The real estate industry is notoriously cyclical, making it more challenging than most when it comes to preparing for the future. Title agents are faithful in crafting their business plans at the end of the year, while keeping a weather eye on shifting realities in the general economy, employment, and – of course – real […]
Historically, scalability in the title insurance industry meant two things: 1) you work more hours in the busy months and fewer hours in the slow months, and 2) you hire more people in years when the market is on fire, and you fire them when a real estate recession hits. Today, title agencies have far […]
The real estate industry, with its dozens of players involved in a single mortgage transaction, is ripe for creating alliances and business ventures that can be a boon for your business. And while real estate is primarily a local business, with the increasing number of homeowners tapping into vacation properties and investors managing rental properties […]
At the end of 2023, the U.S. economy was teetering on a recession. Consequently, this past year presented an uncertain landscape for the real estate markets, with inflation unchecked and mortgage rates in untenable territory. While much of the uncertainty diminished throughout 2024, the real estate market did not fare as well as might be […]
There are three key components to successfully navigating an increase in title work, and with recent economic indicators pointing to a more dynamic 2025, it may be the perfect time to take a hard look at your managers, technology and processes to determine if you are prepared to gear up for the New Year. Managers […]
It’s easy to play the blame game when an employee fails at their job but statistically speaking it is rarely a problem with the employee and more often a problem with a whole host of issues with regard to hiring, training and management. In part one of our 3-part Thinking Ahead to 2025 series, we […]
The pendulum is swinging back with all signs pointing to an improving housing market in 2025 and companies in the real estate, lending and title insurance industries must be prepared to meet the anticipated uptick in demand. While you may not be leaping into hiring mode at this moment, what you want to avoid is […]
New laws and innovative technologies have broadened a title agent’s ability to facilitate real estate transaction closings in a multitude of ways. While in person closings are still the preference of some real estate agents and homebuyers, hybrid closings, eClosings in person, and remote RON closings are growing in popularity and offer title agents an […]
Economic forecasters just a few months ago were predicting that mortgage rates would moderate to 5.8% by the end of 2024, raising hopes that we would see increasing home sales and refinance orders as the year progressed. But now both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are backpedaling on those predictions, releasing more sobering predictions in […]
Unless you have someone managing your database full-time, it’s likely that your database has been touched by dozens if not hundreds of employees over time, which in turn means it’s likely a bit of a mess. This is especially true in the title industry, where data is critical to a transaction and many different staffers […]
