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🏨 C-PACE Is Becoming a Much Bigger Layer in the Commercial Capital Stack

C-PACE used to sound like the sort of financing title teams might encounter on an occasional energy-efficiency project. That is changing quickly. It is showing up in larger hotel developments, major renovations and increasingly complicated capital stacks—and when it does, the file does not behave like an ordinary mortgage payoff.

The problem is that a C-PACE assessment can survive a sale, collide with senior-lender requirements, or become a negotiation over who inherits it and who pays it off. By the time everyone realizes it is not “just another lien,” the closing may already be waiting on documents nobody requested.

Where the assessment sits, what transfers, what gets paid, and what has to be recorded afterward depends on the program and the deal.

🏢 The CRE Freeze Is Thawing. The Weird Part Comes Next.

The repricing may be mostly over, but lenders, investors and communities are drawing sharper lines around what gets financed, built and bought.

Price Discovery Is Giving Way to a Different Question: Can the Property Actually Perform?

Once buyers and sellers can agree on a price, the next thing that has to cooperate is the real economy. Multifamily operators are watching inflation, employment, consumer debt, interest rates and geopolitical pressure because those forces eventually show up in rent collections, occupancy and tenant demand. That shifts the CRE conversation from “What is this building worth now?” toward “What happens to the cash flow if the consumer gets squeezed?”—and makes property type, tenant mix and local economic exposure increasingly important context around the transaction.

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

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The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

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Thank you to our friends, contributors & sponsors:🔒 Closinglock, 🌍 Foreign Tax CPA, 🪄Business Witch Academy, 🧱 Brickhouse Consulting, 🖊️Dotted Line Signings & Our Paying Readers
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🕵️‍♂️Underworld Intel

💳 The Credit-Score Shift Just Got an Implementation Date

We’ve been following the long-running move away from a one-credit-model mortgage world, including the questions around FHFA’s rollout of VantageScore 4.0. This week, that story moved from policy to execution: FHA set January 1, 2027 as the implementation date for VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are already permitting approved lenders to deliver loans using VantageScore 4.0. For title companies, the update is not a new settlement rule; it is the next step in changing which borrowers can qualify to reach the closing table in the first place. (HUD.gov)

🤖 We Asked Whether AI Could Read the Records. DataTrace Tested What It Missed.

In our recent discussion of AI-aggregated title search, the central issue was not whether AI can retrieve public records; it was whether scattered, inconsistent public data is complete and connected enough to reconstruct a dependable property history using AI. DataTrace has now put numbers around that problem: among 184 evaluable residential files across Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, public-record-only AI missed at least one title matter in 75 files, or 40.8%. This adds real-world evidence to the same question we raised before: AI can read records; but dependable title search still depends heavily on the quality, completeness and relationships in the data underneath them and that level of quality might not exist.

🩴 Florida’s Beach Fight Is Really a Title-and-Boundary Fight Wearing Flip-Flops

In Walton County, the decade-long battle over whether the public can use privately owned dry sand has produced a patchwork of public access points, private-beach claims, settlement agreements and ongoing quiet-title fights. Florida repealed the 2018 law that had forced local governments to prove customary use parcel by parcel, but NPR’s reporting shows the practical mess is far from resolved: where the public can actually sit, walk or cross still depends on the history and legal status of the specific stretch of sand. For title examiners and coastal closing teams, “beachfront” is not enough—you may be dealing with private ownership, customary-use rights, settlement terms, access easements and litigation that materially affect what the buyer thinks they are purchasing. (Courtesy of Mark Nemetz, Residential Mortgage/Title Consultant)

🏛️ What If the Public Comment Process Isn’t Actually Public?

Title professionals have spent a lot of time lately being asked to comment on federal rules, RFIs and policy changes. Now Better Markets has sued the Federal Reserve and Vice Chair Michelle Bowman, alleging that Fed officials secretly coordinated with major banks in a way that distorted the public rulemaking record for proposed capital rules. Those are allegations, not findings—but if a comment process can be shaped behind the scenes, it raises an uncomfortable question for every regulated industry participating in these exercises: if something similar happened elsewhere, would the public participants even know?

🐐Wicked Trends & Forces🌳

The patterns worth paying attention to…

🪵 How a Trade Fight With Canada Finds Its Way to the Closing Table

New tariffs on wood products in the escalating U.S.–Canada trade fight have reopened an argument with no tidy answer: builders say higher material costs make already-expensive homes harder to build, while domestic producers argue trade protection can strengthen U.S. lumber capacity. A plywood tariff does not change a title workflow, but follow the chain far enough and it can change what gets built, what buyers can afford, and eventually how many transactions reach the closing table. Sometimes the forces shaping title volume start several industries—and several policy decisions—away from title itself.

This is sneak peek at just one tiny insight coming out of our upcoming 🐐Wicked Trends & Forces🌳 Real Estate Market Forecast. Subscribers will get it for free. Upgrade now so you don’t miss a thing.

👀 Things Wandering Toward Your Workflow

New tools, vendor launches, and tech experiments making their way toward the closing table.
👀 Get on the Workflow Watchlist

Stewart Just Bought More of the Mortgage Lifecycle

Stewart acquired ProTitleUSA and DocSolutionUSA, adding title analytics, portfolio due diligence, document generation, recording, curative and collateral-review capabilities to its centralized title services. The expansion reaches beyond the closing table into the assignment, release, curative and servicing work that follows loans through transfers, defaults and capital-markets transactions.

SoftPro + Alliant National Pull Title Search Into SoftPro 360

SoftPro expanded its Alliant National integration so users can order and receive title search and examination services directly inside SoftPro 360, building on the existing CPL and policy-jacket connection. That removes another handoff—and another round of duplicate entry, emails and status chasing—from the production workflow.

⚖️Legal

Regulatory updates, Claims, Lawsuits, & Enforcement

National

Congress Could Give FHFA a Direct Line Into the Vendor Stack

H.R. 10230, the Strengthening Oversight for the Financial Sector Act of 2026, would let FHFA regulate and examine services performed for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks as though the regulated entity performed the work itself. The bill, introduced September 2 and now with House Financial Services, would also revive NCUA oversight of credit-union service providers. For title, settlement, data and technology companies contracting directly into that ecosystem, third-party oversight could move beyond lender questionnaires and contract provisions into actual regulator examination if the bill becomes law.

ROAD Is Law. Some of Its Best Title Opportunities Are Still Waiting to Be Built.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law July 11, but implementation requires dozens of new agency actions, and some programs still need rulemaking, guidance or future funding before anyone can use them. That includes the provision we previously flagged allowing HUD to create a small-dollar mortgage pilot with grants that can cover title insurance: the law gives HUD up to a year to establish that pilot. The opportunity is still there; it just is not a product title agencies can build a strategy around yet.

State

Claim Stories/Court Stories

⚖️ Meanwhile, in the Courts...

📢Announcement

Our weekly rotating features:

• 🤖PropTech, Cyber Security & Fraud

• 🏢 Commercial Real Estate

• 💸Business Growth

• ⚙️ Operations

are moving to Tuesdays.

💼 Job Postings

• Title Searcher - Near North Title Group
  Fort Wayne, IN
  Searches public records and title history to support title production and examination work.

• Commercial Title Examiner - Stewart Title
  Richmond County, GA
  Examines commercial title records and identifies liabilities, defects and insurability issues for real estate transactions.

• Commercial/Acreage Title Examiner - Compass International Holdings
  Remote / Texas
  Focuses on examination of Texas commercial and acreage title files for a remote national-title operation.

• Commercial Title Officer Examiner - Fidelity National Financial
  Lacey, WA
  Handles commercial title examination and title-officer responsibilities for complex real estate transactions.

• Real Estate Services Title Agent Senior - HDR
  Greater Cleveland, OH
  Senior title role supporting real estate and right-of-way work, including title research and property documentation.

• Commercial Title Assistant - First American
  Remote / Tampa, FL | $20.34-$27.12/hour
  Supports commercial title files, research, escrow activity, recordings, endorsements and multi-site transaction work.

• Commercial Escrow Officer - Chicago Title
  Raleigh, NC
  Manages commercial settlements from contract through funding, including closing documents, escrow coordination and complex transaction requirements.

• Escrow Assistant - ASK Consulting
  Phoenix, AZ | $23/hour
  Six-month onsite role supporting residential, resale, new-construction, refinance, relocation and timeshare escrow transactions.

• Escrow Officer - First Source Title
  Frisco/Plano, TX
  Licensed Texas escrow officer role running residential and commercial files from contract receipt through funding and post-closing.

• Title Closer / Escrow Officer - Coast-to-Coast Title & Escrow Services
  Seminole, FL | $15-$25/hour
  Coordinates title settlement and closing activity, including document preparation, execution, fund disbursement and multi-state compliance.

💼 Place Your Job Posting Ad Here

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

Notarial wording feels like one of those boring details everyone assumes is already handled—until it isn’t.

In this episode, Cheryl breaks down why incorrect or incomplete notarial certificates are one of the most common reasons notary closers get disciplined, and why “the lender prepared it” is not the shield people think it is.

This isn’t about being nitpicky. It’s about understanding where responsibility actually lands at the closing table—and how thirty seconds of slowing down can save months of explaining yourself later.

If you notarize real estate documents, this one matters.

Thank you to our friends, contributors & sponsors:🔒 Closinglock, 🌍 Foreign Tax CPA, 🪄Business Witch Academy, 🧱 Brickhouse Consulting, 🖊️Dotted Line Signings & Our Paying Readers
📢 Be a Sponsor

🧠 What We Cover in This Episode

• Why notarial wording mistakes are not cosmetic

• Acknowledgment vs. jurat errors (and why they matter)

• The danger of assuming document prep was done correctly

• How liability shifts the moment you apply your stamp

• Why the notary closer is the last line of defense

• A simple mental checklist to run before you stamp

• How pressure at the table quietly leads to discipline later

🧩 Key Takeaway

You don’t get credit for someone else’s prep work—but you do inherit the liability.

Check the wording.

Fill in the blanks.

Own your stamp.

🎧 About Wicked Title Folks

Wicked Title Folks is the podcast where we talk title, escrow, and compliance without putting you to sleep or burying you in citations.

Real-world scenarios.

Plain English.

No fluff.

🎙️ Hosted by Cheryl, your voice of reason in a wicked industry.

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl

The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

🐐 Membership | 🔍 Find Answers | 🛒 Shop | 📢 Partner With Us

Brought to you by our friends, contributors & sponsors:🔒 Closinglock, 🌍 Foreign Tax CPA, 🪄Business Witch Academy, 🧱 Brickhouse Consulting, 🖊️Dotted Line Signings & Our Paying Readers
📢 Be a Sponsor

🕵️‍♂️Underworld Intel

👤 The Owner and the Insured Are Not Always the Same Person

This short explainer highlights a recurring investor trap: moving property between an individual and an LLC or other entity can change who owns the property without the owner realizing it may also change the title-insurance picture. “I already have a policy” is less important than two questions: Who is named as the insured, and who owns the property now?

🕵️ Consumers Are Hearing “Title Fraud” and Assuming All Protection Is the Same

There is a growing consumer-education problem: deed-monitoring services, fraud alerts and title insurance are increasingly discussed as if they do the same job. They do not. That confusion creates an opening for title agents to explain, clearly and without fearmongering, what an owner’s policy covers, what monitoring products actually do, and where neither one replaces good fraud prevention.

Follow Hallmark Abstract Service on Substack:

🐐Wicked Trends & Forces🌳

The patterns worth paying attention to…

Find our newsletter helpful? Share it with someone you know, or to your social media.

Share Wicked Title Forum

👀 Things Wandering Toward Your Workflow

New tools, vendor launches, and tech experiments making their way toward the closing table.
👀 Get on the Workflow Watchlist

⚖️Legal

National

State

From the Docket…

⚖️ Meanwhile, in the Courts...

🤖PropTech, Cyber Security & Fraud

Bitcoin-Backed Mortgages Are No Longer Just a Crypto Press Release

The first reported Fannie Mae-backed mortgage using bitcoin as collateral closed in June, but the structure is more interesting than the headline. The borrower does not give Fannie Mae bitcoin instead of a down payment. The transaction combines a normal conforming first mortgage with a separate crypto-backed loan that supplies the down-payment funds, allowing the borrower to pledge bitcoin rather than sell it.

Someone Sold the Church Land—and Apparently Got a Dead Woman to Sign

Land intended for a North Carolina church was fraudulently sold for $110,000 using forged signatures—including the name of an owner who died in 2021. The buyer was also reportedly deceived, and the property has since been deeded back to the rightful owner. It is an especially ugly example of vacant-land fraud—and of why seller verification must test more than whether the person on the phone can recite information found in the public record.

📖 Book of the Month

📢 Promote Your Book Here

🎟️Events

• 🎟️ Evaluating Emerging Real Estate Business Concepts

  • 📅 September 9, 2026 | ⏰ 12:00–2:00 p.m. ET | 📍 Register Here (Thesis Driven)

• 🎟️ Missouri LTA Annual Convention

  • 📅 September 9th–11th | ⏰ Times Vary by Session | 📍 Kansas City, MO

• 🎟️ LTAC Conference

  • 📅 September 9th–11th | ⏰ Times Vary by Session | 📍 Vail, CO

• 🎟️ Missouri LTA Annual Convention

  • 📅 September 9th–11th | ⏰ Times Vary by Session | 📍 Kansas City, MO

See all events

💼 Job Postings

• Title Officer — Zillow
  Remote | $28.60–$45.20/hr depending on location
  Works across search, examination and curative matters for Zillow Closing, coordinating with attorneys, underwriters, search vendors and transaction parties.

• Title Insurance Underwriter — Heritage Title
  Wake Forest, NC | Pay not listed
  Supports title underwriting, customer service and administrative work for Heritage Title, part of the Investors Title family.

• Title Insurance Examiner — Knight Barry Title
  Burnsville, MN / Remote | $65,000–$80,000
  Examines deeds, mortgages, easements, judgments, taxes, liens and other recorded matters; remote work is available but applicants must live near Burnsville for training.

• National Title Curative Processor – Refinance — CLOSED Title
  Remote | $65,000–$80,000
  Handles title clearing and curative work on high-volume and legally complex refinance files across multiple states.

• Title Commitment Specialist — Flowers Title Companies
  Remote — Texas residents | $19.75–$24/hr
  Prepares and reviews Texas title commitments, requiring prior title experience and familiarity with state-specific title requirements.

• Title Assistant — First Integrity Title Company
  Glendale, CO | $50,000–$75,000
  Searches and evaluates title records and prepares title files, with prior title-industry experience required and a producer license considered a plus.

• Experienced Title Insurance Closer — Summit Settlement Services
  Remote | $23–$27/hr
  Manages closing files in a fast-paced remote environment, coordinating the details needed to move transactions through closing.

• Licensed Title Insurance Producer — Rally Point Title Agency
  Old Bridge, NJ | $1,000–$10,000/month
  New-business-development role for a licensed New Jersey title producer focused on building referral relationships and generating title orders.

• Title Examiner – Maryland — First American
  Columbia, MD / Remote | Pay not listed
  Examines Maryland title for First American’s national production operation, identifying ownership, liens, exceptions and other matters affecting insurability.

• Title Examiner – Part-Time — Title Now
  Remote | $18–$25/hr
  Flexible 15–20-hour-per-week position for an experienced examiner, offering an unusual part-time option for someone who wants to stay in title without a full-time production schedule.

💼 Place Your Job Posting Ad Here

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

We recently saw firsthand how an IRS error can create serious consequences years after a closing, even when everything was filed correctly.

• Closing took place in July 2021.

• We filed 8288-B before closing; the withholding certificate was issued in June 2022.

• The seller’s return was filed that same year, and their refund was issued.

• All deadlines were met. All filings were correct.

Yet in September 2025, the buyer’s paychecks were levied and her promotion blocked. The IRS had entered the transaction under the wrong year, triggering collection action against someone who owed nothing.

This case is a reminder that the IRS makes mistakes, and that the stakes in FIRPTA compliance are too high to leave to chance.

That’s where we come in. As FIRPTA Fixers, we don’t just prepare the filings, we safeguard them. We ensure deadlines, documentation, and representation are in place, so when the IRS gets it wrong, you’re protected.

The IRS makes mistakes. A CPA protects you when they do.

Read the latest Ramblings of a Title Man → | ☕ Connect with Michael on LinkedIn→

Most title professionals have encountered document errors after closing.

A misspelled name. A transposed lot number. An incorrect legal description.

Usually the solution seems straightforward: correct the mistake and move on.

But what happens when the “mistake” isn’t really a typo at all?

One closing, two lots, a seller who thought they sold one property, a buyer who believed they purchased two, and a correction that triggered a lawsuit taught Michael Holden a lesson he never forgot.

The story begins with a Scrivener’s Error Affidavit—and gets much more complicated from there…

The Scrivener’s Error Affidavit

Have you heard of this situation before? Your title agency gets a call about a closing that took place six months ago. The title agency handling a new transaction on the same property has discovered an error in the legal description used when your agency did the previous closing. The new title agency wants your company to record a Scrivener’s Error Affidavit to clear up the error. If you are unwilling, the title agency is threatening to turn the problem into your underwriter as a claim. What do you do?

First, some history. The term “Scrivener” originates from the Latin word scriba, meaning scribe or clerk, referring to someone who wrote official documents, copied manuscripts, or maintained records. In the 1800s, this term was sometimes used to describe a public notary or someone who prepared deeds and wills. In our meaning, a Scrivener is usually a title or escrow practitioner who handles the drafting of documents for real estate closings. The term appears in Herman Melville’s 1853 story Bartleby, the Scrivener, which explores the life of a law clerk in a New York legal office.

A Scrivener’s Error Affidavit has a more specific definition. It is a legal document used to correct minor clerical or typographical errors in official records, such as deeds, mortgages or contracts. This affidavit serves to clarify the intended meaning of the document without altering its substantive terms (emphasis added). It is typically signed by the party who originally prepared the document or has knowledge of the error, and it is then recorded to officially correct the mistake.

Here is how a Scrivener’s Error Affidavit should be used: Suppose a deed transferring property ownership incorrectly lists the legal description as “Lot 21 of Blackacre” instead of the correct legal description of “Lot 12 of Blackacre.” This minor clerical error could create confusion in title searches or future transactions. Instead of drafting and executing an entirely new deed, the party who prepared the original deed (such as a title agent or attorney) may file a Scrivener’s Error Affidavit with the county recorder’s office. The affidavit would state the nature of the error, provide the correct information, and affirm that the mistake was purely clerical, ensuring the record accurately reflects the intended transaction.

Ah, if it were only that simple. Sometimes the easiest solution creates the biggest headache. Here’s a real-world title story that proves why…

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Read more

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A reader raised a deceptively simple question under our recent story about property-data brokers producing the same errors from the same underlying records: if three vendors all repeat the same bad source data, have you independently verified anything—or just confirmed the same mistake three times?

Zuriel Galvez of DeedFlex put it plainly in the comments: the bigger problem may not be the error rate itself, but the illusion of verification. If three vendors all inherited the same bad upstream record, three matching answers can look like confirmation when they are really one mistake wearing three different logos. He asked whether title has any real convention for tracking provenance—or whether that is still largely left to individual vendors.

Then this follow-up landed: when data comes from a third party, who is responsible for its accuracy?

That question gets considerably more interesting when you add AI. Texas insurance regulators are already putting responsibility for AI governance back on regulated companies even when third-party systems are involved, and Fannie Mae has taken a similar position with lenders using AI vendors: outsourcing the technology does not outsource oversight.

But title has another layer nobody seems to have answered yet: what happens when the bad data actually becomes a claim?

Suppose an aggregated title-data source misses a lien. Or several “independent” databases repeat the same corrupted record. Or an AI examination tool reaches the wrong conclusion because its upstream data was incomplete. A policy gets issued. The defect surfaces later.

Who ultimately eats the loss?

The insured may still have a covered title claim; title insurance exists to respond to covered defects according to the policy, and the issuing agent is not ordinarily the party contractually responsible for paying the policyholder’s covered loss. But that does not necessarily end the story between the underwriter and the agent. Courts have enforced agency agreements requiring agents to reimburse underwriters for losses caused by negligent search or examination errors, and some agency agreements expressly place those losses back on the agent.

Then comes the E&O question. The broader professional-liability market is still figuring AI out. Current commentary on AI exclusions and professional-liability coverage says ordinary negligent reliance on bad AI output may fit traditional E&O coverage, but policy definitions, third-party technology limitations and new AI exclusions can change that answer dramatically.

There does not appear to be a reported title-industry case yet telling us exactly how a title agent’s E&O policy would respond when the underlying mistake came from aggregated third-party data or an AI vendor.

Which leaves some questions I would genuinely like title people, underwriters, E&O brokers, vendors and claims people to argue about:

• If the title agent reasonably relied on an approved vendor, is that negligence?

• Does “verification” require going back to the original public record—or can validated vendor data ever be enough?

• If five vendors use the same upstream source, should anyone be calling that five-sourced data verified?

• If an underwriter approved or required the technology, should the agent still absorb the loss?

• Does your current agency agreement say who owns a vendor-caused search error?

• Has anyone actually asked their E&O carrier whether AI-assisted examination or third-party data errors are covered?

This may be one of those issues where the technology is moving faster than the contracts allocating the risk.

👉 Join the conversation on the original issue or start a new one below—

How do you think these claims will actually be handled?

Would a covered title claim still be paid first and fought over later between underwriter, agent, vendor and E&O carrier?

Have you seen any new language in your agency agreements or E&O policies that addresses who ultimately absorbs the loss or what steps you should be taking to ensure you’re in compliance?

And are carriers already changing exclusions, underwriting questions or risk controls because of AI-assisted title work and third-party data?

I want to know, what are you seeing and what do you think?

Leave a comment

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Founder, Wicked Title Forum
Because knowing what’s happening isn’t the same as knowing what to do about it.
Contact Me (or hit reply)

🐐 Membership | 🔍 Find Answers | 🛒 Shop | 📢 Partner With Us

The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

🐐 Membership | 🔍 Find Answers | 🛒 Shop | 📢 Partner With Us

Brought to you by our friends, contributors & sponsors:🔒 Closinglock, 🌍 Foreign Tax CPA, 🪄Business Witch Academy, 🧱 Brickhouse Consulting, 🖊️Dotted Line Signings & Our Paying Readers
📢 Be a Sponsor

🕵️‍♂️Underworld Intel

📄 The Title Work Behind Truist Park

Amanda shares the behind-the-scenes story of how Callaway Title became involved in the Atlanta Braves’ move to Cobb County and the development of what became Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta. The project required far more than ordinary acquisition work, including confidential land purchases and the relocation of a major Colonial Pipeline easement. It’s a rare look at the kind of complicated, high-stakes title work happening underneath a project most people only ever see as a stadium and entertainment district. Watch the story on YouTube.

🏦 A Philadelphia Bank Failed. The Liens Didn’t.

Pennsylvania regulators closed Tioga-Franklin Savings Bank on August 21, with another institution assuming its deposits and substantially all assets. For title teams, the wrinkle is simple: loans, liens and payoff obligations survive the bank. When ownership or servicing changes mid-transaction, confirming who can issue a payoff or release becomes part of the file—and a legitimate transition can also make fraudulent “updated instructions” more believable. - Curtesy of Mark Nemetz, Residential Mortgage/Title Consultant

💾 When Being Offline Is a Feature: Romania Land Registry Attack Shows the Value of Local Record Security

A cyberattack disrupted Romania’s centralized land-record system, and the Land Title Association of Mississippi noticed the awkward upside of less-centralized local records: one attack cannot take down everything at once. The larger lesson is business continuity. If your recorder, search system or e-recording platform disappears for days instead of hours, does your operation have an alternate path—or just a refresh button?

🐐Wicked Trends & Forces🌳

The patterns worth paying attention to…

👀 Things Wandering Toward Your Workflow

New tools, vendor launches, and tech experiments making their way toward the closing table.
👀 Get on the Workflow Watchlist

🤖 First American Gives 500 Sales Reps an AI Sidekick

First American has rolled out Salesforce Agentforce to an initial 500 sales reps, with five AI-assisted workflows built around the company’s own sales playbook and CRM data. The interesting part isn’t “AI does sales.” It’s what they chose to automate: pre-call research that previously meant checking four systems and could take 30+ minutes, account and relationship summaries, post-meeting notes, pipeline analysis, and proposed CRM updates that still require human approval. First American says it is targeting a 30–40% productivity gain. Salesforce’s case study offers a surprisingly specific look at what AI-assisted title sales actually looks like in production —and where First American is deliberately keeping a human in control.

🎧 A 1031 Podcast Your Commercial Team May Actually Want to Bookmark

First American Exchange Company launched The 1031 Brief, a monthly podcast aimed at investors and the professionals helping them navigate exchanges—including title and escrow teams. Early episodes cover 1031 basics, market conditions and exchange planning, with future episodes promising transaction scenarios and expert conversations. This is less “new workflow technology” than a useful client-conversation resource: something commercial teams can use to sharpen their own 1031 knowledge or share with investors who need to understand the process before everyone is staring down an identification deadline. Listen to The 1031 Brief here.

⚖️Legal

National

🧭 Federal Regulators Are Stepping Back. The Compliance Map Is Getting More Complicated.

The federal retreat from aggressive supervision does not mean mortgage compliance is getting simpler. Dodd Frank Update reports that state regulators are increasingly filling the space, leaving financial institutions to reconcile federal priorities with a growing patchwork of state expectations. Title agencies tied closely to lender compliance should expect more—not fewer—questions about state-specific procedures, documentation and vendor controls.

🧾 1099-S Filing Is Moving. January 1 Is Closer Than It Looks.

The IRS is retiring FIRE for 1099-S filing and moving submissions to IRIS beginning January 1, 2027. SoftPro’s transition notice says its Pro1099 users will stay in the existing workflow, with both CSV and electronic filing options planned. Even if your software vendor is handling the plumbing, this belongs on the year-end checklist now—January is a lousy time to discover that the process responsible for reporting every seller transaction has changed.

State

Claim Stories/Court Stories

Two cases this week hinge on a deceptively simple question: when something looks wrong in the title history, how much does that defect actually change?

One problem mattered less than you might expect. Another survived a transaction many buyers assume wipes the slate clean.

💬 Join the Conversation

A reader raised a deceptively simple question under our recent story about property-data brokers producing the same errors from the same underlying records: if three vendors all repeat the same bad source data, have you independently verified anything—or just confirmed the same mistake three times?

It was a great question, but then I stumbled across a YouTube video that raised more questions that, as best as I can tell, no one is asking yet, but I think they should be.

Join me on Wednesday for a special edition that will probably raise more questions than it answers, but I hope you’ll join me in the comments and share your thoughts and experiences with us.

💼 Job Postings

• National Residential Escrow Officer — First American
  Remote — New York | $29.30–$39.07/hour
  Handles national residential escrow files, including title clearance, settlement statements, closing packages, funds, recording, and final statements.

• Senior Title Examiner — Pippin Title
  Remote — U.S. | $50,000–$80,000/year
  Reviews nationwide title searches and works with examiners, underwriters, and abstractors to resolve complex title questions and ensure report quality.

• Title Examiner — Fidelity National Financial
  Maitland, FL | Hybrid
  Searches and examines Florida title records, validates documents and legal descriptions, and prepares title packages and clearance requirements.

• Title Coordinator — Old Republic Title
  Chicago, IL | $26–$30/hour
  Coordinates national commercial multi-site and multi-state transactions from order entry through title work, closing documentation, and policy issuance.

• Sales Representative I — Stewart Title
  Indianapolis, IN
  Develops title and real-estate-services business through sales, marketing, customer relationships, and local market development.

• Title Insurance | Commercial Escrow Talent — Godot Consulting Group
  Detroit, MI | Hybrid | $85,000–$150,000/year
  Manages national commercial escrow accounts and multi-state transactions while maintaining escrow records and relationships with customers and brokers.

• Title Examiner — AMT Title Services, Inc.
  Remote — U.S. | $45,000–$65,000/year
  Examines deeds, mortgages, liens, ownership histories, legal descriptions, and other public records to identify title issues affecting real estate transactions.

• Title Search Coordinator — Nobleserve LLC
  Pittsburgh, PA
  Conducts ownership and title research, coordinates search work, and helps identify liens, encumbrances, and other issues affecting property title.

• Title Search and Examiner — Legal Land Title, LLC
  Ozark, MO
  Searches and examines title, analyzes liens and encumbrances, reviews legal descriptions and surveys, and prepares title-search reports.

• Commercial Title Examiner — Chicago Title
  Independence, MO
  Examines complex commercial title records, interprets title evidence, and identifies issues affecting ownership, insurability, and closing requirements.

💼 Place Your Job Posting Ad Here

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

🐐 This Month at Wicked Title…

We shared over 40 new job openings, 12 different industry events, regulatory updates across 14 different states, and did deep dives into your payment processing systems, major federal regulatory shake-ups, the trends and patterns that may shape your next business growth opportunites…

💸 Payment Processing

We took some deep dives into payment processing with:

• Your Earnest Money Workflow Has Two Dead Zones from 🔒 Closinglock

• A panel discussion called 🐐 The Last Mile Problem: Why Money Movement Still Slows Closings from delu❌e

  • 🎙️Listen | 📽️ Watch | 📄Read

• How Title Companies Can Modernize Disbursements Without Disrupting Escrow Operations which was published to our Medium channel, so email readers, you might have missed this one.

• Is it Time to Bring Your Payment Processing into The Digital Age?

• Payload Wants the Closing Money to Stop Traveling by Anxiety

⚖️Regulatory News

CFPB Made a Lot of Waves with a Call for Comments on TRID Reforms

It actually started back in July when we ran:

as well as 🐐 TRID Data: Closing Costs, Consumer Confusion and Title Workflows

The final comment tally was 339, and I’m not talking 339 1-2 sentence comments either. Over 80 comments were full document attachments that had to be downloaded separately to review and generally spanned multiple pages. But, I went through it all for you, and summed up industry sentiment in:

For more deep dives into what the industry is asking the CFPB to do, I also published:

• Who Wants What From TRID? The CFPB Comments Reveal Some Very Strange Bedfellows

• TRID Reform: The 9 Things Title and Escrow Professionals Actually Want CFPB to Fix

Other regulatory news making waves this month included:

• Home Equity Investment with the Home Equity Integrity Act at the national level and multiple state actions as well.

• A few heavy weights filed briefs with court in favor of Fidelity’s fight with the FinCEN Real Estate Reporting Rule.

• Over a dozen states made our Sunday regulatory round ups including: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia

🚨 Wicked Title Group Memberships

We rolled out a group membership program so your whole office or organization can gain access to all of our content at a bundled rate. We’ll never leave our small agencies in the dust, discounts start as low at 5 person groups. Learn more →

🐐 Wicked Trends & Forces 🌳

The patterns worth paying attention to & opportunities for business growth…

We released our first full color, magazine style issue in both print and digital flipbook formats. This issue focused on The Risks, Market Signals, and Emerging Opportunities Hidden Beneath the Title Industry Headlines. This is just a summary of potential business opportunities and niche markets, it’s a primer on how I read the headlines, spot the patterns, and figure out what’s coming next. If you want to see the emerging market shifts before everyone else, you don’t want to miss this peak inside my process and the trends I see forming now.

Other trends, patterns and growth opportunites we covered this month included:

• The Housing Market Is Still Stuck. Title Companies Are Making More Money Anyway.

• Turn 1031 Exchanges Into a Business Line, Not Just a Weird File

• Maybe Growth Isn’t More Closings. Maybe It’s Better Closings.

• Growing your income as a notary by building your business or becoming a teacher.

• Commercial

  • Thinking About Commercial? Start Smaller Than the Skyscraper

  • The Dirt Is Only Half the Deal: Data Centers Are Becoming Infrastructure Title Work

  • North Carolina Just Turned Foreign-Ownership Screening Into a Closing Document

  • Florida CDDs: The Tax Bill Is a Clue, Not the Whole File
    

🐐 Wicked Title Folks🧠

🖊️ Want to be a content contributor? Contact us

📜More Educational Resources

• 🎥 Standard Vs Enhanced Insurance Policies

• 🎥 Underwriting 101: The Conveyancer’s Guide to Massachusetts Underwriting

• 📄 NON-JUDICIAL TAX SALES PURSUANT TO VIRGINIA CODE § 58.1-3975

• 📄 Common Types of Illegal Real Estate Deeds and How to Identify Them

• 📄 Residential Property Appraisals: Process, Costs, and Requirements

• 📄 How to Remove a Fraudulent Deed — Explains the legal process for challenging and removing a forged or fraudulently recorded deed.

• 📄 Land Court’s New Process Expedites Deregistration in Massachusetts

• 📄 How to Request HOA Documents for Escrow Officers: 9 Steps for Closing

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

🐐 About Wicked Title | 🔍 Search the Knowledge Base | 📢 Be a Sponsor

The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

🐐 Membership | 🔍 Find Answers | 🛒 Shop | 📢 Partner With Us

Thank you to our friends, contributors & sponsors:🔒 Closinglock, 🌍 Foreign Tax CPA, 🪄Business Witch Academy, 🧱 Brickhouse Consulting, 🖊️Dotted Line Signings & Our Paying Readers
📢 Be a Sponsor

📢Announcements

🐐 Today Only: You Decide What Wicked Title Is Worth

I’ve never done this before.

For Sunday, August 23 through midnight August 24, I’m turning off the normal $68/month price and letting you choose what you pay for Wicked Title Forum.

If Wicked Title saves you hours of digging, helps you catch something before it becomes a problem, gives you an idea that makes your agency money, keeps you entertained, or simply makes you better at your job, pick the number that feels fair to you.

Maybe that’s $5. Maybe it’s $15, $25, $40, or the full $68.

I’m not going to tell you what the work is worth. You’ve been reading it. You know.

And if price has been the only thing keeping you on the free side, today there really isn’t a reason to stay there.

Your paid subscription opens up everything I keep behind the paywall: the deeper stories in Title Underground, Wednesday features, original research, practical analysis, downloadable tools and templates, digital magazines, and the growing archive built specifically for people who actually work in title and settlement.

For one day, you set the price and pay what you believe Wicked Title is worth to you.

Offer ends at midnight August 24.

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🕵️‍♂️Underworld Intel

Your Co-Owner Left. Their Ownership Interest Did Not.

A co-owner who moves out, stops paying and disappears does not automatically surrender their share of the property; their interest remains in the title until it is transferred or legally extinguished. Depending on the facts, resolution may require a voluntary deed, partition sale or quiet-title action—and even a signed quitclaim deed does not remove the departing owner from the mortgage. It is a useful explainer for the seller who arrives expecting years of solo mortgage payments to have magically converted shared ownership into sole title.

Zillow’s RESPA Lawsuit Refuses to Stay Dead

A federal judge dismissed the previous version in July, but the buyers suing Zillow filed a third amended complaint on August 17 with five plaintiffs and a narrower RESPA theory. They allege Zillow’s Premier Agent and Flex programs provided valuable buyer leads in exchange for referrals to Zillow Home Loans—essentially arguing that the alleged “thing of value” wasn’t a check, but access to business. Zillow disputes the allegations. For title companies living in an increasingly complicated world of lead platforms, preferred-provider networks and referral ecosystems, this is a RESPA case worth watching even though title agents aren’t the defendants.

Santa Barbara’s Fraud Report Reads Like a Title Examiner’s Nightmare File

Santa Barbara County’s new Real Estate Fraud Prosecution Program annual report includes alleged false instruments, forged documents, mortgage fraud and a quitclaim deed used to transfer an elderly woman’s $1.2 million condominium out of her trust. In that pending case, prosecutors say title to both affected properties has since been transferred back to the victim, while another open case involves an allegedly fraudulent UCC financing statement submitted for recording. The county says referrals rose from 20 to 27 this year, and its fraud unit continues working directly with the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor’s Office to identify suspicious filings—an unusually concrete look at what happens after fraudulent documents make it into the public record.

🐐Wicked Trends & Forces🌳

The patterns worth paying attention to…

The Housing Market Is Still Stuck. Title Companies Are Making More Money Anyway.

👀 Things Wandering Toward Your Workflow

New tools, vendor launches, and tech experiments making their way toward the closing table.
👀 Get on the Workflow Watchlist

ATTOM Is Making Property Records Callable by AI

ATTOM just added three specialized AI agents and an expanded MCP server, allowing AI systems to retrieve and work with its property data through natural-language requests instead of relying entirely on traditional API integrations. That gets much more interesting for title when you look at what sits underneath it: ATTOM’s datasets include recorded deeds, ownership and vesting information, mortgages, liens, releases, assignments, document numbers and even title-company data. ATTOM specifically markets its transaction history to mortgage and title companies for ownership validation.

ATTOM has not launched an AI title search or examination product. But it has made a large collection of title-relevant public-record data easier for AI agents and automated workflows to call, analyze and combine with other tasks. That opens a much more interesting door than another chatbot: title technology developers—and potentially sophisticated agencies and underwriters—can build AI-assisted research, triage and due-diligence workflows on top of structured recorded-property data without starting every integration from scratch.

⚖️Legal

National

State

Claim Stories

Connecticut Court Says Fidelity Doesn’t Have to Defend Beach-Easement Fight

A Connecticut judge has reaffirmed that Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. does not have to defend homeowner Maria Genedina Gottlieb in litigation over a beach-access easement affecting her Fairfield property. The underlying dispute, Ringel v. Gottlieb, centers on ambiguous deed language granting access to the “Beach and Waters of Long Island Sound”; Connecticut’s Appellate Court previously reversed the trial court’s interpretation and sent that easement question back for a new trial. In the separate coverage case, the court granted Gottlieb’s request to reargue but ultimately left summary judgment for Fidelity intact, finding no duty to defend under the title policy.

⚙️ Operations

🔒 Closinglock’s Nicole Krouse Named a 2026 Rising Star

At 37, Nicole Krouse, VP of Marketing, has been recognized by HousingWire for her role in repositioning the company from a secure-wire-instructions provider into a broader secure-payments platform. Krouse is credited with helping drive five major product launches, more than 70% year-over-year growth in marketing-sourced pipeline, a 30% increase in SecurePay adoption, and a sharp expansion of Closinglock’s media presence. Her advice to her younger self is wonderfully practical: “keep laying track.” Borrowing from a Shonda Rhimes quote, Krouse says the train of production is always coming—markets move, customers change, and growth does not wait for the perfect plan—so leadership means building ahead of the moment rather than scrambling when it arrives.

📣 The Hidden Communication Work Slowing Down Closings

SoftPro identifies five familiar communication drains: constant status requests, scattered documents, duplicate data entry, customers expecting real-time updates, and the pressure to make the closing experience feel different from everyone else’s. The company naturally positions ClosingsLIVE as the answer, but the more useful exercise is to look at the five bottlenecks and ask how many highly paid humans in your office are still spending their day manually moving information that could move itself.

💰 When Talking Shop With Competitors Becomes Talking Prices

Comparing notes with other title agents can be useful. Comparing what everybody plans to charge can become something else entirely. This plain-English primer on price fixing explains horizontal price coordination, market allocation, bid rigging, wage fixing and the important difference between competitors independently arriving at similar prices and actually agreeing to them. Useful reading before the next conversation at an industry event wanders farther into pricing strategy than it probably should.

You Might also like:

🐐 How to Avoid Accidentally Violating Anti-Trust Laws: A True Story About What Not To Say on the Internet

💼 Job Postings

• Commercial Escrow Assistant — First American Title
  Denver, CO | $20.31–$27.09/hour
  Supports commercial closings with document preparation, settlement-statement data, disbursements, customer communication and closing follow-up.

• Commercial Escrow Officer — First American Title
  Remote — New York
  Manages commercial escrow transactions and coordinates closing requirements, funds, documents and communications among transaction parties.

• Escrow Operations Coordinator — First American Title
  Remote — U.S.
  Provides centralized title and escrow production support across First American’s mortgage, commercial, direct and agency operations.

• Title Insurance Underwriter — Investors Title Insurance Company
  Fayetteville, NC
  Reviews title orders, commitments, policies and endorsements while supporting underwriting decisions, recording and customer service.

• Senior Title Examiner — Old Republic Title
  Remote — U.S. | $28–$36/hour
  Examines public records and legal documents, verifies property and tax information and identifies title issues affecting insurability.

• Senior Title Examiner — Stewart Title
  Remote — U.S.; Florida experience required
  Examines public and tax records, prepares title commitments and handles more complex title issues while serving as a resource to less-experienced team members.

• Escrow Coordinator — Stewart Title
  Richmond, TX
  Supports residential and commercial escrow files with balancing, settlement statements, checks, wires and post-closing disbursement.

• Escrow Officer — Stewart Title
  Fairhope, AL / Morristown, TN
  Manages residential and commercial escrow transactions from account opening through settlement while coordinating funds, documents and transaction parties.

• Escrow Closer — HomeServices of America
  Birmingham, AL
  Prepares and conducts closings, reviews title evidence, resolves title defects and handles recording and final closing packages.

• Title Insurance Closing Assistant — Knight Barry Title Group
  Minocqua, WI
  Assists with escrow files, closing documents, ledgers, checks, wires, e-recordings and customer questions about title and escrow services.

💼 Place Your Job Posting Ad Here

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

As of 2026, the IRS has not changed the basic eligibility rules for obtaining an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN.

Foreign individuals still need an ITIN when they are required to have a U.S. taxpayer identification number for federal tax purposes but are not eligible for a Social Security number.

For foreign sellers involved in FIRPTA transactions, timing remains especially important. The IRS generally allows a foreign seller to apply for an ITIN once there is a legally binding contract for the sale of a U.S. real property interest. Applying too early, without another valid tax reason, may result in denial.

What has changed is not who qualifies for an ITIN, but how important timing, documentation, and accuracy have become.

Current IRS processing guidance still tells applicants to allow several weeks for ITIN application status, with longer timelines during peak tax season or when applying from abroad. If the IRS determines that documentation is missing, incomplete, or inconsistent, the application may be suspended while the IRS requests additional information. That can significantly extend the timeline.

Why this matters for foreign sellers:

• An ITIN is often needed to file the required U.S. tax return after a FIRPTA transaction

• Refunds tied to FIRPTA withholding may be delayed if the seller does not have a valid ITIN

• Incomplete or inconsistent applications can trigger IRS correspondence and longer processing times

• Waiting until tax season increases the risk of extended delays

• Applying before there is a valid FIRPTA basis may result in denial

The takeaway is simple: ITIN eligibility rules have not meaningfully changed, but processing delays remain a real issue.

For foreign sellers, accuracy and timing matter. The earlier the ITIN issue is identified in the transaction, the easier it is to avoid refund delays, IRS correspondence, and unnecessary frustration after closing.

🐐 Membership | 🔍 Find Answers | 🛒 Shop | 📢 Partner With Us

The most interesting thing about the CFPB docket is not that people think TRID has problems.

It is how many completely different problems they think it has.

Lenders are worried about timing, liability and tolerances. Title and escrow are worried about bad numbers, late coordination and rules that do not match the closing. Consumers are worried that “flexibility” will erase protections. Appraisers, credit-data companies and tech vendors found entirely different pieces of the disclosure they want CFPB to reconsider.

Here is the complaint file…

1. TRID Has a Redisclosure Addiction

Lenders, title companies and escrow agents all complained about the number of redisclosures generated by ordinary transaction changes.

The joint mortgage-trade filing calls the tolerance system one of the most operationally burdensome parts of TRID and argues that it can punish immaterial variances instead of focusing on meaningful consumer cost information.

ALTA says consumers can receive multiple Loan Estimates and Closing Disclosures and arrive at closing unable to tell which one is actually accurate.

This is where the regulation starts eating its own purpose.

If the goal is clarity, giving the borrower Version 1, Version 2, Version 3, Version 4 and FINAL_v7_ACTUALFINAL.pdf may not be the triumph we think it is.

Stop Treating Every Government or Third-Party Fee Change Like Somebody Screwed Up

Transfer taxes change when the purchase price changes.

Recording fees are generally calculated based on number of pages in a document not delivered to title until the settlement day.

Notary costs are based on the number of documents being notarized, in a loan package not delivered to title until the day of closing.

Final taxes come from individual tax collectors with their own set of rules about how and when to disclose that information.

Payoff figures are finetuned through a daily interest calculation based on the day the lender received the payoff funds - change the settlement date, you change the payoff amount.

The parties renegotiate - everything.

Yet tolerance rules and “changed circumstance” determinations can treat those changes as though somebody failed to price the loan correctly. That’s unfair to the lender and burdensome on lenders and settlement professionals.

AEA specifically asks CFPB to reconsider the treatment of transfer taxes, recording fees and notary fees because they are externally determined, government regulated, charges the creditor and settlement agent do not control.

AEA also says creditors still interpret changed-circumstance rules differently, particularly when buyers and sellers renegotiate who pays a closing cost.

California Escrow Association asks CFPB to explicitly address HOA demands, payoff revisions, corrected tax bills, continuing buyer-seller negotiations and other common settlement events.

That does not mean consumers should eat unexplained surprises.

It means the compliance system should be able to tell the difference between:
the lender changed the price
the lender was lazy about communicating with title and providing final closing docs
and
the buyer and seller renegotiated

The tolerance fight is really about control.

If the creditor controls the charge or controls the information necessary to calculate the charge, holding the creditor accountable for the estimate makes sense.

If the creditor does not control the charge, the argument gets harder.

The comments repeatedly ask CFPB to draw that line more intelligently because the current system can encourage conservative estimates, cures and redisclosures instead of producing better information.

Sometimes TRID is protecting the consumer from a bad estimate.
Sometimes it is punishing somebody for failing to predict the future.

Those are different problems.

Brought to you by our friends, contributors & sponsors:🔒 Closinglock, 🌍 Foreign Tax CPA, 🪄Business Witch Academy, 🧱 Brickhouse Consulting, 🖊️Dotted Line Signings & Our Paying Readers
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2. The Fake Three-Day Closing Disclosure

All of that redisclosure, tolerance, and change circumstances stuff leads us to Title and Escrow professionals telling CFPB that TRID’s three-day Closing Disclosure rule is not the real source of closing chaos. Their bigger complaint: the “final” CD can go out while balancing, underwriting and document preparation are still moving.

California’s Escrow Institute says its members are regularly asked to produce final numbers within 24 to 48 hours of closing on files that have been open for weeks. It argues that many corrected CDs are not caused by some dramatic late-breaking event. They happen because meaningful lender-settlement reconciliation starts too late.

Another title-company commenter described what the process has effectively created:

an “estimated final” Closing Disclosure.

Which may be the most perfectly absurd description of modern mortgage closing ever committed to a federal docket.

Estimated.
Final.
Pick one.

So the borrower gets three days with a disclosure that claims it’s final, but isn’t while settlement gets a mere hours with the version everybody is actually expected to sign and fund from.

The problem is not the consumer review period itself. It is pretending that “disclosed three days ago” and “financially finalized three days ago” are the same thing.

They are not.

Even the Lenders Admit the “Final” CD Isn’t Always Final

This is where the comments get really useful.

ICBA told CFPB that the current framework encourages lenders to issue Closing Disclosures before final settlement figures are available simply to satisfy the mandatory waiting period.

Community banks said lenders frequently provide CDs before all costs have been finalized because the timing rule requires the document to go out.

That works brilliantly if your compliance goal is:

CD DELIVERED ON TIME.

It works considerably less brilliantly if your consumer-protection goal is:

THE CONSUMER REVIEWED THE FINAL TRANSACTION FOR THREE DAYS.

Those are different achievements.

A closing attorney in the docket suggested title should receive at least one full business day to review the loan documents. I’d say it should be 6. The full loan package should arrive 6 days before settlement, allow title 3 days to review, balance the CD with the lender, and produce an actual, final CD in time to give the borrower 3 days to review it.

3. The Federal Government Made a Form So Clear Florida Had to Invent Another Form to Explain It

TRID was supposed to make mortgage costs easier to understand. Sometimes complying with it requires showing consumers numbers that aren’t the prices they actually pay.

Nothing explains TRID’s title-premium problem better than Florida.

Florida’s title association walked CFPB through the math in its public comment.
Take a $300,000 purchase with a $240,000 mortgage.
Under Florida’s filed title rates, the owner’s policy premium is $1,575.
The simultaneous-issue lender’s policy is $25.
Pretty straightforward.
Then TRID arrives.

The federally required Closing Disclosure shows:
Lender’s title policy: $1,275.
Owner’s title policy: $325.
Total: $1,600.

The total is correct.
Almost everything underneath it is nonsense.

The federal formula forces the lender’s policy to appear at its full standalone premium, then backs the simultaneous-issue discount into the owner’s-policy line. The consumer therefore sees $1,275 beside a policy that actually costs $25 under Florida’s filed rates.

And because Florida apparently believed consumers deserved to know what they were actually paying, the state created another mandatory form explaining why the federal form and the real title premiums do not match.

Yes. We created a disclosure to explain the disclosure.
A+ work, everyone.

Florida’s not alone in this dilemma. Texas has its own supplemental disclosure addressing the same basic problem.

ALTA made fixing this its first and most important recommendation to CFPB.

Hard to argue with that one.

A consumer disclosure should probably not require a second disclosure explaining why the first disclosure is wrong.

4. Fix the Fake Fees Already

Title is not alone.

One of the strangest patterns in the docket is how many industries are telling CFPB:

That fee line looks much simpler than the thing it is supposedly explaining.

Approximately Every Appraiser in America Found the Comment Button

The appraisal contingent is one of the strangest and most organized subplots in this docket. Their campaign centers on the combined Appraisal Fee.

The Appraisal Regulation Compliance Council asks CFPB to require separate disclosure of:

Appraiser professional fee

and

Appraisal management company fee.

Its argument is that a consumer can see one appraisal charge without knowing how much was actually paid to the licensed appraiser and how much was retained for appraisal-management services.

Equifax Showed Up to Ask What a “Credit Report Fee” Actually Is

This one I did not have on my bingo card.

Equifax spends much of its filing defending the continued value of tri-merge credit reporting and discussing credit-data costs.

Commercial interest noted.

But then it gets to an unexpectedly good disclosure question.

Equifax says mortgage lenders can calculate credit-report charges using different methodologies, including:

• the actual products used for that borrower;

• an averaged methodology; or

• a closed-loan/funded-loan methodology where the consumers who successfully close may absorb costs associated with applications that did not.

Equifax wants CFPB to require greater clarity about which methodology produced the charge.

And again we arrive at the same uncomfortable question:

If the Closing Disclosure says:

Credit Report Fee: $X

but $X is not necessarily the actual cost of that consumer’s credit report—

what exactly is the line telling them?

Three very different industries have arrived at essentially the same complaint:

A short label and a precise dollar amount do not automatically create transparency.

Sometimes simplification just hides where the money went.

Both ALTA and American Escrow Association (AEA) also want another old irritant addressed: the mandatory “(Optional)” label on owner’s title insurance, which they argue can be misleading where the purchase contract effectively requires the policy even though the lender does not. Not to mention, most people equate “optional” with “unnecessary” which could be leading homeowners to make poor risk management decisions based on a single word, and inaccurate number.

Ten years into TRID, perhaps the form could stop requiring title agents to explain why the official disclosure does not mean what it appears to mean.

Brought to you by 🔒 Closinglock: Protecting the people behind every home closing, get a Demo Today!

5. Should We Keep the 3 Day Right of Recission if we have a 3-Day Disclosure?

For certain transactions involving a consumer’s principal dwelling—most notably many refinances—federal law gives the borrower a period after consummation in which they can cancel the transaction.

On July 20th in “TRID Is Back on the Operating Table—and Someone Brought a Chainsaw: What Title Agents Need to Know“ I said, “I’d love to see some statistical data from the lenders on how often buyers are rescinding both pre and post TRID, but I was unable to find any.”

Ask and ye shall receive, sometimes.

United Wholesale Mortgage brought some valuable numbers to the CFPB.

UWM’s conclusion is straightforward. Consumers already receive a Closing Disclosure three business days before consummation. They have time to review the loan before they sign it. Very few borrowers subsequently cancel. UWM argues that TRID has made that protection largely redundant.

But low use does not necessarily mean low value, and the National Consumer Law Center and other consumer groups strongly disagree.

It will be interesting to see where the CFPB lands.

6. The Seller Closing Disclosure Has Been Nominated for Retirement

Settlement already has to account for the seller’s proceeds, charges, credits, payoffs and disbursements. And title companies routinely prepare settlement statements that do exactly that.

ALTA told CFPB that settlement companies continue to use the ALTA Settlement Statement because the Closing Disclosure does not fully explain the economics of the actual transaction. Yet again, we’ve had to make a form to explain the form. Why?

So both ALTA and the American Escrow Association ask an obvious question:

Why are we also preparing a separate seller Closing Disclosure?

Both the American Land Title Association and settlement-industry commenters asked CFPB to reconsider the requirement for a separate seller Closing Disclosure. Their proposed answer is not particularly radical:

Let the settlement statement we are already preparing do the job.

This is probably one of the easiest, least expensive, least controversial, yet truly valuable changes that could be made.

7. “Materiality” Sounds Great Until Somebody Has to Fund

CFPB commenters agree trivial mortgage changes should not derail closings. The fight is over whether replacing bright-line TRID rules with judgment calls would fix the problem—or create a new one.

A lot of lender-side commenters like materiality.
And why wouldn’t they?

If a change does not meaningfully affect the borrower, maybe it should not trigger another compliance event. Then escrow asks the question everybody eventually has to answer:
What exactly is material?

California Escrow Association points out that the settlement agent holding trust funds may not have access to the lender’s underwriting file or compliance analysis. It still has to know whether the waiting period has been satisfied and whether the money can legally move.

Consumer advocates also object to vague materiality standards, warning that they can replace clear protections with interpretation and litigation.

Materiality could absolutely fix stupid delays. So could better bright-line rules.

8. The Law Is Still Catching Up With the Closing Technology

Electronic signatures are not new.
RON is not new.
eNotes are not new.
Digital closings are not new.

What remains remarkably durable is inconsistency.

American Escrow Association wants clearer federal guidance on electronic delivery, consent, signatures and proof of receipt because lender practices still vary. ALTA raises the same problem.

Snapdocs goes considerably farther. It asks CFPB to consider requiring covered lenders to offer a digital closing option when the transaction and documents are legally and operationally eligible, while preserving the borrower’s ability to choose paper or hybrid execution.

That is not just:
Please clarify eSign.

That is:
Maybe digital closing should become something the consumer can expect to be offered.

For lenders and title, that would mean another round of figuring out whether the state, county, investor, warehouse, custodian, insurer, guarantor, eNote system, notary law and actual document package have all decided to join us in the twenty-first century. But honestly, we’re already doing that now. Maybe the CFPB could give them a nudge?

The technology problem is increasingly not whether the tools exist.

It is whether everybody in the transaction agrees they exist at the same time.

9. The Emergency Waiver Is Almost Too Scary to Use

There is a strange little emergency exit built into TRID.

If a borrower has a bona fide personal financial emergency, certain waiting periods can be waived. Sounds useful. Then you look at the regulatory example.

The famous example is essentially:

Your house is about to be sold at foreclosure unless the loan funds arrive during the waiting period.

That is certainly an emergency. It is also a spectacularly narrow example to leave sitting there as the industry’s main guide to what qualifies.

Meanwhile, actual homeowners experience other situations that also have a rather urgent quality:

• The roof is leaking.

• The air conditioner dies during a heat wave.

• A purchase contract is about to expire.

• A rate lock is expiring.

• A time-sensitive refinance needs to fund.

And everybody involved starts asking the same question:
Does this count?

That is exactly the kind of question a regulatory waiver is supposed to answer.

Instead, the comments suggest the current framework has created a lovely compromise in which the waiver technically exists and many people are too scared to use it.

The mortgage trades want CFPB to recognize things like expiring rate locks, loss of earnest money, occupancy deadlines and contractual penalties.

PACE gives this issue an unusually intuitive fact pattern.

BRIDGE, which represents third-party administrators of state-authorized PACE financing programs, spends a surprising amount of its CFPB comment on this. BRIDGE asks CFPB to imagine a homeowner who needs:

• a new air-conditioning system during a summer heat wave;

• major roof repairs during rainy season;

• or another urgent improvement affecting health, safety or habitability.

Its argument is that stacking the various TRID timing requirements with rescission can produce a delay of at least thirteen business days in the scenarios it describes.

Consumer advocates, meanwhile, have a very reasonable fear: Make the waiver too easy and it becomes another preprinted document in the signing package. NCLC specifically warns that preprinted or model forms could be slipped into electronic or paper closing packages and become routine rather than exceptional. It argues the current requirement—that the consumer provide a written statement describing the emergency—helps ensure the waiver remains consumer-driven instead of becoming another document an originator can normalize.

That concern deserves more than an eye roll.

ALTA wants CFPB to broaden the examples and supports the idea of a model form. California’s independent escrow companies explain why this is not just another lender-compliance question. Escrow holders are frequently pulled into waiver situations because somebody has to know whether the transaction may legally proceed and whether funds may be disbursed. Any change needs to include clear direction on who is responsible for making the determination, preferably the lender, and clear instruction that title and escrow can rely on that determination to fund. Otherwise title will inherit another federal judgment call somebody else asked for.

Three years later:
“Everybody signs that.”

CFPB should probably find that waiver middle ground because not every deadline is an emergency just because everybody is upset.

10. TRID Was Built for a Standard Mortgage. Unfortunately, Housing Finance Has Met Real Estate.

CFPB’s TRID comments expose a structural problem: manufactured housing, construction-to-permanent loans, reverse mortgages, PACE and digital closings do not fit one standard mortgage disclosure system. How much specialization can TRID absorb before “integrated” stops meaning integrated?

Reverse mortgages walk in backwards. Construction loans do not have all their costs neatly known at application. PACE says we aren’t even a mortgage, yet here we are. It can involve property-improvement financing where urgency and transaction structure look nothing like a conventional purchase loan. Manufactured housing can involve a house seller, land seller, site work, affixation, titling issues involving the department of motor vehicles and assorted other ways to make a standard Closing Disclosure question its career choices.

Commenter after commenter asks CFPB for some version of tailored treatment.

And many of them have a point.

The danger is what happens next because diversity is a feature and compliance hates features.

Every specialized rule means new forms, new programming, new training, new lender overlays and another decision tree for settlement.

ALTA supports tailored approaches in areas such as construction and reverse mortgages but also reminds CFPB that the title industry spent more than $300 million implementing TRID in 2015.

That is worth remembering before anybody enthusiastically invents:
TRID Classic.
TRID Construction.
TRID Reverse.
TRID Manufactured.
TRID Small Lender.
TRID Digital Deluxe.
TRID PACE Emergency Roof Edition.

Because the lender may only need to implement the rules that apply to its product.

The title agency gets everybody.

Everybody Hates TRID Until You Ask What They’d Replace It With

There is something almost beautiful about 339 public comments on TRID.

Everybody arrives furious.

Lenders are tired of paying cures on fees they don’t control. Credit unions are drowning in technical compliance. Escrow companies want numbers before the day of closing. Consumer advocates think “flexibility” is a lovely word for “future loophole.” Title professionals would simply like the federal disclosure to stop requiring them to explain why the federal disclosure is wrong.

Then CFPB asks the dangerous question:

Fine. What should we do instead?

And suddenly the consensus gets wobbly.

The public-comment fight is much more interesting than “industry wants deregulation.” The real fight is over how do we support a diverse housing marketing with diverse financial solutions while limiting regulatory uncertainty and assumed financial risk?

None of these financial solutions becomes easier to understand because we force them to dress alike. The consensus is that TRID’s currently too rigid.

Title’s job in that debate is exactly what it has always been: look past the policy slogan and ask what happens when this rule hits an actual transaction, with actual money, actual documents and a consumer sitting across the table expecting somebody to know what the hell is going on.

There are absolutely parts of TRID that deserve surgery.

But before CFPB starts handing out “flexibility,” somebody needs to ask where the risk goes when the rules stop giving a definite answer.

Because eventually the file lands somewhere.

Usually on our desk.

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From Chaos to Clarity—in Plain English
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**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

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The weirdest thing in the TRID docket is not how much everyone disagrees.

It is who keeps agreeing with whom.

Title and consumer advocates both get nervous when lenders start talking about replacing bright-line rules with “materiality.”

Appraisers and title professionals are making eerily similar arguments that TRID’s clean-looking fee lines can actually hide the real economics of the transaction.

Equifax wandered into a mortgage-disclosure fight to ask whether the “Credit Report Fee” on the Closing Disclosure is even the cost of that borrower’s credit report.

Snapdocs took a question about electronic signatures and proposed something much bigger: when a transaction is eligible, perhaps lenders should actually have to offer a digital closing option.

PACE administrators showed up with leaking roofs and dead air conditioners to argue that the federal government’s favorite example of an “emergency” is absurdly narrow.

And the reverse-mortgage industry and consumer advocates—who do not spend a great deal of time holding hands—both basically told CFPB:

That is what makes these comments worth reading as a group.

This is not one fight over whether TRID should be stricter or looser.

It is a pile of smaller fights over what the disclosure is supposed to accomplish, who absorbs the cost when it fails, and which part of the transaction CFPB has been looking at from the wrong end.

Once you sort the commenters by what they actually want, the coalitions get very strange very quickly.

And title is sitting in the middle of more of them than you might expect.

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The Big Mortgage Trades: Keep TRID, Loosen the Machinery

The broad mortgage coalition is considerably less revolutionary than some of the rhetoric surrounding TRID reform might suggest.

On August 7, the American Bankers Association, American Financial Services Association, America’s Credit Unions, Consumer Bankers Association, Housing Policy Council, Manufactured Housing Institute and Mortgage Bankers Association submitted a joint letter built around just three consensus recommendations:

1. rework TRID tolerances;

2. change the six-item definition of an application so lenders can obtain additional information before the Loan Estimate clock starts; and

3. make the bona fide personal financial emergency waiver more usable.

That is worth noticing.

Their joint position was not:
Burn the Loan Estimate.
Kill the Closing Disclosure.
Consumers have had it too good for too long.

It was much closer to:

TRID’s compliance machinery has become excessively technical, and we want more room to operate around it.

The tolerance complaint is especially broad. The trades argue that the current structure punishes immaterial differences instead of asking whether the consumer actually received meaningful cost information.

Individual lender filings then push farther in different directions—materiality standards, fewer redisclosures, broader third-party tolerances, shorter waiting periods, rescission flexibility, digital modernization and special treatment for particular products.

So yes, the lender-side center of gravity is roughly:

Three days bad. Redisclosures bad. Fewer technical rules good. Please make mortgage go faster.

Rude?
A little.

Wrong?
Not particularly.

But it is still more accurate to say lenders largely want to keep the disclosure architecture and reduce the procedural consequences surrounding it than to say the mortgage industry wants TRID dismantled.

Title and Escrow: Please Make the Disclosure Match the Transaction

This is where the title comments become much more interesting than generic “TRID is burdensome” coverage.

ALTA’s first and explicitly most important recommendation is fixing the simultaneous-issue title premium formula.

Its complaint is beautifully simple:

TRID can require title insurance to be displayed in amounts that are not the actual policy-level premiums being charged under state-filed rates.

Florida demonstrates how absurd that can become: an actual $25 simultaneous-issue lender-policy premium can appear as $1,275 on the federal Closing Disclosure, while the owner’s premium moves in the opposite direction. The combined total remains correct, but the individual numbers no longer tell the consumer what each policy actually costs. Florida consequently requires another disclosure to explain the federal disclosure.

Title and escrow also want relief around recording fees, transfer taxes, notary charges and other costs controlled by governments or third parties rather than creditors.

But then their agenda begins separating from the lenders’.

California’s Escrow Institute says many last-minute revisions are caused not simply by TRID requirements but by late lender-settlement coordination. Its members report being asked for final figures within 24 to 48 hours of closing on escrows that have been open for weeks. It wants earlier standardized data exchange between creditor and settlement.

That is an entirely different diagnosis.

Both can be right.
But only one of those solutions changes the upstream workflow.

Title and escrow also want clearer changed-circumstance rules, elimination or replacement of the separate seller CD, more consistent electronic-delivery guidance and usable emergency-waiver rules.

And on materiality, settlement becomes surprisingly conservative. (Not politically conservative. Operationally conservative.)

An escrow company holding other people’s money wants a rule that says:

You may disburse now.

It does not particularly want:

The lender reviewed the totality of the circumstances and considers the change immaterial. Good luck.

California Escrow Association warns that settlement may not even have the lender’s compliance information necessary to make that judgment independently.

So title’s position is not:
Less regulation.

It is closer to:

Give us accurate numbers, predictable rules and enough information to actually close the transaction.

That is a much stronger argument.

Consumer Advocates: The Annoying Friction Is Sometimes the Protection

The National Consumer Law Center coalition is the clearest counterweight to the deregulatory side of the docket. It strongly defends the existing pre-consummation review period and post-consummation rescission rights. It opposes making emergency waivers easier to normalize. And it is deeply skeptical of replacing bright-line requirements with a broad materiality standard.

Their basic argument is uncomfortable but important:

Some of the friction industry participants experience as delay is deliberately there to prevent consumers from being rushed.

A borrower who reaches the end of a stressful purchase transaction is highly motivated to sign whatever keeps the moving truck moving.

That is precisely when a mandatory period can have value.

The NCLC coalition therefore hears:

Let the consumer waive the waiting period.

and thinks:

Eventually somebody is going to put the waiver in DocuSign between the privacy notice and the flood form.

That is why it specifically objects to making preprinted/model emergency waivers routine.

Unsurprising was how often consumer advocates and settlement professionals land near one another. Not because they share the same philosophy. Consumer groups want bright lines because they protect borrowers. Escrow wants bright lines because somebody holding $487,000 in trust would really enjoy knowing whether the transaction can legally fund. Different roads. Same stop.

Then Approximately Every Appraiser in America Found the Comment Button

The appraisal contingent is one of the strangest and most organized subplots in this docket. Their campaign centers on the combined Appraisal Fee.

The Appraisal Regulation Compliance Council asks CFPB to require separate disclosure of:
Appraiser professional fee
and
Appraisal management company fee.

Its argument is that a consumer can see one appraisal charge without knowing how much was actually paid to the licensed appraiser and how much was retained for appraisal-management services.

That creates a fascinating parallel with title.

Title says:

The federal title lines do not show the actual policy-level economics.

Appraisers say:

The federal appraisal line does not show the actual service-level economics.

Both are challenging one of TRID’s foundational design instincts:

Fewer lines = simpler disclosure.

Sometimes fewer lines mean the consumer sees less.

ARCC goes much farther, alleging substantial AMC markups, workforce effects and anticompetitive practices, and it relies partly on its own collected exhibits and calculations. Several related lawsuits it cites remain allegations rather than adjudicated facts.

Those broader claims need to stay in the claimed/alleged bucket.

But the disclosure-design question stands on its own:

If the borrower pays for two distinct services, should the form show one price or two?

That is absolutely a TRID question.

Equifax Showed Up to Ask What a “Credit Report Fee” Actually Is

This one I did not have on my bingo card.

Equifax spends much of its filing defending the continued value of tri-merge credit reporting and discussing credit-data costs.

Commercial interest noted.

But then it gets to an unexpectedly good disclosure question.

Equifax says mortgage lenders can calculate credit-report charges using different methodologies, including:

• the actual products used for that borrower;

• an averaged methodology; or

• a closed-loan/funded-loan methodology where the consumers who successfully close may absorb costs associated with applications that did not.

Equifax wants CFPB to require greater clarity about which methodology produced the charge.

And again we arrive at the same uncomfortable question:

If the Closing Disclosure says:

Credit Report Fee: $X

but $X is not necessarily the actual cost of that consumer’s credit report—what exactly is the line telling them?

TRID keeps running into this problem.
Title premium.
Appraisal fee.
Credit report fee.

The form presents a beautifully specific dollar amount. The economic meaning underneath it may be considerably less specific.

Snapdocs Did Not Come Merely to Request Better E-Sign Guidance

Tech vendors absolutely got involved.

And Snapdocs brought one of the most aggressive proposals in the docket.

CFPB asked whether it should provide additional guidance around electronic forms and signatures.

Snapdocs said yes.

Then essentially added:

Also, once a transaction is legally and operationally eligible, maybe lenders should have to offer a digital-closing option.

Not require consumers to use it.

Require covered lenders to make the option available when the documents and transaction qualify, while preserving paper and hybrid choice.

That is a major escalation from:
Please clarify electronic delivery.

It turns eClosing from something the law permits into something that could potentially become a consumer availability right.

And title would be standing directly in the implementation path.

Because digital eligibility can depend on:
state law;
notarization;
county recording;
investor requirements;
insurer and guarantor requirements;
warehouse and custodian requirements;
eNote eligibility;
and title requirements.

Snapdocs acknowledges all of that.

It also has an obvious commercial interest in more digital closings.

Both things can be true.

The proposal deserves attention precisely because it is not generic vendor marketing. It is a genuine regulatory ask that could change closing workflow.

PACE Brought the Best Argument for Why “Consumer Protection” Can Become Consumer Friction

BRIDGE represents companies administering state-authorized PACE programs.

It also disagrees with CFPB’s underlying treatment of residential PACE as consumer credit subject to TILA.

So again: perspective noted.

But BRIDGE provided perhaps the most intuitive argument in the docket for making emergency waivers more usable.

A homeowner needs a roof.
Or the air conditioner dies during a heat wave.

BRIDGE calculates that the overlapping timing requirements applicable to the transactions it describes can total at least 13 business days from application through funding. It argues that consumers needing urgent repairs may instead seek faster and potentially more expensive credit.

Then the consumer coalition points out the opposite risk:

Make waivers too easy, and the consumer-protection period becomes routine opt-out paperwork.

There is your policy problem in one sentence:

Sometimes delay protects the consumer. Sometimes delay prevents the consumer from solving the emergency.

Welcome to regulation. Sorry about the paperwork.

Reverse-Mortgage Commenters Mostly Agreed the Current Disclosure Is Bad

Reverse mortgages produce one of the least combative parts of the docket. The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association supports a tailored reverse-mortgage disclosure. Consumer advocates also support a carefully designed reverse-specific disclosure. The two groups differ in emphasis and desired safeguards, but the core diagnosis is remarkably similar:

Stop making consumers understand a reverse mortgage through disclosures built around a very different kind of loan.

NRMLA points to Federal Reserve testing showing some consumers misunderstood the TALC table so badly that declining percentages could be interpreted as a declining interest rate.

Its proposed alternative is much more visual and dollar-based: show the balance growing, the home value under assumptions and the equity relationship over time.

The consumer coalition also wants clearer loan-growth information, borrower-relevant scenarios, plain language, testing and counseling safeguards.

That is what healthy regulatory disagreement looks like.

Not:
Should this be understandable?

But:
What information actually produces understanding?

Manufactured Housing Came to Explain That “One Property + One Seller” Is Not Always a Thing

Manufactured housing also has an obvious institutional interest in specialized treatment. But its examples are extremely concrete.

A manufactured-home transaction can involve:
one seller for the home;
another for the land;
multiple deposits;
separate property components;
affixation or de-titling;
special recording charges;
and evolving construction or site-improvement costs.

The standard mortgage disclosure architecture is not terribly excited about any of this.

MHI’s filing essentially asks CFPB to acknowledge that a housing product serving an affordability role may have a transaction structure that simply does not fit the conceptual mortgage around which TRID was designed.

Construction lending makes the same argument from another direction.
Reverse mortgages make it backwards.
PACE comes in sideways.

Eventually CFPB has to decide how many special regimes a supposedly integrated disclosure system can contain before “integrated” becomes aspirational.

And the Small-Lender Fight Is Its Own Fight

Another fault line cuts across the main coalitions. Should smaller banks and credit unions have different TRID requirements?

Smaller depositories argue that fixed compliance costs hit them disproportionately because they cannot spread technology, legal, training and systems expenses across enormous loan volumes.

That is a real economic argument that falls apart when you take the next step. Because the next entity in line in the transaction is the title agency, and the title industry is disproportionately heavy on the side of small and micro businesses than giants. And a title company does not close only for one category of lender.

If CFPB creates:
Large Lender TRID
and
Small Bank TRID
and
Credit Union TRID
and perhaps different procedural options inside each—

the lender may receive relief while the settlement company gains three workflows.

That is why ALTA expressly cautions CFPB against creating separate lender-category requirements unless the consumer benefit clearly exceeds the additional settlement complexity.

This is one of the central recurring themes in the title comments:

A cost does not disappear merely because you moved it to somebody else.

The Coalitions Are Not Where You Expect Them

Once you lay the comments next to each other, the actual map looks something like this.

On reducing unnecessary redisclosures: lenders, title and escrow are broadly aligned.

On third-party fee tolerances: again, substantial lender/title/escrow overlap.

On keeping the three-day initial review period: title and escrow are more protective of it than the broad deregulatory narrative suggests, while some lenders want more flexibility and consumer groups strongly defend it.

On materiality: many lenders like the concept; consumer advocates dislike it; escrow worries about inheriting the uncertainty.

On emergency waivers: lenders, title, escrow and PACE want clearer usable pathways; consumer advocates fear normalization.

On form redesign: title wants very targeted fixes; appraisers want unbundling; Equifax wants more explanation; specialty products want tailored forms; ALTA simultaneously warns everybody that form changes cost a fortune.

On digital closing: nearly everyone can support clarification. Snapdocs goes significantly farther by proposing required lender-level availability where eligible.

On whether TRID should explain actual economic reality: this is where the strangest coalition appears.

Title professionals.
Appraisers.
Credit-data companies.
Reverse-mortgage commenters.
Manufactured housing.
Different industries.
Different financial interests.

Same basic complaint:

The standardized disclosure sometimes simplifies the transaction until it stops accurately explaining the transaction.

That may be the most important theme in the entire docket.

After more than a decade, most of the serious commenters are not debating whether mortgage consumers should receive standardized information. They are arguing about what happens when the standardized framework meets a transaction that is messier than the framework expected. Lenders experience that as compliance cost. Consumers experience it as protection against surprise and pressure. Title experiences it as the gap between the federal document and the closing sitting on the desk. Escrow experiences it as the need to know exactly when money can move. Appraisers experience it as a fee line that hides the economics underneath it. Credit-data companies see another fee line that may mean several different things. Tech vendors see rules that permit digital closing without consistently producing digital availability. Specialty finance sees conventional mortgage rules wrapped around unconventional products.

Nobody is completely neutral here. The biggest insights come when you look for the places where people with completely different incentives keep pointing at the same broken part.

Those are the places CFPB should probably inspect first.

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Founder, Wicked Title Forum
From Chaos to Clarity—in Plain English
Contact Me (or hit reply)

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The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

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🕵️‍♂️Underworld Intel

Property Data Brokers Apparently Copy Each Other’s Homework

Two Property Databases Can Agree—and Still Both Be Wrong — Researchers auditing two major brokered property-record datasets found that for 1–2% of matched Cook County sales, reported sale prices differed from government records by more than 5%, while missing data and differences in how deed and property characteristics were reported produced coverage errors affecting 12–15% of transactions. More interesting: the errors were highly correlated—when brokers got a transaction wrong, they often got it wrong the same way. For title companies increasingly feeding aggregated property data into automation, search tools and AI, agreement between multiple commercial data sources may not be the independent verification it appears to be. Read the research

• This may be a trend, because in other news… In a New Test, AI Mortgage Assistants Got Nearly 1 in 4 Answers Wrong

The Fake Title Company May Be the Cartel

New federal charges describe an alleged cartel-controlled timeshare fraud operation that used call centers, stolen owner information, sham contracts, fictitious websites and impersonators to extract repeated advance fees from American victims. One 83-year-old reportedly encountered fake real-estate websites and title companies before being targeted again by impostor attorneys and government officials; federal authorities say the wider operation defrauded more than 6,000 Americans of approximately $400 million. It is a reminder that title-company impersonation is no longer confined to spoofed wiring instructions: criminals are building entire fake transaction ecosystems around the credibility of our industry.

TikTok Is Apparently a Property Manager Now

A Connecticut Realtor discovered that scammers had lifted every photo from her $599,000 for-sale listing and reposted the house on TikTok as a $1,400-a-month rental—including utilities. The fake listing actually sent prospective tenants to the property, and at least one of the fraudulent TikTok posts was reportedly still live after the scam was reported. For title people, the weird part isn’t rental fraud itself; it’s how easily the legitimate digital footprint surrounding a real property can now be cloned and repurposed into an entirely different fake transaction.

The Federal Government Is Having a Real-Estate Yard Sale

Treasury had IRS-CI seized homes hitting online auction this week, including properties in Kansas and Mississippi with $25,000 cashier’s-check deposits required just to bid.

👀 Things Wandering Toward Your Workflow

New tools, vendor launches, and tech experiments making their way toward the closing table.
👀 Get on the Workflow Watchlist

Ubitquity Wants Title Policies Talking Back

Ubitquity has launched NFTVault AI v3.0.1 Alpha, a blockchain-based title-policy storage platform that can now pull records from Qualia, ResWare and SoftPro through its new RWA-Scraper tool without requiring a traditional API integration. The update also adds encrypted decentralized document storage and an AI interface that lets users ask questions about stored title policies in natural language. It is still an alpha product—and very much at the blockchain end of the title-tech spectrum—but the attempt to turn static policy archives into searchable, interactive records is unusual enough to watch.

Titl Wants to Turn the Title Search Into a Five-Minute Product

Titl is building AI-powered title search and production tools that search land records, extract property data and produce title reports and abstracts, with blockchain used to store and protect land-record data. Its current products include automated title reports, title monitoring, abstract generation and pre-listing title review, and the company is also working directly with municipalities to digitize paper public records. The pitch is ambitious—title data in minutes instead of days—but the more interesting part may be how directly Titl is attacking the search-and-production layer rather than simply adding AI around the edges of an existing title workflow.

Payload Wants the Closing Money to Stop Traveling by Anxiety

Payload is a payments platform built for real estate businesses, including title companies, covering earnest money, closing disbursements, commissions, fees, vendor payments and reconciliation. It supports payment links, ACH, real-time payments and FedNow, along with automated reconciliation and integrations with real-estate software. In other words, another attempt to replace some portion of the industry’s longstanding email + wire instructions + collective anxiety payment strategy with structured, trackable workflows.

⚖️Legal

National

State

💸Business Growth

Turn 1031 Exchanges Into a Business Line, Not Just a Weird File

TLTA has an on-demand course called Work Smarter with 1031s: Turn Every Exchange into an Opportunity, aimed specifically at helping title professionals understand exchanges well enough to identify opportunities, coordinate the transaction correctly, and make 1031 work part of the agency’s service offering. It’s older than your 30-day preference, so I would not present it as new—but as an evergreen growth resource, it fills a useful gap in this section: growing revenue by becoming better at a transaction type you may already be seeing. TLTA Online Learning Center

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💼 Job Postings

• National Senior Title Examiner — Allegiant National Title
  Remote — U.S. | $80,000–$100,000
  Examines residential and commercial titles nationwide, identifying defects, exceptions and underwriting issues on complex files.

• Title Exam Reviewer — Innovative Title Solutions LLC
  Atlanta, GA — Remote | $55,000
  Performs advanced quality-control reviews of residential and commercial title examinations for accuracy, completeness and compliance with Georgia title standards.

• Escrow Closer — Primo Title Group LLC
  Orlando, FL — Remote/Hybrid/In Office | $60,000–$230,000
  Manages real estate closings from document preparation and title review through coordination of parties, funding and final settlement.

• Title Curative Specialist — First Integrity Title Company
  Irvine, CA — Remote | $21–$28/hour
  Works through title exceptions and curative issues including vesting, liens, releases, payoffs and other matters necessary to clear title.

• Closing Specialist (National) — First Title & Escrow
  Remote
  Guides borrowers and clients through settlement while reviewing title commitments and coordinating clearances, endorsements, lenders, processors, examiners and signing agents.

• Commercial Title Officer — First American
  New York, NY — Remote | $30.91–$41.20/hour
  Performs commercial title searches, analyzes public-record findings and helps resolve issues necessary to complete commercial title transactions.

• Title Processor — ClearEdge Title
  Clearwater, FL
  Reviews title commitments and supporting documents, works through title defects and coordinates with examiners, underwriters and closers to move files toward settlement.

• Commercial Escrow Officer — Fidelity National Financial
  Franklin, TN
  Handles commercial real estate escrow closings, including transaction documents, funds, underwriting requirements and coordination with customers and transaction parties.

• Escrow Operations Assistant — Stewart Title
  Greater Houston, TX
  Supports escrow officers and closing operations with file administration, customer service, document handling and other tasks needed to move transactions through closing.

• Escrow Officer (Texas) — Westcor Land Title Insurance Company
  Dallas, TX
  Reviews commitments, T-64 affidavits, deposits, disbursements and policies; initiates wires and checks; and helps maintain compliance with Texas title and escrow requirements.

💼 Place Your Job Posting Ad Here

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

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Title companies have modernized almost everything.

Orders arrive electronically. Documents move through digital workflows. Signatures happen remotely. Closers can manage transactions across counties, states, and time zones.

Then funding approval hits and someone starts printing checks.

Welcome to the last mile.

It is the part of the closing process where modern technology frequently gives way to paper, postage, bank portals, manual entry, overnight packages, reissues, and the occasional ritual of begging someone to cash the large check currently living in their glove compartment.

During a recent Wicked Title Forum panel, Scott Dizon of Deluxe Payment Exchange joined Alex Grundhoffer of Near North Title Group, Kristine Mediate of FIT Agency, Bryan Colbert of American Escrow Reconciliation, and Steve Hargraves of ShortTrack to talk about why money movement still creates so much friction—and why fixing it no longer requires ripping apart the systems title companies already trust.

The Hidden Bottleneck No One Owns

Most title teams treat disbursement as the finish line.

Funding is approved. Money goes out. File closed.

Except the file is not necessarily done.

“The finish line isn’t only just moving the money,” Colbert said. “It’s proving that the money landed.”

Until every payment has cleared, every outstanding item has been addressed, and the escrow account can be documented and defended, the agency is still carrying unfinished business.

That unfinished business may include:

• checks waiting to clear

• reissues and stop payments

• recording reimbursements

• stale outstanding items

• bank cutoff delays

• wire verification

• reconciliation exceptions

• escheatment exposure

The buyer may have the keys. The real estate agent may already be posting the closing photo. Meanwhile, the escrow team is still cleaning up the money trail.

That is the last mile problem.

The Quiet Cost of “We’ve Always Done It This Way”

Paper checks look inexpensive because the cost arrives in tiny pieces.

A little check stock. A little ink. An envelope. A stamp. Maybe an overnight fee because apparently we now routinely pay more than $20 to move a piece of paper across the country.

The bigger expense is labor.

Kristine Mediate looked around her agency and saw experienced employees printing, signing, stuffing, and mailing checks.

That is the real cost.

Your best people are not expensive because they know how to operate a printer. They are expensive because they know how to catch problems before those problems become claims, delayed closings, furious clients, or lost referral partners.

Steve Hargraves called the friction between disconnected systems the “swivel chair tax.”

Every time an employee leaves the title production system, opens another portal, rekeys data, compares screens, and carries information back again, the agency pays in time, attention, and preventable mistakes.

That is not a minor inefficiency.

It is a capacity ceiling.

The Risk Is Not Limited to Wires

Wire fraud gets most of the headlines, and for good reason. Sending escrow funds to the wrong account can be catastrophic.

But paper is not the safe little analog refuge we sometimes pretend it is.

Checks can be stolen, altered, washed, delayed, misplaced, duplicated, or left uncashed until they become a reconciliation and escheatment problem.

Several panelists had stories about chasing people who would not deposit checks worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Mediate pursued someone who failed to cash a $100,000 check—even after it was reissued.

Grundhoffer recalled a $50,000 check sitting in a safe for roughly two years.

I once spent months begging a builder to cash approximately $60,000 that was sitting in his vehicle.

As Mediate put it:

It is funny because it is absurd.

It is not funny when the item is still sitting on the escrow reconciliation months later.

Modern payment processing is not only about speed. It is about reducing the number of places where a payment can be intercepted, altered, forgotten, mishandled, or left unresolved.

The Real Reason Title Teams Resist Payment Innovation

Title companies are not afraid of technology.

They are afraid of broken technology.

They have survived enough failed rollouts, clumsy integrations, duplicated workflows, and expensive “solutions” that created three new problems for every one they solved.

Hargraves captured it perfectly:

That is especially true when escrow funds are involved.

Nobody wants to discover halfway through implementation that the new process disrupted accounting, created Positive Pay exceptions, forced staff to rekey data, or added yet another platform nobody wants to monitor.

The resistance is not ignorance.

It is scar tissue.

And that changes what a good solution must look like.

What Modernizing Actually Looks Like Without Ripping Everything Out

The good news is that payment modernization no longer requires a full operational demolition project.

Deluxe Payment Exchange integrates directly with SoftPro Select, ResWare, RamQuest, and AccuTitle. Title teams can issue eChecks or use Print+Mail from within the title production systems they already use.

Existing accounts-payable and Positive Pay processes stay in place. Payments continue to reconcile as checks.

This is not transformation.

It is augmentation.

An eCheck is still a check. It simply arrives electronically instead of traveling by truck, plane, sorting facility, mail carrier, and prayer.

Recipients can deposit it through familiar banking methods. When paper is still preferred, Deluxe can print the check on high-security stock, place it in an envelope, add postage, and mail it for the agency.

As Dizon described it, title teams can finally get out of the office “arts and crafts process.”

That means fewer:

• printers

• envelopes

• courier runs

• overnight packages

• rekeyed payment details

• physical checks sitting inside the office

• opportunities for human error

And because the solution works inside the title production system, it does not create another manual bridge between platforms.

That part is critical.

A digital payment process that requires staff to copy information into a separate portal is not modernization. It is manual work wearing a nicer outfit.

The Best Change Is Small Enough to Survive

Title companies do not need to convert every payment type overnight.

In fact, they probably should not.

Mediate started with real estate commissions and gradually expanded into payments to attorneys, surveyors, vendors, and other recipients. She also used eChecks as a practical bridge when payments had to be corrected during off-site closings.

Grundhoffer described adoption as an ongoing process. Some employees became immediate champions. Others kept using the familiar ten-minute workaround because they did not believe they had fifteen minutes to learn the permanent fix.

There it is: the operational trap.

Teams repeatedly spend ten minutes on a workaround because stopping long enough to eliminate it feels impossible.

The answer is not a massive technology initiative.

Start with the payments causing the most friction. Show the team what stays the same. Keep a paper option available. Prove the time savings on a real file. Expand from there.

The goal is not to shock the organization into the future.

It is to make the better process easier than the old one.

From Bottleneck to Competitive Advantage

The obvious benefit is speed.

Payees can receive eChecks within minutes of funding approval instead of waiting for the mail or an overnight package.

But the real payoff is bigger.

Mediate was clear about what she wanted to do with that recovered time:

That is the point where payment technology stops being a back-office utility and becomes a growth tool.

• Faster payments improve the experience for agents and vendors.

• Cleaner records reduce reconciliation headaches.

• Fewer outstanding checks reduce audit and escheatment exposure.

• Less manual handling narrows fraud opportunities.

• Less grunt work gives experienced staff more time to solve actual title problems.

• And a team that spends less time printing, mailing, rekeying, tracking, and recutting checks can handle more volume without automatically adding headcount.

Tech is not just operational anymore.

It is how title companies protect margin, create capacity, and compete.

Fix the Last Mile Without Rebuilding the Road

The title industry has earned its skepticism.

Escrow is not the place for flashy technology, half-built integrations, or vendors who disappear the moment implementation gets uncomfortable.

But caution should not become a permanent commitment to paper, postage, and preventable work.

The better question is not:
Do we need to replace our systems?

It is:
What can we add to the systems we already trust that removes friction without weakening control?

Deluxe gives title agencies a practical way to issue eChecks and Print+Mail payments directly through supported title production systems.

No grand demolition.
No accounting overhaul.
No forcing every payee into one method.

Just a better way to move money through the last mile—and finally bring the closing process closer to being truly done.

Explore Deluxe Payment Exchange

See how Deluxe Payment Exchange service integrates with SoftPro Select, ResWare, RamQuest, and AccuTitle to help title agencies reduce manual work, deliver payments faster, and modernize escrow disbursements without replacing their core workflows.

Visit the Deluxe TPS Integrations page for integration details, case studies, FAQs, and ROI tools.

Scott Dizon
Director of Business Development, Digital Payments for Title & Real Estate
Deluxe
scott.dizon@deluxe.com
470-550-6488

Meet the Panelists

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

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**DISCLAIMER**

Title agencies should evaluate payment processes, escrow controls, security procedures, and regulatory obligations with their financial institution, underwriter, compliance advisors, and other appropriate professionals before implementation.

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

Thank you to our friends, contributors & sponsors:🔒 Closinglock, 🌍 Foreign Tax CPA, 🪄Business Witch Academy, 🧱 Brickhouse Consulting, 🖊️Dotted Line Signings & Our Paying Readers
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🐐 Your Whole Team Can Be Wicked, Too

If your internal knowledge-sharing system currently consists of forwarding Wicked Title articles to everyone who might need them, we have a better option. Wicked Title Forum offers group plans for title agencies, so more of your team can have direct access to the news, research, resources and weird title rabbit holes we cover every week.

Explore Group Membership →

🕵️‍♂️Underworld Intel

First American Opens a Crypto-to-Cash Path for Real Estate Closings

First American Title has partnered with CryptEscrow⁠ to support buyers who want to fund real estate purchases with cryptocurrency. CryptEscrow handles the digital-asset conversion and delivers U.S. dollars into the conventional closing process, allowing title and escrow teams to receive fiat currency without taking custody of crypto. The companies have already completed a $4.2 million purchase through the model, and First American agents can access discounted CryptEscrow pricing through AgentNet. For agents, this creates a practical way to accept business from crypto-wealthy buyers without turning the escrow account into a blockchain experiment.

🏘️ When the HOA Gets Weird, Check the Bylaws

Estoppels and resale certificates may get most of the closing attention, but Rexera’s guide to HOA bylaws, boards and directors explains where to look when the question becomes who actually has authority to do this? Bylaws can help untangle signing authority, delegated powers, transfer procedures, amendments and board changes—especially with self-managed associations, recent board turnover or conflicting governing documents. The useful red flags: missing amendments, competing versions, unclear officer authority and procedures that don’t match the rest of the HOA package.

When “The Bank Screwed Up” Becomes an Actual Legal Claim

A new guide to pursuing financial damages against a bank explains why negligence, breach-of-contract and statutory claims require more than proof that something went wrong. Mandatory arbitration clauses may block a lawsuit, ordinary deposit accounts generally do not create a fiduciary relationship, and the claimant must connect a specific duty or contractual promise to a documented loss. For title agencies moving large sums through escrow accounts, the practical lesson is less “sue your bank” and more “preserve the evidence”: account agreements, transaction logs, notices, correspondence and a precise timeline may determine whether a serious banking failure is recoverable—or merely infuriating.

Before Deeds, Closings Required Dirt, Literally

In medieval England, transferring land could involve standing on the property and publicly handing the new owner a clod of earth or a twig—a ceremony known as livery of seisin. Written deeds eventually replaced the dirt, but the ceremony’s essential functions survived: unmistakable intent, witnessed delivery and public proof of who controls the land. Even the covenant of seisin in a modern warranty deed carries the old concept forward by promising that the grantor owns the property and has the right to convey it.

🎥 Can a Tax Sale Happen Before Probate Is Finished and Can You Lose An Inherited House?

🐐Wicked Trends & Forces🌳

The patterns worth paying attention to…

👀 Things Wandering Toward Your Workflow

New tools, vendor launches, and tech experiments making their way toward the closing table.
👀 Get on the Workflow Watchlist

Rexera — Targets the closing tasks that are simple in theory and maddening in practice: HOA documents, municipal lien searches, mortgage payoffs and condo reviews. The value for title teams is not merely “automation”—it is fewer hours spent ordering documents, checking status, following up, re-entering information and waiting for somebody else to finish their part before the file can move. If a meaningful chunk of your staff’s day is currently devoted to getting the thing, checking on the thing and reminding someone about the thing, this is the category of workflow worth watching.

⚖️Legal

National

State

🏢 Commercial Real Estate

👉 Read the full news Wicked Title CRE Newsfeed

🎟️Events

• 🎟️The 49 Advantage: Selling Fraud Protection

  • 📅 Aug 10th | ⏰ 10:00am EST/7:00am PST | 📍 Las Vegas Register Here

  • 📅 Aug 12th | ⏰ 10:00am EST/7:00am PST | 📍 Philadelphia Register Here

  • 📅 Aug 14th | ⏰ 10:00am EST/7:00am PST | 📍 Atlanta Register Here

• 🎟️Navigating Complexity Without Losing Yourself, or Your Team

  　• 📅 August 11th | ⏰ 1:00pm EST/10:00am PST | 📍 Register Here

• 🎟️2026 DCLTA Home Run Summer: Washington Nationals vs. Chicago Cubs

  • 📅 August 12th | ⏰ 6:45pm | 📍 DC: Learn More

• 🎟️ Minnesota LTA Annual Convention

  • 📅 August 13th–14th | ⏰ Times Vary by Session | 📍 Prior Lake, MN

• 🎟️ 2026 Alabama Title School in Mobile

  • 📅 August 18th | ⏰ 8am - 12pm DT | 📍 Mobile, AL

• 🎟️ Land Title Association of Arizona Annual Convention

  • 📅 Aug. 26–28, 2026 | ⏰ Times Vary by Session | 📍 Chandler, AZ

• 🎟️ NYSLTA Annual Convention

  • 📅 August 30th – September 2nd | ⏰ Times Vary by Session | 📍 Uncasville, CT

• 🎟️ OLTA Annual Convention

  • 📅 September 1st–3rd | ⏰ Times Vary by Session | 📍 Westerville, OH

• 🎟️ North Dakota Land Title Association Annual Convention

  • 📅 Sept. 2–3, 2026 | ⏰ Times Vary by Session | 📍 Dickinson, ND

See all events

💼 Job Postings

• Title Examiner / Senior Title Examiner — gpac
  Waxahachie, TX | $55,000–$85,000/year
  Handles residential, acreage and commercial title examinations, prepares commitments, identifies and clears defects, and works with underwriting counsel on complex title issues.

• Jr. Title Examiner — Title Closing Services LLC / Weichert, Realtors
  Cherry Hill, NJ | Remote | $55,000–$75,000/year
  Supports title examiners by reviewing proposed sale documents, preparing endorsements, updating commitments and invoices, and ordering additional county and state searches.

• Title Processor — Sonic Title Agency
  Dearborn, MI | $50,000–$55,000/year
  Processes title files by reviewing ownership records, deeds, leases, surveys and contracts, clearing discrepancies and coordinating underwriting and closing requirements.

• Title Agency Manager — Investors Title Company and Affiliates
  Brentwood, TN | On-site
  Runs day-to-day title agency operations, including staff and workflow management, commitments, policies, closings, settlement functions, financial controls and compliance.

• Title Abstractor — Galbreath Costner
  Charlotte, NC | On-site
  Searches deeds, mortgages, judgments, tax records and other public records, verifies legal descriptions and metes-and-bounds tracts, and identifies potential title problems affecting NC and SC transactions.

• Commercial Title Underwriter – Renewables Team — First American
  Remote — multiple U.S. states | $97,700–$130,300/year
  Underwrites commercial title for solar, wind, battery-storage, transmission and other energy projects involving complex leases, easements, access rights, mineral rights, surveys and multi-site portfolios.

• Escrow Officer — Old Republic Title
  Glendale, AZ | On-site
  Coordinates escrow transactions and closings, prepares instructions and documents, manages funds and disbursements, and confirms requirements for title insurance issuance are satisfied.

• Client Success Manager — Pippin Title
  Remote — U.S.
  Owns retention, account expansion and the client experience for Pippin’s nationwide title-search customers, including title agencies, lenders, underwriters and law firms.

• Business Development Manager – Texas — PropLogix
  Texas | Remote
  Develops relationships with title companies, escrow teams, attorneys and real estate professionals around tax certificates, HOA certificates, municipal lien searches and other closing due-diligence services.

• Title Closer — Workway
  Sanford, FL | $26–$28/hour
  Manages files from sales contract through closing, including title clearance, surveys and payoffs, lender balancing, Closing Disclosure/HUD preparation and closing scheduling.

💼 Place Your Job Posting Ad Here

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

The Wicked Title Forum is a collaborative resource. If you spot something outdated or inaccurate, leave a comment—we’ll get it fixed.

**DISCLAIMER**

Content is for informational purposes, operational awareness and workflow strategy. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, it is not meant to be a compliance directive or replace the specific legal/financial advice of your retained experts. As always evaluate new information & tools with your underwriter/attorney, accountant/financial advisor, IT/security team, and internal policies, as needed, before implementation.

This site is partially supported by sponsor ads and sponsored content.

Are you aware of FIRPTA—the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act? If you’re a foreign national selling real estate in the U.S., understanding FIRPTA is crucial.

What is FIRPTA?

FIRPTA is a U.S. tax law that requires buyers to withhold a portion of the sales price when purchasing real estate from a foreign seller. This is done to ensure that foreign sellers pay any taxes owed to the IRS on the sale.

Who is Responsible for the Withholding?

Under FIRPTA, buyers—not title companies—are legally responsible for withholding a portion of your sale proceeds to cover potential tax obligations. Although title companies often assist with this withholding, the IRS holds the buyer accountable for compliance. Non-compliance or misunderstanding of these regulations can lead to significant financial and legal complications.

Why is the Buyer Responsible, Not the Title Company?

The IRS specifically designates buyers as withholding agents because they directly participate in the transaction with the foreign seller. The buyer is considered the primary responsible party because they have direct control over the distribution of the sale proceeds. Title companies typically assist in facilitating the transaction and withholding process, but they act only as intermediaries. Ultimately, if the withholding is not correctly handled or if payments to the IRS are not made on time, it is the buyer who will face penalties and interest charges—not the title company.

How to Avoid FIRPTA Pitfalls?

• ✔️ Work with a tax professional

• ✔️ Ensure the correct forms are filed to avoid delays in receiving your withheld funds.

• ✔️ Buyers should be aware of their responsibility to avoid IRS penalties.

Questions or need guidance through the FIRPTA process? Contact us today for expert assistance, ensuring your real estate transactions are seamless and compliant.

Read the latest Ramblings of a Title Man → | ☕ Connect with Michael on LinkedIn→

Yellowstone gave us family feuds, cattle wars, land developers, politicians, and enough drama to fill several lifetimes.

But it left one important question unanswered.

How exactly did ownership of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch pass through five generations of the Dutton family?

From homesteading claims and inheritance questions to potential heirs property issues, Michael Holden takes a title professional’s look at the most famous fictional ranch in America—and follows the chain of title all the way to the series finale…

🐐 About Wicked Title | 🔔 Subscribe | 📢 Be a Sponsor

Read more

🐐 Membership | 🔍 Find Answers | 🛒 Shop | 📢 Partner With Us

Your reports can be accurate.

The headlines can all be true.

And you can still completely misunderstand what is happening inside the market—or your own title agency.

That is the problem at the center of the first standalone Wicked Title Forum issue:

The Metrics Are Lying, Your Team Is Drowning

The Risks, Market Signals, and Emerging Opportunities Hidden Beneath the Title Industry Headlines

This 44-page issue brings related Wicked Title Forum reporting and analysis together in one deliberately designed field guide.

Because reading one article about operational metrics, another about commercial real estate, and another about changing consumer demographics does not automatically reveal how those forces connect—or what they mean for your business.

This beautifully designed, full-color issue connects related reporting and analysis into one practical resource—with the insight, irreverence, and occasional title-industry absurdity you expect from Wicked Title Forum.

This 44-page issue connects three forces that are usually discussed separately:

• Why operational reports can look perfectly healthy while employees are overwhelmed and broken processes remain hidden.

• Why contradictory commercial real estate headlines can all be true—and still conceal what is actually happening inside the market.

• Where changing consumer demographics may create opportunities, including reverse mortgages, and what could cause those opportunities to shift.

It is humorous, informative, highly visual, and designed to make complicated ideas easier to understand, remember, and share.

But you don’t have to take my word for it…

Open the Free Sample Issue

Our friends at 🔒 Closinglock have generously sponsored a sample version so you can experience this new Wicked Title format for yourself.

Open the Free Sample →

Flip through it. Read a few pages. Admire the pretty colors. See whether the format helps you step back from the daily file queue and understand the larger forces shaping the industry.

Then I’d genuinely like to know what you think, not about the topic, but the format.

Want the Complete Issue? Choose How You Want to Read It

Digital Edition — $39.95

Get immediate access to the complete 44-page issue as a downloadable PDF and online flipbook.

Get the Digital Edition →

Print + Digital Edition — $49.95, plus shipping

Get the glossy, full-color print edition plus digital access (via QR code inside print edition). Worldwide shipping is available, with shipping calculated at checkout.

Get the Print + Digital Edition →

Already a Paid Wicked Title Forum Member?

The complete digital edition is included with your membership and you’ll receive 50% off the print edition.

Not yet a member? Sign up here or explore our group plans and gain access for your whole team.

This is a new experiment for Wicked Title Forum—and your response will help determine what I create next. So please open the sample, take a look, and answer the poll.

Future issues will be released as I complete them. Individual articles within issues will still be posted to the Wicked Title Archive and remain tagged and searchable for on-demand knowledge as and when members need it.

Each issue will bring connected Wicked Title Forum reporting out of the endless digital stream of noise and turn it into a practical resource you can read in the format that works for you.

But every edition will have the same purpose:

To help you step back from the file, see the larger landscape, and return to the work with more knowledge and sharper perspective.

Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

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Brought to you by our friends, contributors & sponsors:🔒 Closinglock, 🌍 Foreign Tax CPA, 🪄Business Witch Academy, 🧱 Brickhouse Consulting, 🖊️Dotted Line Signings & Our Paying Readers
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🕵️‍♂️Underworld Intel

⚠️ TRID Caught in Three-Way Squeeze. Will it pop like a pimple?

As if the CFPB request for information wasn’t enough…

Read the CFPB request and submit comments by August 10 →

• 🎥 TRID Architect Breaks Down What the CFPB is Looking at in its RFI

• 🎥 After More Than a Decade, Is TRID About to Change?

• 🐐 TRID Is Back on the Operating Table—and Someone Brought a Chainsaw: What Title Agents Need to Know

• 🐐 TRID Data: Closing Costs, Consumer Confusion and Title Workflows

President Trump’s nominee for permanent CFPB director, Brian Johnson, has said eliminating the Bureau is “not my intention.” While considerably less apocalyptic than Acting Director Russell Vought’s effort to halt most CFPB work and eliminate much of its staff. It is not necessarily comforting. Johnson would not identify a Vought decision with which he disagreed and said he would keep an open mind about the administration’s plan to reduce the Bureau from approximately 1,700 employees to roughly 550.

AND now the House Financial Services Committee is requesting public feedback⁠ on a 70-page discussion draft that would overhaul CFPB funding, rulemaking, supervision and enforcement. The proposal could affect how the Bureau creates and revisits rules governing mortgage closings, evaluates burdens on small businesses, uses UDAAP authority and interacts with companies regulated by state insurance departments. For title agents navigating TRID, RESPA and sometimes-murky federal expectations, this is an opportunity to explain where unclear guidance, duplicative oversight or regulation-by-enforcement creates real operational problems.

• Comments may address any of the committee’s questions and should be emailed to fsc119@mail.house.gov by August 21, 2026

Researchers at the Federal Reserve of Minneapolis have introduced a new metric for measuring homeownership

The “homeowners-to-population” (HPOP) ratio, which reveals that only 53% of U.S. adults own homes, significantly lower than the traditional owner-occupancy rate of 65%, highlighting the economic realities and changing living arrangements in America.

🎥 The ALTA 48 Endorsement series and how it relates to tribal limited waivers and consents.

A Bank Lent $3.85 Million on a Home Falling Into the Ocean—How Did It Happen?

Why Rising Premiums and Falling Claims Don’t Tell the Whole Title Story

🐐Wicked Trends & Forces🌳

The patterns worth paying attention to…

Is it Time to Bring Your Payment Processing into The Digital Age?

The closing may be digital, but payment processing often still runs on paper. Printing, signing, mailing, tracking and occasionally reissuing checks creates a block of administrative work that is easy to overlook because it is scattered across multiple employees and several days.

The operational cost is not just the time spent printing the check. It is the entire chain surrounding it: securing signatures, maintaining check stock, confirming delivery, responding to status calls, handling lost checks, placing stops, issuing replacements and documenting what happened.

But efficiency is only part of the challenge. CertifID’s Q2 fraud-recovery data shows that seller net-proceeds fraud rose from 4% of its Q1 submissions to 14% in Q2, tying mortgage payoff fraud as the second-most-common category in its dataset. Buyer cash-to-close fraud still led at 35%, but the larger pattern is clear—payment risk exists wherever money enters, leaves or changes direction.

Title technology providers are beginning to address that burden across the payment lifecycle. 🔒 Closinglock’s new SecurePay capabilities allow buyers to submit earnest money, option fees and cash to close—even before a file has been created—while its EMD Return Workflow allows deposits to be returned digitally to a previously verified bank account. Together, they target two places where an otherwise-digital transaction commonly falls back into manual work: collecting buyer funds at the beginning and returning them when a deal terminates. Whereas, Deluxe is making it faster and easier to disburse funds with their eCheck system that is integrated directly into your title production software.

However, digitizing a broken process will not fix it unless security controls come with it. CloseSimple’s seven “non-negotiables” provide a useful framework: keep payment communications inside a predictable, authenticated path; verify every party; independently confirm changes; and build secure steps into the title production workflow so staff do not have to remember them under pressure.

Taken together, these developments point to a larger trend…The industry is beginning to treat money movement as one connected operational system—from the first buyer payment through refunds, payoffs and final disbursements. The real opportunity is not merely to eliminate the check. It is to eliminate the manual chasing, disconnected systems and preventable risk surrounding it.

And this is why Wicked Title Forum gathered a panel of industry experts to dig in deeper. On August 12th, we’re sitting down with Deluxe, American Escrow Reconciliation, FIT Agency, ShortTrack, and Near North Title Group to examine where paper checks are still creating bottlenecks, what those delays actually cost title operations and what really happens when electronic payments are introduced into a tightly controlled escrow environment. Mark your calendars 📅 and keep an 👀 on your inbox. This is one you won’t want to miss.

👀 Things Wandering Toward Your Workflow

New tools, vendor launches, and tech experiments making their way toward the closing table.
👀 Get on the Workflow Watchlist

Westcor Gives Agents an AI Shortcut Through Its Underwriting Library

Underwriter IQ⁠ gives Westcor agents on-demand answers drawn from the underwriter’s approved state guidance, manuals, rate materials and procedural resources. It is intended to handle routine questions and point agents toward the applicable source, cutting down the time spent digging through documents or waiting for help. Complex risks and transaction-specific decisions still go to a human underwriter—Westcor describes the tool as the first stop, not the final word. It is available now through Westcor Central, with additional approved materials being added over time.

⚖️Legal

National

The “Investment” That May Be a Mortgage After All

Congress and a growing number of states are moving to reclassify a tricky home-equity product—with consequences for how title agents identify, document and pay it off at closing.

Plus the house voted to ease banking regulations.

State

• 📰 New Mexico to Require Fingerprints for Amendments to Resident and Designated Home State Licenses

🤖PropTech, Cyber Security & Fraud

Fraud Refunds, Unprovable Wire Controls and a Bitcoin-Backed Mortgage

This month’s PropTech roundup follows the money—from mortgage-relief scams and wire-control blind spots to smarter AI adoption and a new kind of asset showing up at the closing table.

📖 Book of the Month

Liz Halabu Casselman’s Not Just a Title: A Journey of Growth in the Title Industry is less a technical guide than an honest look at building a career, managing people and finding your voice inside the title industry. Casselman shares the insecurities, leadership mistakes and uncomfortable growing pains behind starting an agency and acquiring companies—experiences that rarely make it into polished professional bios. Her larger lesson is that better leadership requires boundaries, empathy and a carefully built network of people willing to tell the truth. It is a quick, relatable read for anyone discovering that earning the title was only the beginning.

📢 Promote Your Book Here

📰 Headlines tell you what’s happening.
Everything else is what saves you time—and helps you make better decisions.
💻 Digital helps you handle the file. | 📬 Print helps you run the business.
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Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
Contact Me (or hit reply)

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