormously burdensome and expensive undertaking for a federal agency to establish federal regulations that would reflect variations in the real property law of all 50 states. State regulators are much closer to local practices and can respond to changes in the marketplace more quickly. Therefore, I believe state regulation remains the most effective form of supervision for our industry.And since when is a “bigger government agency” better than local government?
Home Closing 101: An Educational Initiative of the American Land Title Association
