Issue No. 171 | May 13, 2020


EVENTS
Look For NEW Events Posted Since The Last Issue!
INDUSTRY NEWS
States are rapidly adapting to social distancing in their approaches to remote notarization. The below chart tracks the steps, special conditions, and considerations on a state-by-state basis. The chart lists states with temporary remote notarization procedures. It does not list states with pre-existing remote notary statutes and states requiring use of a third-party remote online notarization service.

The old adage of “the show must go on” is percolating across the mortgage and housing world as trade event organizers are cautiously seeking to move beyond the coronavirus pandemic and welcome crowds back to their line-up of trade conferences.

Every other state in the country has recognized that real estate professionals provide a life-sustaining service and that housing is a vital part of people's lives as well as the economy.

After a month-long hiatus, Opendoor, Offerpad, Redfin RDFN and Zillow Z have just announced their intentions to resume making cash offers to homeowners looking to sell their residences quickly and hassle-free.

A surge in repurchase claims against mortgage originators may be imminent as aggregators and servicers face nonpayment of debt obligations and liquidity shortfalls resulting from an increase in residential mortgage loans put in forbearance.

A for sale sign sits outside an Allentown property on Turner Street, which agent Kristine McCreary is not allowed to physically show to potential buyers while Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's business shutdown is in effect.

LEGAL NEWS
In the wake of the coronavirus, businesses and courts remain shuttered as a result of stay-at-home government orders. Businesses and organizations are grappling daily with the changed circumstances that the virus brought.

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Mexico recently found that a title insurance company was not liable for the alleged negligent acts of the title agent in failing to discharge a mortgage.

The Planning Board has given unanimous support to a project redeveloping the Ferris Salvage site on Franklin Street, bringing the city one step closer to resolving a decades-old land dispute.

States like Florida have adhered to a procedure established by the English Chancery Courts originally designed to prevent unsavory lenders from making loans to acquire ownership of real estate in anticipation of a default by borrowers where the law courts provided little protection in this regard.

Dave Porter and John Taylor, commodities traders from Illinois, formed Row Boat, LLC to buy the property out of bankruptcy in 2008, the same year massive storms destroyed the dam.

A split Washington state high court affirmed Thursday that a title insurance company breached its duty to defend a husband and wife against a tribe's claim that an 1854 treaty allows it to harvest shellfish on the couple's tidelands.

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.

WORLD NEWS
The title registration system provides a state guarantee of registered titles through an indemnity fund to compensate owners whose interests are defeated due to an error made by the registrar.

Elected chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en are calling for a retraction of a joint statement by the hereditary chiefs, B.C. officials and the federal government regarding the signing of a memorandum on rights and title.

The owners had also recently discovered that the land’s mother deed was used by the developer and the Bahraini landowner to secure a mortgage loan with a foreign bank in 2016, one year after the full sale of the apartments.

TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS
There is no reason that notarization cannot be securely done online; the technology to secure such transactions is readily available and a number of states already allow real estate closings to be done digitally.

 Vuzix® Corporation (NASDAQ: VUZI), ("Vuzix" or, the "Company"), a leading supplier of Smart Glasses and Augmented Reality (AR) technology and products, today announced that the Company's M400 Smart Glasses has successfully been piloted by a licensed real estate broker and franchise partner broker of Howard Hanna Lake Group based in upstate New York and is now being used weekly to host virtual open houses.

TITLE AGENCY & PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
As a small business owner, I returned my state bridge loan. It was the right and smart thing to do, writes Jane Bolin, who owns two real estate firms and is vice mayor of Oakland Park. 

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
A world where anyone must pass a fever check to enter a business or building may be closer than you think.

Designers and architects expect the pandemic to affect apartment design long after the lockdowns are over. Here are a few trends you’re likely to see.

In the 1850s, irate locals destroyed the New York Marine Hospital, a Staten Island complex that treated immigrants with diseases like cholera and smallpox.

This 360-degree virtual tour of NYC, starts with a helicopter ride which begins off shore, and before you know it, you're soaring past the Statue of Liberty, hovering over the East River and passing the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges.

On November 21, 1918, an Indianapolis schoolteacher named Hildreth Heiney wrote to her deployed fiancé, Sergeant Kleber Hadley, about the sudden appearance of face masks in response to the global influenza pandemic. 

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