AbstractorPro (Real Title Services)
DRN Title Search
Register
Log In
Forget your Password?

Home
Directory
Bulletins
Forums
Blogs
Articles
Links
Classifieds
About Us
Contact Us
Advertise
FAQ
Privacy Policy


Source of Title Blog : Opportunities

We Need New Policies or Laws for Computer Indexing
by Robert Franco | 2012/08/14

I had the pleasure of attending the Ohio Association of Independent Title Agent's conference yesterday.  The OAITA is a great organization and they provided some excellent discussion at this year's conference.  One particular speaker gave me an opportunity to ask a question that has been on my mind for quite some time; the speaker was Rick Campbell, President of the Ohio Recorders Association and Stark County Recorder.  I asked him if there was a state-wide policy of noting in the index when corrections were made.

[read more...]

Categories: Abstractors, Ohio Legislation, Opportunities, Public Officials, Public Records

Source of Title Blog :: 1 comments ::

Obama vs. Romney: Who holds the edge on housing policy?
by Robert Franco | 2012/07/17

We are all in the housing industry - to some extent, our future is dependent on a strong and stable housing market.  I saw an article indicating that Realtors favor Mitt Romney in the upcoming election and I began to wonder what plans each candidate had for restoring our housing market.  So, while I have done some research to see what has been reported on each candidates' position on housing, I am curious to know what you think.  Based solely on their expressed views of the housing market, and leaving general partisan sentiments aside, who do you favor and why?

[read more...]

Categories: Foreclosures, General Interest, Mortgage Industry, Opportunities

Source of Title Blog :: 6 comments ::

This Week's OAITA Conference
by Robert Franco | 2010/04/21

I had the opportunity to attend the Ohio Association of Independent Title Agents (OAITA) Conference in Columbus, Ohio on Monday.  It was a great event with nearly 60 in attendance at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Arena District. If the independent agents have a future in the title industry, it lies with the OAITA and similar organizations.

[read more...]

Categories: Abstractors, Land Title Associations, Opportunities, Small Agents, Title Standards

Source of Title Blog :: 0 comments ::

Abstracting and the Unauthorized Practice of Law
by Robert Franco | 2010/04/11

An interesting post in the forums raised the issue of the unauthorized practice of law as it relates to title abstracting.  This is a very interesting topic with a long history that starts with the basic question - what is "abstracting?"  The function of an abstractor has changed over the years.  The line between abstracting and the practice of law has been blurred. 

[read more...]

Categories: Abstractors, Legislation, Opportunities, Title Standards

Source of Title Blog :: 14 comments ::

Coming Soon: The Ohio Association of Independent Title Agents Convention
by Robert Franco | 2010/02/18

Ohio independent title agents and abstractors should give serious consideration to attending the Ohio Association of Independent Title Agents' (OAITA) convention on April 19, 2010.  There is finally an association dedicated to addressing the unique concerns of the independent agents and it is worthy of your support.  I'll be there this year and I hope to see a strong turn out from Ohioans!

[read more...]

Categories: Abstractors, Land Title Associations, Opportunities, Small Agents, Title Industry

Source of Title Blog :: 0 comments ::

Targeted National Marketing: It beats the Yellow Pages
by Robert Franco | 2010/02/04

It has been a while since my last blog about our enhanced listing services.  I still get a lot of questions about how it works and what the benefits are, so I thought it would be a good idea to explain it again.  Over the course of the past year, our directory was searched an average of more than 14,000 times each month, proving that Source of Title is still the premier source for finding independent title professionals.  But, without an enhanced listing, many of them may not be finding your company.

[read more...]

Categories: Abstractors, General Interest, Marketing, Opportunities, Title Industry

Source of Title Blog :: 9 comments ::

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
by Robert Franco | 2008/01/10

I am flattered! It is true what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. When I began working on Source of Title in 2002, it was because I had a lot of clients calling me asking for referrals for counties I did not cover. Often times, I just didn't know anyone and I thought there really should be an easier way for potential clients to find abstractors. After all, if my clients are having trouble finding abstractors in other counties, there must some out there that can't find me.

The first thing I did was look online to see if I could find any other abstractor directories. Who wants to reinvent the wheel? I didn't find any, so I buried my head in programming books for the summer and create the first version of the site myself. It was very rudimentary, but functional. By the time we started to grow, there were a few other sites offering an abstractor directory. Since we were all in the very early stages of growth, I don't think any of us copied the others. In fact, we all had very different plans for how to model our sites. It was obviously going to come down to who implemented the best plan as to which directory would become the standard.

[read more...]

Categories: Abstractors, Innovation, Opportunities, Title Industry

Source of Title Blog :: 6 comments ::

That's My Picasso
by Robert Franco | 2007/03/27

This a new one for me. With the real estate market slowing down, and by extension the title industry, innovative new sources of revenue are being sought out to compensate. In New York, one title agency has decided to pursue a collateral market for insuring title to valuable works of art. Liberty Title Agency has recently formed Liberty Art Title Agency to offer their clients "fine art insurance."

Liberty will serve as an authorized independent agent of ARIS Corporation to market and sell ATPI(R), fine art insurance, in New York. ARIS is the only insurer to offer true title insurance for the fine art market. The company received regulatory approval for the insurance in New York in May 2006. Fine art insurance is expected to do for fine art what title insurance originally did and continues to do for real estate, that is, create liquidity and standardization of the transaction for an industry which is largely unregulated and which relies on laws created for different industries to resolve art ownership disputes.

Liberty Title Agency, LLC, was launched six years ago and now has offices in Manhattan, Uniondale and Westchester, New York. The company recently passed $25 billion in closings. "We at Liberty Title understand the title issues which our clients face with real estate and by extension appreciate the need equally to protect their art collections against ownership disputes. We firmly believe that we can help our real estate clients navigate the title issues they face with their art collections," stated Madden.


It would be very interesting to know what the premium would be for a $60 million Picasso, like the one pulled from an auction at Christie's last November over a claimed ownership dispute. The painting, Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto, was claimed "sold under duress in Nazi Germany" and an heir of a former owner filed suit to recover ownership.

Like anything of value that can be subject to law suits resulting from disputes of ownership, whether it is art or real estate, title insurance helps create a stable market and provides buyers and sellers with confidence which increases the item's value. It will be interesting to see what other new opportunities present to the title industry in a time while title insurance sales are likely to continue to decline.

Robert A. Franco
SOURCE OF TITLE
rfranco@sourceoftitle.com

[read more...]

Categories: Opportunities, Title Industry

Source of Title Blog :: 0 comments ::

Source of Title Blog

Robert A. FrancoThe focus of this blog will be on sharing my thoughts and concerns related to the small title agents and abstractors. The industry has changed dramatically over the past ten years and I believe that we are just seeing the beginning. As the evolution continues, what will become of the many small independent title professionals who have long been the cornerstone of the industry?

Robert A. Franco
SOURCE OF TITLE

 

Links

Recommended Blogs Recommended Posts Source of Title Services
Recent Comments

I think there is a problem with doing this. R.C. 5302.23(B)(6) states as follows:"A fee simple title...
by Keith Barton
Appreciate the update Robert. I am curious if there was any discussion of GIS and Parcel IDs. I was ...
by Jeanine Johnson
I am looking for someone in CA to help...
by Kathy Stewart
I am not independent, but I am a title abstractor for a small law firm in NC that deals with Real Es...
by Ashley Bonds
I've thought further of who will be affected by block chain and it won't just be lawyers, title sear...
by Carol Clark
I recently attempted to have a title company examiner sign and notarize (acknowledgement of her sign...
by DANDAN ZHU
 Thank you for the reminder to check for that notation about homestead exemption ending on the ...
by stephen willard
Pat was one of the sweetest men I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.  At every conference he ...
by Douglas Gallant
Categories

© 2020, Source of Title.