Archive for category Real Estate News
The May newsletter is live
Posted by Jonathan Yasko in Entrust Solutions News, News, Real Estate News, Title Industry News on May 9, 2012
Check it out Click Here
Entrust Solutions LLC adds 2 industry veterans to its ranks
Posted by Jonathan Yasko in Entrust Solutions News, News, Real Estate News, Title Industry News on January 30, 2012
Connie Kidwell and Nancy Willett, formerly of Southern Title Insurance Corp., come on board to Entrust Solutions as Title Specialists. As licensed title agents for Fidelity National Title, Title Services and Southern Title insurance Corp., both bring a long upstanding career to expand the footprint of Entrust in the title insurance industry.
After Southern Title was placed in to receivership, Willett and Kidwell joined Entrust with the intent of creating back office solutions to support independent title agencies and real estate attorneys. Their knowledge also provides Underwriters with a unique “piece of mind” knowing that their knowledge can help assist agents with almost any operational structure. Both are offering assistance in commitment and/or policy production as well as many other products.
We are thrilled to have them both on board with us.
Policy Typing Service is LIVE!!!
Posted by Jonathan Yasko in Entrust Solutions News, Real Estate News, Title Industry News on November 15, 2011
In this current economy we are finding ourselves doing more and more around the office with no additional time. Typically we concentrate on the new deals coming in the door and forget about post-closing items – especially typing the final title insurance policies.
Well have no fear, Entrust is here. We now offer our policy typing service to produce your final policies. For $25.00 per file, we will take your commitment and final updated search to produce the final policy. No matter if it’s an owners and lender policy, lender only, owner only or owners with two lenders, the price is the same.
To find out more information about what Entrust can do for you, please contact us.
Agent Alert – Be Smart About Smartphones
Posted by Jonathan Yasko in Entrust Solutions News, Escrow Accounting, Real Estate News, Title Industry News on October 19, 2011
Be Smart About Smartphones
If you’re a crook and want to double your proceeds from a real estate transaction, “there’s an app for that.”
Every day there is a new smartphone app that is designed to make your life easier, but at least one may be a problem for closing agents. Banks are now releasing smartphone applications that will allow their customers to complete the deposit of a paper check from anywhere using their smartphone. Just use the cell phone camera to take a picture of the front and back of the paper check, press a few buttons, and voilà! Your check has been deposited into your account. Watch this YouTube video that shows you how this process works. However, convenience for the customer can spell trouble for closing offices that get duped by someone who receives a check as a result of a closing. The following scam occurred in Florida.
A couple left their closing with a check for their proceeds. A couple of hours later, they returned to the closing office with the check and asked for a wire transfer instead. The unsuspecting closer voided the check and processed the wire. Unfortunately, they had used their smartphone and deposited the check before returning it to the closing office.
Most closing agents would not even have issued a Stop Payment request to their bank because they would have felt secure with having their original check in hand. In this case, even if they had issued a Stop Payment request, it would have been ineffective because the check would have already cleared their account and the wire would have double funded the recipient!
Even normal, “positive pay” protections would not have caught this, as the original check had already been approved for payment. This new age scam could have been prevented by just refusing to wire the proceeds. Sometimes it pays to just say you are sorry but once a check is cut, you cannot change the method of payment.
While more and more banks are offering this service, most have imposed a limit on the amount of money that can be deposited via smartphone. But even a $1,000 loss is too much to absorb. Pass this on to all your staff and remain aware of new scams spawned by new technology.
U.S. housing starts jump 15%, hit 17-month high
Posted by Jonathan Yasko in Real Estate News, Title Industry News on October 19, 2011
By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Housing starts surged 15% in September to the highest level in 17 months, according to government data released Wednesday, as increased demand for rental stock as well as rebuilding after Hurricane Irene contributed to the upturn.
The Commerce Department said starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 658,000, which also is 10.2% above the September 2010 reading and the best level since April 2010 — the month the homebuyer tax credit expired. The figures were well ahead of the 590,000 forecast in a MarketWatch-compiled economist poll.
The rise was led by a 53% surge in starts of buildings with five or more units to 227,000, the best reading in three years; single-family starts rose a more modest 1.7% to 425,000, which is only a two-month high.
Rental demand is booming, as buyers struggle to get the credit needed to purchase homes even with mortgage rates near record lows and as some show a reluctance to re-enter the housing market over fears of declining prices.
“The big gain in multfamily is consistent with what we have seen in construction spending and is leading the slow recovery in the construction industry,” said Jed Kolko, chief economist of real estate web site Trulia. “That’s in response to rising rents that show the relative tightness of the rental market.”
The starts data can be highly volatile, with September’s data having a margin of error of plus or minus 13.7%.
The less-volatile building permits figures declined 5% to 594,000, and single-family permits eased 0.2%.
August’s reading on housing starts was revised modestly higher, to 572,000 from 571,000, and August’s reading on permits was revised higher to 625,000 from an initial reading of 620,000.
In any case, the data still show that housing has a long way to go to recover — at the peak, there were 2.07 million units started in 2005.
The glut of foreclosed and soon-to-be-foreclosed homes, the number of underwater mortgage owners, high unemployment and tough credit standards all have contributed to weakness in housing.
But data of late have shown signs of stabilization.
On Tuesday, home-building stocks /quotes/zigman/1496092/quotes/nls/itb ITB -0.98% rallied on the release of builders confidence data for October that recovered to the highest level — a still-bleak 18 on a scale of 1-to-100 — since May 2010. See story on home-builders index.
Builders extended gains Wednesday, with PulteGroup /quotes/zigman/129784/quotes/nls/phm PHM +2.38% and D.R. Horton /quotes/zigman/224125/quotes/nls/dhi DHI +1.59% stronger in early action.
As with the home-builders sentiment data, the figures on housing starts were led by activity in the West, where starts gained 18.1% to hit a three-year high. In the South, the largest market for new homes, starts rose 15.7% to register the best reading since April 2010.
However, both those markets were led by apartments; single-family starts dropped 9.4% in the South and were flat in the West.
Trulia’s Kolko said what appears to be happening is that the hardest-hit areas like California, Florida and Nevada are seeing shifts in demand to apartments, because the vacant houses can’t be rented out.
“It requires management to have and maintain rental units, and a lot of vacant stock is not where renters tend to live,” he said.
Separately, the Labor Department said consumer prices rose 0.3% in September.
/quotes/zigman/1496092/quotes/nls/itb Add ITB to portfolio ITB iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index Fund $ 10.10 -0.10 -0.98% Volume: 1.17MOct. 19, 2011 4:00p
/quotes/zigman/129784/quotes/nls/phm Add PHM to portfolio PHM PulteGroup Inc. $ 4.54 +0.11 +2.38% Volume: 16.57mOct. 19, 2011 4:10p
/quotes/zigman/224125/quotes/nls/dhi Add DHI to portfolio DHI D.R. Horton Inc. $ 10.61 +0.17 +1.59% Volume: 8.19mOct. 19, 2011 4:10p
Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch’s Washington bureau chief.
South Florida market turn around
Posted by Jonathan Yasko in News, Real Estate News on July 5, 2011
Is the South Florida real estate market turning around? Some think so…click here
DSNews.com post about double dip for housing
Posted by Jonathan Yasko in Real Estate News, Title Industry News, Uncategorized on June 3, 2011
The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index confirmed a double-dip in home prices across much of the nation as Standard & Poor’s national reading fell another 4.2 percent during the first quarter to hit a new recession low.
HUGE NEWS – Government plans to wind down Fannie and Freddie
Posted by Jonathan Yasko in Entrust Solutions News, News, Real Estate News, Title Industry News on February 11, 2011
The Obama administration plans to wind down Fannie and Freddie.
There is a post on thetitleweb.com here
Canadian Escrow Fraud Scheme
Posted by Jonathan Yasko in Entrust Solutions News, Escrow Accounting, Real Estate News, Title Industry News on November 30, 2010
There is a new scheme targeting escrow and trust accounts designed to look completely legitimate.
Here is a quick example:
A crook contacts a local, reputable Realtor to purchase real property. The thief is generally from another state –or – completely out of the country and most of the conversations are conducted over the phone or via email. Once the thief has identified the property of their choice, they next contact a Title Company or Real Estate Attorney to discuss their fees for closing the transaction.
The fraudster notifies the Title Company or Attorney they are sending certified funds via a large well known bank. The funds are typically a cashier’s check from a large bank in Canada (although it can be from any foreign country).
The fraudulent check is sent via FedEx overnight mail and the criminal contacts the Title Company or Attorney asking when the funds will be deposited. Once the criminal is notified the funds were deposited, the criminal then tells the Title Company or Attorney that the deal fell through and wants you to wire the funds back to them or another bank account.
Little does the Title Company or Attorney know, the cashier’s check that was deposited was completely fake. Banks typically take a few days to process the deposit and notify you if that deposit made was returned. Since the funds were already wired out of the escrow / trust account, there is no way to recall the wire and now the account is short.
Don’t become a victim of this fraud. If you receive a cashier’s check from a bank, contact the local branch and have them direct you to the appropriate contact to verify if the funds are legitimate. DO NOT CALL THE PHONE NUMBER ON THE CHECK.
Fannie Mae stops purchasing Reverse Mortgages
Posted by Jonathan Yasko in Real Estate News on October 12, 2010
This article is from Reverse Mortgage Daily
http://reversemortgagedaily.com/2010/10/11/fannie-mae-stops-purchasing-reverse-mortgages/
Fannie Mae Stops Purchasing Reverse Mortgages
October 11th, 2010 | by admin Published in FHA, FNMA Homekeeper, GNMA, News, Reverse Mortgage
Fannie Mae announced it’s no longer purchasing reverse mortgages due to its internal systems lack of ability to handle the new HECM Standard and Saver products according to a letter obtained by RMD.
The Government Sponsored Entity (GSE) is no longer accepting new commitments or deliveries that have case numbers dated on or after October 4, 2010. Lenders have a 90 day period in which they can deliver any loans that were obtained prior to the start of the Department of Housing and Urban Developments FY 2011.
While the changes might sound drastic, the reality is that Fannie Mae’s importance in the reverse mortgage business has been sliding dramatically ever since it announced significant pricing changes in 2009. The GSE’s market share went from 68% in the second quarter of 2009 to approximately 2% during the second quarter of 2010. Fannie Mae purchased $200 million of HECMs during the last quarter and its portfolio has leveled off for the most part at $50.7 billion.
The marketplace found a better alternative in Ginnie Mae’s HMBS program which is the main source of liquidity for reverse mortgage lenders. According to data from the agency, HMBS issuance rose from $1.357 billion in 2008 to $8.538 billion in 2009. For 2010, HMBS reached $7.244 billion as of August and will easily pass the record levels of 2009.
There was concern about whether the announcement would impact smaller Ginnie Mae issuers, who don’t have the ability to issue adjustable rate HMBS because of the liquidity requirements, but it’s not the case. An executive at a leading wholesale lender told RMD that those without the authority should have agreements to sell to someone who does, so its unlikely that it will be an issue.
The industry continues to wait for Ginnie Mae to start accepting new HMBS issuers after it suspended approvals to perform a “comprehensive review of the risks associated with the HMBS (HECM MBS) program both to issuers and Ginnie Mae, in order to evaluate possible changes to the program.” The agency has refused to release any details on what the new net-worth requirements will be or when they will be announced.
Until they do, the reverse mortgage industry has only nine active issuers.
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