Issue No. 177 | June 24, 2020


EVENTS
Look For NEW Events Posted Since The Last Issue!
INDUSTRY NEWS
While the Factsheet is focused solely on the handling of title insurance disclosures under the rule, the FAQ’s cover various topics, including the separation of data when using separate Closing Disclosures for the consumer and the seller, the Total of Payments calculation, and the optional signature lines on the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure.

Companies have scaled back issuing title insurance on property sales in Mount Vernon after complaining that the city comptroller has failed to process tax payments or issue receipts.

Fitch expects industry operating revenues to be down in the high single-digit range for 2020 as Q1 was one of the strongest on record, but will be pressured in the second half of the year.

Home buyers, sellers and real estate agents meet at the settlement attorney’s office at the same time, provide government-issued photo identification and sign legally binding documents under oath before a notary public.

LEGAL NEWS
The Massachusetts Appeals Court decided last week that a mortgage stating it is payable “on demand,” with no maturity date or term, is governed by the so-called obsolete mortgage statute, M.G.L. c. 260, § 33. The case is Thornton v. Thornton and a link to the decision is here.

The article “New Statute Eliminating Waiver of Standing Defense Imperils Title Insurance (and Foreclosures)” (April 28) dispenses dire warnings about the parade of horribles that supposedly will ensue from a new law that makes the defense of lack of standing nonwaivable in a residential foreclosure action.

The global COVID-19 outbreak has encouraged widespread orders to protect renters and owners of commercial and residential real property.

When government directly takes or inversely takes private property, our federal and state Constitutions require the payment of just compensation. 

Tenants should consider the necessity of leasehold title insurance policies in many different leasehold circumstances, but especially with regard to ground leases.

In early 2020, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that contractors who have a mechanics’ lien on a residential property cannot recover attorneys’ fees from the sale of the homestead.

TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS
Last week the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) agreed and approved a new requirement that New York attorneys take one cybsersecurity CLE credit. The proposal is presently before the New York CLE board for consideration.

In an era of consumer choice, agents and brokerages who move past “good enough” will stand apart.

TITLE AGENCY & PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
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
Roy Hobbs takes a mighty swing. His pennant-winning home run explodes the stadium lights. And he rounds the bases in triumph.

In United States Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, one of this Term’s most closely-watched cases, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the United States Forest Service has authority under the Mineral Leasing Act to grant rights-of-way through lands within the national forests, restoring the permitting process that interstate natural gas pipelines had relied on for decades.

“I am not informed as to who the artist may have been, to whom we were indebted for the statues of the malefactors which adorned the front of the jail … whatever footprints he may have left upon the sands of time being long since drowned in the waters of oblivion..

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