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April 2015
Title Notes E-News

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Industry Hot Topic:

TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosures (TRID) PART III

 

Capsilon Survey: Nearly Half of All Lenders Not Ready for
TRID Requirements

National Mortgage Professional
 

Forty-one percent of mortgage lenders report that they are not prepared to meet the August 2015 Truth-in-Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure Rule (TRID), according to a recent survey conducted by Capsilon Corporation.


The survey, which polled more than 100 executives from leading mortgage lenders, also revealed that four out of five of the respondents believe that their companies' loan production costs will continue to rise in 2015 versus 2014 as they increase focus on compliance-related activities, with 20 percent forecasting that their loan production costs will be "significantly" higher this year. In fact, 67 percent of the lenders reported that they have already hired additional in-house staff or engaged with outsourced staff to handle compliance-related activities, which is driving loan production costs higher.

 

The survey also reveals that 82 percent of respondents plan to spend "significantly more" or "somewhat more" on technology in 2015 versus what they spent in 2014. This signals a growing recognition that the industry must implement technology solutions that ensure compliance as a means of reducing labor costs and decreasing total loan production costs.

 

Click HERE to read the entire article. 


As you move through the learning curve with these new rules and forms, Virginia Title Center is here to assist you. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our Agency Manager, Bobby Fothergill (1.800.468.5811 or bfothergill@virginiatitlecenter.com).

 

Please reference TRID materials available on the Virginia Title Center website: TRID Training, Reference and Forms Manuals are available for download HERE.

 

Together We're Prepared!


Here are additional articles related to TRID you may enjoy:
10 Types of People Who Will Help Your Business Succeed
Isaiah Hankel, Entrepreneur


You may be running the show, but the people on your team have just as much of an impact on your company's success as you do.


Smart entrepreneurs surround themselves with positive people, especially when business is bad. Positive people come in many forms, but their can-do, feel-good attitudes are universally contagious. A 20-year study published in 2008 shows that having just one happy friend increases your chances of becoming happy by 15 percent.


Wise entrepreneurs also find those who have strengths they lack and encourage them to spread their gifts. If your business is in trouble, look around. Who's missing? Chances are, you're missing one of these 10 people.

 

1.  The Lightning Rod6.  The Superconnector
2.  The Golden Goose7.  The Gladiator
3.  The Maestro8.  The Bookworm
4.  The Virtuoso9.  The Hacker
5.  The Wordsmith10. The Sage

Click HERE to learn more about each type and why you need them on your team.

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Here are additional articles related to Leadership, Personal & Professional Development you may enjoy: 

Working With Competitors Can Help Community Banks Thrive

Vantage Point | Independent Banker

by Donna Deale

 

Can collaboration among banking competitors benefit all parties involved in such arrangements? Can shared operations lower the cost of doing business and improve the value for customers and stakeholders?

 

While working with your community bank's competitor might seem an odd notion at first, a new paper from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says the answer to both questions is "yes." Written in response to questions posed by community bankers, the paper, entitled "An Opportunity for community Banks: Working Together Collaboratively," explores the potential for collaboration among competing banks and savings associations.

 

The OCC believes that community banks can thrive when they collaborate with appropriate strategic planning, strong risk management and effective oversight. Because this approach can pool the strengths and resources of others, community banks can achieve better outcomes for customers at a lower cost, increase their range of services, and build upon their own expertise.


 The OCC encourages community banks to explore this as a means to improve efficiency, achieve economies of scale, enhance service to communities, and strengthen the future vitality of community banking across the country. Such advantages of collaborating with like-minded organizations might just turn competitive challenges into shared business opportunities.


Click HERE to read this article in its entirety.

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 Here are additional articles related to the Community Banking you may enjoy: 

12 Top Title Terms You Should Know 

 

Before you walk into a meeting that involves title insurance - such as a home closing - it can be helpful to know a few fundamental words.  

Here are a few title-related terms that will help you better understand your particular real estate transaction:

1. Conveyance: A legal term for transferring a property's title from one party to another, usually via a deed.

2. Deed: A legal public document that indicates who owns the property and which describes the property (based on maps, landmarks, surveys, etc.)

3. Easement: The right, by someone other than the property's owner, to use the land for a limited particular reason (for example, access of your driveway by a neighbor), as stated in the deed.

4. Encroachment: Part of a home or structure that extends beyond a legal boundary, such as onto a neighbor's property.

5. Encumbrance: Any lien, claim or right to a parcel of property that impacts its value, including unpaid taxes, easements, or outstanding debts.

6. Grant: The act of conveying or bestowing land or title to another party.

7. Joint tenancy: A type of ownership whereby the tenants equally own a property.

8. Lien: A financial claim or encumbrance on a property that provides an outside party the legal right to a percentage of the proceeds from the property's sale.

9. Right of ingress or egress: The right, respectively, to enter or exit another person's property.

10. Survey: A paper document that indicates a property's measurements and boundaries, locations of structures, and encroachments or easements.

11. Title defect: A condition that prevents a property's title from being free and clear and able to be sold, including a lien, encumbrance, error, or omission.

12. Trust: A transaction arrangement wherein a property's owner (the "trustor") grants ownership to a "trustee" to manage and hold that property for a "beneficiary" third party.  

 

Do you help protect your client by recommending they purchase an owner's title insurance policy .... or are you doing them a disservice by telling them this is an unnecessary expense, and potentially costing them thousands of dollars later?

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Here are additional articles related to the Title Insurance you may enjoy: 
Give Small Firms a Reason to Bank With You
Why relationship managers offer today's competitive advantage for banks
by Tami Maupin Buttrey, CCB Catalyst

Gone are the days when fledging business startups' only option for loans was to knock on the doors of their local banks, hoping that someone would help them get tied into the financial system.

 

Now banks have to compete with an exploding amount of alternative lenders, even including crowdsource funding, set to double again globally this year, to $34.4 billion, according to Massolution's 2015CF-Crowdfunding Industry Report.

 

So how can a bank attract-and more importantly retain-small businesses so they can grow to buy even more sophisticated bank products and services?

 

By also offering something that many of the alternative sources can't-ongoing advice from relationship managers who take the time to get to know their clients' businesses, help them develop achievable goals, and stand ready with more sophisticated products as they evolve.

 

...Relationship managers should follow at least three imperatives to retain and help grow their small business clients .... click here to READ MORE

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Solving the Small Business Dilemma - Serving small businesses effectively requires business practices, organizational constructs, and value propositions targeted to this particular market segment.


How Bankers Can Connect with Women Business Owners - The key is to understand the differences between male and female business owners, know where the opportunities lie and know when and how to talk to them about the credit/financing options.

4 Subjects All Real Estate Agents Should Master
Next time someone asks you about relationship between oil prices and interest rates, wow them
by Deidre Woollard, Inman

In real estate, we are always learning. Some of that education is mandated, but you won't learn everything necessary to grow your business through continuing education requirements. Real estate is woven into the fabric of our lives and has connections to many other fields.

 

As real estate evolves, our value continues less to be about access to the data, which is increasingly open to all, and more about interpretation and analysis of all relevant factors. Real estate agents and brokers are more experts than salespeople, and part of honing your skills is regular study. When you plan where to focus your learning in 2015, consider these four areas:

 

Click HERE to find out what you need to learn and how to apply it to your real estate business.

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 Here are additional articles related to Success as a Real Estate Agent you may enjoy:

How Top Producers Create a Five-Star Experience for the Borrower
by Gibran Nicholas, CMPS Institute

Think about the last time you went to dine at a fine restaurant. The owner of the restaurant didn't seat you, serve you water, take your drink order, mix your drinks, take your food order, cook the food, bring you the food and clean up after you. Five-star restaurants have five-star teams that create five-star experiences. 

 

Why should your loan process be any different? Here's how top producers create a five-star experience for the borrower:

 

1. Write down your process 

2. Build a five-star team 

 

Top producers get it. Being a loan originator is not just about closing loans. It's about impacting lives ... and the mortgage transaction is the single most important financial transaction of someone's life. Top producers see themselves differently than the other loan originators who try to compete with them. Top producers do whatever it takes to create a five-star experience for their clients.

 

Click HERE to read the article in its entirety.

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Here are additional articles related to Mortgage Lending you may enjoy:
Lagging behind credit unions and alternative lenders, community banks need to get back into consumer lending by focusing on technology, front line sales and partnerships

Growth and Profitability Require Competitive Differentiation - How does a bank remake itself so as to attain the prestige, the following of the likes of Apple, Disney, Harley Davidson, and Starbucks?

The Excuses Banks Use to Avoid Change - The most innovative organizations in the world leverage the strengths and weaknesses of traditionalists and trailblazers, blending the necessary risk-taking with the equally necessary risk management.

The long odds of starting a local bank: Recession, interest rates deplete ranks - A confluence of factors spawned by the Great Recession have combined to decimate the number of bank start-ups.

 

**Remember to offer your borrowers Owner's Coverage on their most valuable investment. It's a one time premium with a lifetime of security. In addition, they will receive a reduced premium rate when they obtain it simultaneously with your Lender's Coverage.**

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Past issues of the Virginia Title Center E-News are archived on our website HERE
Patti L. Dickerson                                      

Give us a call and let us know how we can better serve you and your team!

Director of Marketing & Communications
Virginia Title Center, LLC
Integrity. Security. Excellence.

 

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