INDUSTRY EVENTS
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INDUSTRY NEWS
It was like the meeting of the five families. In 2001, the dons of New York City’s residential brokerages all gathered to discuss whether they should band together to create a formal Multiple Listing Service that would act as a clearinghouse and provide consumers with a searchable listings database for the first time.

Beginning next year, the Washington real estate excise tax (REET) will convert to a tiered rate structure from the current flat-rate structure, resulting in a big increase in the rate for more valuable properties.

Oregon is set to become the first U.S. state to alter its single-family zoning laws in order to encourage more homebuilding. Several cities have passed similar bills in recent months, but Oregon could be the first to introduce state-level legislation, NPR reported this week.

The Texas Department of Insurance today approved TLTA's petition via the adoption of an order that revises the basic premium rate and amends our industry's rate rules.

RESPA: motion to reschedule foreclosure sale filed during borrower's trial loan modification plan did not violate RESPA because lender was seeking to postpone previously scheduled sale during modification period - Landau v. RoundPoint Mortg. Serv. Corp., No. 17-11151 (11th Cir. June 11, 2019) (affirming dismissal of action)

LEGAL NEWS
For more than four years, nobody knew who bought the only $100 million apartment in Manhattan. Real estate agents and architects who worked with the buyer were all sworn to secrecy, according to the Wall Street Journal, and even after several rounds of building permit applications to renovate

In its recent opinion in Deutsche Bank National Trust Company v. Walker County, the Alabama Supreme Court held Alabama Code § 35-4-50 does not impose a mandatory duty to record assignments of beneficial interests in residential mortgages. 

Obscure rules surrounding rent-stabilized hotels have occasionally allowed savvy tenants to secure cheap rent for life. But one tenant now claims he had the legal right to take over an entire hotel — and for the moment, city property records agree.

Courts are increasingly having to interpret how people have used emojis. You may make you rethink how you’re using some of these small icons in your messages.

Law360 (July 9, 2019, 8:24 PM EDT) -- A group of Montana tribes told a federal court Monday they have sovereign immunity from counterclaims brought by county commissioners and the owner of a proposed RV resort development in the tribes’ suit seeking to stop construction of access roads, which they allege would cross tribal land. 

TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL MEDIA
In today's digital/mobile world, most of the purchase transactions we perform are done in a modern, convenient fashion. Most Americans' online shopping patterns have evolved from buying commodity items like books to more personalized items like clothes and groceries.

Since the 15-story office property opened four years ago, its 28,000 sensors have collected roughly 55 terabytes of data on everything from the air’s CO2 levels to workers’ daily coffee orders.

WORLD NEWS
Paul Jones has been living on a block of land in Marsden Park in Sydney’s north-west for the last six years, but has recently discovered that the land he’s been living on is not actually the land he purchased.

South Africa's president made a promise to redistribute white-owned land to blacks. But it's a tense and controversial process.

TITLE AGENCY & PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
No matter what the industry, a full-time job can be stressful, exhausting, frustrating, and can cause even the most optimistic of employees to dream of retirement.

Title Agents Go Nationwide
For agents interested in growing their businesses by expanding into multiple states, we’re here to make the process simple and profitable. We offer you one point of contact to streamline your options and solutions.

OTHER TRENDING NEWS
As the teller sifted through the haul, she spotted an unusual $1 bill. It felt like cheap paper in her hands, the lettering was askew, and George Washington looked more like an animated corpse than a noble head of state. It was, no doubt, the worst counterfeit she’d seen in all her years.

Before there was Google, people used their local public library. And not just because libraries are full of books. Librarians were specially trained to help people find information, or to simply answer a question themselves.

From a distance, a new home in rural Nova Scotia looks like it might be made of wood. But the structure—hidden under recycled aluminum siding laser-printed with a cedar print—was built from 600,000 recycled plastic bottles, shredded and melted and made into six-inch-thick walls.

4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and extensive opportunities for open plan off-roading.

Marianne Mathieu, NTP
Vice President/National Agency Accounts
Fidelity National Title Group
(347) 987-0677