🐐Signed, Sealed and Misdelivered? $100M in Rejected Fees, Texas Tightens the Screws While VA Adds a Second Mortgage, FirstAm Wins and Loses in the Same week.
This Week in the Title Underground (25-Jan-2026): Free Fraud Monitoring, Did Big Money Just Get Kicked Out of Real Estate? And a New Mortgage Nobody Told You About.
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Brought to you by: Talos Title AI, Brickhouse Consulting, Closinglock, Dotted Line Signings, Foreign Tax CPA, Razi Exchange & Our Paying Readers
📜Educational Resources
🐐Knowledge Base Update Summary: Where to Find Realtors in 2026, Support Liens in TX, 1099s for 2026, & More
🌍 Foreign Tax CPA: Why Seller Status Should Be Confirmed at the Document Stage
📄 What Title Professionals Need to Know for 2025 1099-S Filing
📄 How to Turn The Issuance of 1099s into a Tool for Business Growth
🎙️ Unpacking Pennsylvania Tax Laws When Transferring Family Farmland
📄 Notary Public vs. Notary Signing Agent: The Real Difference
🎥 The Risks of “Just” Adding a Person to Title of a Property
🎥 Signed, Sealed…Misdelivered? Mastering the Maze of Conveyancing Documents (MA)
💬 Join the Conversation
🕵️♂️Underworld Intel
🕯️ Industry Mourns The Passing of FirstAm’s Kurt Pfotenhauer – NMP
📰 MBA sends White House a list of easy wins on mortgage costs - the good news, none of the suggestions include title related costs.
⚖️Regulatory & Policy Updates
National
📰 Congress Passes Legislation to Help Protect Veterans from Foreclosure by Reauthorizing Partial Claims with VA Home Loans (July 30, 2025) - The law now allows the VA to pay off up to 25%1 of a VA-guaranteed loan to avoid foreclosure and to create a “partial claim mortgage” for that amount. Like the FHA/HUD versions, these will show up as a separate recorded mortgage, they will likely be serviced through a different servicer than the primary VA mortgage, and a payoff statement for the first mortgage will NOT include amounts owed under the secondary partial claims mortgage. Additional payoff statements must be ordered
🎥 Inside The Beltway: A Housing Policy & Regulatory Environment Discussion
📰 Trump signs executive order to block large investors from single-family home market (order) - limited to accessing government backed financing and the sale of HUD, VA, DoA owned inventory
📰 Congress Releases Bipartisan HUD Appropriations Bill Before January 30 Deadline
📰 HUD Secretary Faces Congressional Scrutiny Over Housing Policies and Investor Purchases
State Regulatory Changes
📰 Texas House Bill 4063: Boost Security for Real Estate Transactions - Until now, unilateral memorandums of contract could be filed by non-owners, clouding the title and complicating closings. But with the passing of House Bill 4063, that risk is significantly reduced.
📰 Florida Legislature Considers Strict Caller ID Requirements on Companies
📰 Regulators halt rate hikes, $228M in rejected fees, $100M just for title insurance - The rejection of more than $100 million in proposed title insurance increases is expected to have a lasting effect on housing affordability, but what will it do for business liquidity?
📰 Mass. Court Clears Title Insurer In Lender’s Foreclosure Loss - A Massachusetts appeals court ruled that Connecticut Attorneys Title Insurance Company (CATIC) is not liable for a lender’s $1.6 million loss. The court found the insurer acted diligently to remove a previously missed, superior attachment on a Reading property after it was disclosed. Because the title issue was resolved, the insurer was not required to cover losses resulting from a separate, primary lender’s foreclosure.
💸Business Growth & Operations
TIP: Companies relying heavily on SEO traffic are facing serious issues due to AI search summaries. If you rely on search results for business, diversify now: focus on direct traffic through newsletters, social media, communities, partnerships, etc.
🎥 How Company Valuations Work When You’re Ready to Sell (What Owners Need to Know)
🎥 Branding That Works: How to Stand Out and Build Trust in a Competitive Market
🎥 Marketing Your Law Practice: How to Attract the Right Clients and Grow with Confidence
🎥 How Networking Has Changed: Modern Strategies for Real Business Growth
🎥 Working with Real Estate Attorneys: What Every Professional Should Know
📄Five Strategies Title & Escrow Companies Must Execute to Succeed in 2026
💼 Job Postings
Search Indeed Job Postings: Title Abstractor | Title Searcher | Title Processor | Title Examiner | Escrow Officer | Title Closer | Mobile Notary Closer | Title Agent | Title Agency Manager | Title Insurance | Title Insurance Sales | Underwriting Counsel | Real Estate Attorney
Top Job Postings This Week:
Title Processor (Remote)
TITLE PROCESSOR (PA)
Title Examiner (Remote)
Remote Paralegal (Insurance Defense)
General Notary Work - Remote Online Notary (LA, MO, MT, NJ, OR, PA, UT, VA, WY)
Underwriting Counsel (PA)
Underwriting Counsel (VA)
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Cheryl
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