DECEMBER 2022 ISSUE

UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATER CONTEST PARTICIPANTS!!

Tell us what you think! Who has the ugliest (best) sweater amongst our Chicago Title team members?

We had a lot of fun today, and yes, we did get some work done!

From top left: Jeff Leichtnam, Carmen Polito, Roy Mendonza, Chris DeSanto, Donna Aleksa, Whitney Szczepaniak, Laura Strauss, Grace Loucks, Molly Sleiman, Joy Regis, Jessica Palmieri, Lisa Meyers.

SEASON'S GREETINGS!!

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF OUR

UPDATED OFFICE HOURS FOR BUFFALO AND LOCKPORT

FOR CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR'S



Friday, December 23: Offices will close at 3pm

Monday, December 26: Offices closed in observance of Christmas

Friday, December 30: Offices will close at 3pm

Monday, January 2: Offices closed in observance of New Year's

From our Chicago Title family to you, we wish you the happiest of holidays. Please stay safe and enjoy time with family and friends. Thank you for your patronage!

HAVE A CLOSING PACKAGE TO SEND TO CHICAGO TITLE?

HERE'S SOME TIPS TO SPEED UP THE PROCESS

AND GET YOUR FINAL POLICY FASTER!

Chicago Title knows how important it is to get your client's Final Title Insurance Policy and that's why we've made significant investments this year in personnel and processes to improve our turnaround time on policies. In fact, we have reduced our backlog to less than a third from where we were at the beginning of 2022. And it's only getting better from here.

Here's some tips to ensure we get your policy out fast:

1. Download this checklist
2. Scan your closing package items into PDF format
3. Mail your premium check to the appropriate Chicago Title office
4. Email the rest of the closing package documents:

Buffalo: Chris DeSanto christopher.desanto@ctt.com

Lockport: Angela Pontillo angela.pontillo@ctt.com

You can still mail/ship your closing packages in hard copy form if you prefer. However, when preparing the documents, please try to avoid the following:

• Staples
• Double Sided pages
• Original ECCO receipt (a copy is just fine!)

Our team has to remove those staples to scan the documents and this takes time. The idea behind these tips is to make the process of preparing the final policy faster.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask us.

SHOUT OUT TO THE PARTY PLANNING COMMITTEE!

Chicago Title recently held its annual holiday party for staff members at a local restaurant. It was so nice to have so many of us together and celebrate the holiday season (outside of the office!). Our Party Planning Committee worked hard these past few weeks to ensure everyone enjoyed great food, a fun atmosphere and receive a fun holiday gift!

Special thanks to (from left) Karen Todaro, Maryann Peckey, Donna Bauridel and Jessica Palmieri.

AOL'S?? No, we're not talking about your old email address from 25 years ago. This article discusses an area of concern in the title industry that may affect you. We would love your feedback!

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) Equitable Housing Finance Plans announced earlier this year are aimed at lowering closing costs and making home ownership more accessible for low- to moderate- income and minority homebuyers.

The title insurance industry is eager to work with FHFA to ensure that equitable access to sustainable homeownership opportunities is available for all Americans, including minority and underserved communities. 

The title industry plays a critical role in the ability of American households to build wealth through homeownership by ensuring the proper transfer of real estate from seller to buyer and securing property rights. 

Lower protection alternatives to title insurance, such as the use of an attorney opinion letter (AOL) under limited circumstances, will make homeownership less sustainable and increase unnecessary risk for more vulnerable, low- and moderate-income consumers. 

Some of the requirements for using an attorney title opinion letter include:

• The attorney issuing the title opinion letter must be licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction where the subject property is located and must be insured against malpractice in rendering opinions of title in an amount commonly prevailing in the jurisdiction.

To continue reading this article, click the link below:

https://fraudinsights.fnf.com/vol17iss11/article2.htm