Virginia Title Center, in conjunction with its sister agencies in Virginia and West Virginia are pleased to resume the Free Webinar series this spring!

Mark Your Calendar!  Tuesday, April 8, 2014 beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Gain greater insights into why you should always recommend Owners Title Insurance to protect your clients.

Patricia Wolak with Investors Title Insurance Company will present our first in the 2014 complimentary webinar series. She will share the importance of borrowers obtaining an Owners Title Policy.

Click here to reserve your space now!

A Little Background About Our Speaker

Patricia Wolak was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Before joining ITIC she worked for various mortgage companies. In 1977, she began with Investors Title Agencies as a branch manager and in 1988 took the new position of Manager of Agency Operations for eleven North Carolina locations. In 1992 she served as Vice President of Underwriting Operations, supervising twenty-one North Carolina branch offices with approximately one hundred employees, all processing title insurance policies totaling over $9,000,000.00 in 1993. In the mid 1990's, Patricia supervised the Underwriting Support Unit that supports the Company's entire agency system. In 2001 Patricia was promoted to Senior Vice President of National Markets and oversees the Company's agent program in many states. Patricia is also a certified CE instructor for the state of Virginia and holds title licenses for many states.

Investors Title Insured Owner submitted a claim when a claim was made that he did not own a one-half interest in the property.

The property had previously been owned by Harrison Burns & wife, Rochelle H. Burns as tenants by the entirety. The two then divorced, at which point Harrison Burns owned a one-half interest in the property, and Rochelle Burns owned the other one-half interest. Rochelle Burns died.

Insured Owner purchased property from the Executor of the estate of Rochelle Burns, but the estate only owned a one-half interest in the property. Harrison Burns did not execute the deed, therefore his one-half interest in the property was not conveyed to Investors Title Insured Owner.

After the purchase by ITIC's insured owner, Mr. Burns died. His heirs then made a claim to Investors Title Insured Owner for one-half interest in the property. Investors Title incurred a loss of over $20,000.00 on behalf of its Insured Owner. Had the owner not purchased an owner's policy, he would have been liable for the loss.

For more information on how obtaining an Owner's Policy can prevent potential nightmares, contact Bobby Fothergill at 1-800-468-5811. Additional benefits of Title Insurance are available here. 

Wells Fargo announced its support of the American Land Title Association's (ALTA) Best Practices in its Settlement Agent Communications issued March 6. The lender said they are guidelines for sound business practices that should ideally already be in place for businesses providing title and closing services for its customers.

"In January, 2013 the American Land Title Association (ALTA) published its 'Title Insurance and Settlement Company Best Practices.' As stated in ALTA's Best Practices Mission Statement, they are designed to help 'illustrate to consumers and clients the industry's professionalism and best practices to help ensure a positive and compliant real estate settlement experience.

"We understand that - for some -- there will be transition time needed to enhance current practices and fully implement Best Practices," the statement said. "If your company is not yet following the ALTA Best Practices - do you have a plan in place for adoption? If your company is not yet following the ALTA Best Practices - do you have written policies and procedures in place to document it and inspection processes to validate it?"

Events in the Ukraine have been distracting the global financial markets, but for investors and financial institutions in the U.S., the deteriorating economic fundamentals in the housing sector are probably a more urgent concern.

While many parts of the U.S. economy are growing, the housing sector is increasingly a drag on consumption and job creation. The fault lies not with the market, however, but with ill-considered regulations and bank capital rules.

On the surface, things look o.k. Continue reading 

Some odd dynamics are in play within the housing market these days. While real estate has improved from the depths of the Great Recession, much like the economy at large, headwinds in the single-family sector are preventing major breakthroughs.

Much of that can be chalked up to simple supply and demand. Developers, driven by a shortage of available lots as well as a lack of funds, are focused on building for wealthy consumers and apartment management companies in order to maximize their return on investment.

As a result, Andy Carswell, associate professor of Housing and Consumer Economics at the University of Georgia, said, "High LTV buyers are not winning out on their offers if the home is median priced or higher."

Further exacerbating the trend of middle-class consumers being priced out of homeownership, FHA loans-the primary financing option for low-down-payment buyers during the downturn-have nearly doubled in cost since 2008. You can now expect to pay $17,398 in FHA mortgage insurance premiums in the first five years following the purchase of a median-priced home, compared to $9,210 just six years ago, according to a WalletHub study.

The question you therefore have to ask yourself is: Can borrowers save once again with private mortgage insurance?

Continue reading 

Investors Title Company today announced its results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2013. For the year, net income attributable to the Company increased 32.5% to $14,708,210,or $7.08 per diluted share, versus $11,102,496, or $5.24 per diluted share, for the prior year.

View full press release

• Provide Settlement Agent with complete, legible copy of the Contract with any and all addendums and disclosures.

• Provide a Case Processing Sheet to Settlement Agent.  Be sure it includes all of the following:

  • Your fees due at settlement

  • Your office mailing address, phone number(s), and email address

  • Lender's name, Loan Officer's Name and Phone Number

  • Seller/Purchaser's name, mailing address, phone number(s), and email address

  • Details on any special credits such as closing cost credits, rentbacks and security deposits, or reimbursements to agents or vendors

  • Name of company doing termite and phone number

  • Provide the HOA/Condo Associations' contact number.  This will make it easier for us get the HOA/Condo assessments. This is a problem area and usually holds up the prelim HUD-1.

• Email a scanned copy or fax the contract to Settlement Agent as soon as it is ratified to give us as much time as possible to order title work, survey, and coordinate closing with lender. If the ratified contract is no longer legible, email or fax both a ratified and unratified copy.

• Provide Hazard Insurance to Settlement Agent and the Lender as soon as possible.

• If there are any changes made to the contract, for example to the Sales Price, make the Settlement Agent and Lender aware of the change(s) as soon as possible by sending the Contract Addendum.

• Order the Termite early as Lender needs it in many cases to approve loan.  Provide Settlement Agents phone and fax number to Termite Company so they send a copy an invoice for closing.

• The Lender's Pre-Approval letter is helpful.

• If the case has special needs, such as the Seller/Purchaser is an Estate, Trust, Corporation/Partnership, FHA Payoff, Foreclosure, or if a Power of Attorney is needed, please make the Settlement Agent aware of this in the beginning, as these cases can require special requirements to close and may take extra time.

• As a Selling Agent, please remind your clients that they will need to obtain a Cashier's Check or wire for any monies they are required to bring to settlement. As the Listing Agent, remind your Sellers to bring a voided check or complete wiring information so that they can receive their proceeds as quickly as possible.

• If there are walk-through issues, please contact the Listing Agent prior to coming to settlement and discuss proposed solutions to the resolve the issue(s). This will help to insure a smoother settlement.

For questions or more details regarding what information should be submitted along with your order, please contact Gail Duffy at 1.800.468.5811 or by e-mail. 

It is 9:00 am on Wednesday morning and I am sitting in a loan committee meeting with one of our clients.

On the docket today is a 2 million dollar C&I line of credit to a spice company. I  had read the presentation the night before so I already drawn my conclusions. I thought it was an acceptable credit but I had a couple of questions.

What was interesting about this particular committee meeting, was the lack of questions or the type of questions for that matter that were being asked. Typically, when there is a CRE credit up for approval the discussions are lively and the questions are thoughtful. This is reflective of the comfort level the members of the loan committee have with commercial real estate (CRE).

In contrast, with this commercial and industrial (C&I) credit there were few questions and the questions that were posed .... continue reading 

I've noticed that the way I spend my lunch break affects how productive I am for the rest of the day: how quickly I get started once I get back to my desk, how effective I am in the first hour after lunch, and how I feel throughout the afternoon.

Luckily, we've been writing about ways to improve your day for a while now: from tips on making your environment more conducive to creativity to pushing through writer's block.

Why shouldn't the humble lunch break get the same treatment? I gathered the most interesting research on how we can improve our afternoon productivity by making careful use of that oh-so-important lunch hour. Here are 8 ways to maximize your lunch break, proven by science.

OK, this one might seem obvious. But even if you're trying to lose weight or run errands on your lunch break, don't skip on eating a midday meal - or at least a snack. Your nutrition - particularly your glucose intake - will decide your productivity for the rest of the day. 

Continue reading 

Belle is the first Content Crafter at Buffer and co-founder of Exist. She writes about social media, startups, lifehacking and science.