The Fed's Damage to the Housing Market May Last Years
With interest rates now hovering around 5%, existing-home sales are down more than 14% from last year. Some potential buyers are sitting on the sidelines until rates or prices or both decline, while sellers are hoping the market picks up again so they can get a higher price. But don't count on rates falling to those pandemic lows.
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Mortgage rates climb above 5% once again
Mortgage rates climbed above 5% again, after dipping below that threshold for the first time in months a week earlier. While the volatility in mortgage rates remains, there are signs that the housing market is starting to stabilize. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.22% in the week ending August 11, up from 4.99% the week before, according to Freddie Mac. That is significantly higher than this time last year when it was 2.87%.
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Opinion: Has the title industry reached the automation tipping point?
Not many would count the title industry among the economy's technology leaders. Candidly, there's good reason for that. For decades, settlement services firms staked their reputations on personalized customer service and regional or local expertise, rather than cutting-edge technologies.
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N.C. Extends Video Notarization, Witnessing; Authorizes Permanent Remote Electronic Notarization
On July 8, 2022, House Bill 776 passed in North Carolina, providing for the permanent implementation of remote electronic notarization (REN or RON), effective July 1, 2023. Additionally, House Bill 776 reauthorizes the use of temporary emergency video notarizations (EVN) and emergency video witnessing - remote witnessing is not authorized under RON - until June 30, 2023.
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Title Talk with Rachel Luna
With over 13,000 followers on Instagram, Rachel Luna, the principal of Texas-based Patriot Title Company, is the self-proclaimed "Texas Title Queen." Luna has worked her way through the ranks and is now among the most recognizable pros in the title industry. "I have worked every position in the title industry, from the front desk to file clerk, to copy girl, to a notary, to an escrow officer. And now I am the principal of the largest woman-owned title company in Texas," Luna said.
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Amanda Brower on what fuels her career as a commercial escrow officer and assistant VP at Fidelity
In commercial escrow work, Amanda Brower has found you never stop learning and you learn by doing. "You need a specific mindset" to excel in the profession, she said. "You take an experience and put it in your back pocket and use it as a baseline to work from. It's compounding knowledge."
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