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🕵️♂️Underworld Intel
The Biggest Rate Spike Was in a State With Some of the Cheapest Homes
Mortgage rates increased in 37 states from Q1 to Q2, but the biggest jump didn’t make the most expensive market. WalletHub’s user-based data shows Mississippi up 1.92 percentage points to an average 5.54% rate; New Jersey rose just 0.11 points but averaged 6.98%. Now compare September typical home values: about $195,000 in Mississippi versus $575,000 in New Jersey. Buyers face very different combinations of price and borrowing cost. For title agencies, the useful conversation with Realtor and lender partners is local affordability—and which potential customers might actually be able to buy—not another national mortgage-rate headline.
Zillow Just Gave Some FHA Buyers a New Path to the Closing Table
Some would-be buyers can afford the mortgage payment; it’s coming up with the down payment that’s keeping them on the sidelines. Zillow Home Loans now offers eligible FHA borrowers assistance of up to 3.5% of the lower of the purchase price or appraised value—potentially the entire minimum FHA down payment. The program is available in 43 states and Washington, D.C., with no income cap or first-time-buyer requirement, although other qualifications apply and closing costs are separate. That’s an opportunity worth sharing. Let your Realtor and lender partners know, and put a useful, accurate explainer on your agency’s website, newsletter and social channels. Buyers who assumed they couldn’t purchase may be closer than they think.
ALTA’s Endorsement Housecleaning: 66 to Update, 39 on the Chopping Block
ALTA is proposing revisions to 66 endorsement forms and decertification of 39 others, mostly to bring older forms in line with the 2021 series. Some changes are substantive; none of these proposals is final. Want a say? Open ALTA’s policy forms page, find “For Public Comment | Not Final – Not Published,” review the draft endorsement collection and decertification list, and email feedback to the comment address shown there by December 10. ALTA expects to finalize changes in early 2027. Separately, the new ALTA 17.3 endorsement took effect November 3 for access and entry involving land under development. If proposed language creates a real underwriting or closing problem, now is the time to speak up.
Old Republic’s Title Business Is Growing. Investors Have Mixed Feelings.
Old Republic’s third-quarter title premiums and fees reached $823.3 million, up 7.3% from a year earlier. Its agency channel grew 9% even as directly produced premiums remained relatively flat—a revealing split in a stubborn mortgage-rate market. Yet consolidated net income slipped from $279.5 million to $243.2 million, and investors reacted to softer profits and spending. The counterweight: 46 straight years of dividend increases have earned the company a following among long-term investors. Different scoreboards, different verdicts. For the title business, agency distribution is the number worth watching.
🐐Wicked Trends & Forces🌳
The patterns worth paying attention to…
Blue Wave, Lower Mortgage Rates? The Bond Market Has Conditions
Democrats’ midterm sweep sent the 10-year Treasury yield from 4.95% to 4.90% Wednesday as oil prices plunged and investors anticipated a more divided Washington. Cheaper borrowing looked plausible—for about a news cycle. Friday’s jobs report showed 165,000 new positions and 4.1% unemployment, pushing yields back up as traders reconsidered the Fed’s next move. Freddie Mac’s 30-year mortgage average had fallen to 7.18% Thursday, but that survey came before the jobs release. The election changed the political math. Oil, inflation and bond investors still have a vote on mortgage rates.
🔒Mortgage rates have eased, but the housing market still looks like a traffic jam. Why aren’t prices and buyer activity responding the way a recovery script says they should?
Upgrade to see what the conflicting housing signals say about the road to more closings.
👀 Things Wandering Toward Your Workflow
New tools, vendor launches, and tech experiments making their way toward the closing table.
👀 Get on the Workflow Watchlist
Dono Brings AI-Assisted Title Searches to 13 Pennsylvania Counties
Dono is now offering AI-assisted title searches in 13 Pennsylvania counties, extending coverage into the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh regions. Its platform gathers and organizes property records, with title professionals reviewing the results before delivery. Dono says a full search takes about four hours on average, and agencies can send orders through existing production workflows rather than migrate to a new system. That gives Pennsylvania agencies another way to handle a surge of orders, expand their search capacity, or free examiners from the document-gathering bottleneck.
🔒The deed is recorded, the keys are handed over, and the client has moved on. Six months later, what could a title agency possibly send that a homeowner would actually want to open?
Upgrade to see what separates useful post-closing outreach from automated inbox clutter.
Plus a new tool that makes foreclosure searches in Florida 67x easier.
Did your email cut off this newsletter? Be sure to read to the end.
😈 Wicked Sense of Humor
- Special Thanks to Mark Nemetz, Residential Mortgage/Title Consultant, for contributing this week’s humor…
🍹 The bartender thought “on the rocks” was going to be the complicated part.
😂 Title pros, what OTHER closing requirements should we impose on this poor margarita?
⚖️Legal
Regulatory updates, Claims, Lawsuits, & Enforcement
National
The CFPB Closed 40% of Its Investigations. Here’s What It Still Wants to Police.
The CFPB says it closed approximately 40% of pending investigations during the first half of 2026 as it shifted toward cases involving identifiable consumer harm. Mortgages, fraudulent fees, credit-reporting problems and consumer-data security remain priorities. The Bureau also favors voluntary correction and quicker restitution over lengthy enforcement fights. That is a substantial change in federal enforcement strategy, not permission to relax compliance. The underlying consumer-protection laws still apply—and state enforcement hasn’t disappeared.
The agency’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress documents the shift in its own words.
The CFPB Rewrote Fair-Lending Protections. Now the Courts Get a Say.
A second lawsuit is challenging the CFPB’s April rewrite of Regulation B, which implements the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. The National Urban League and Massachusetts community-development organizations say the changes unlawfully narrow protections against discriminatory lending, including the effects test, discouraging applicants and certain special-purpose credit programs. They also challenge how the rule was adopted and the authority of the acting director at the time.
The rule took effect July 21; filing the lawsuit did not, by itself, suspend it. What happens next could influence how lenders evaluate and market mortgage credit, and which borrowers can access targeted lending programs. The dispute is over the federal lending rule—not a new settlement-agent obligation.
Official rule: Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B), 91 FR 21620 (April 22, 2026).
HUD Put 3,600 Public Housing Agencies on One Scoreboard
HUD’s new public dashboard makes it possible to compare public housing authorities by occupancy, voucher leasing, funding, performance ratings and financial shortfalls. The agencies collectively administer about 850,000 public housing units and more than 2.3 million housing vouchers. For people working in affordable housing, multifamily development or local housing markets, it offers a useful way to spot operational pressure in a particular community. Just check the dates: some measures update daily, while voucher leasing and budget figures can lag roughly two months.
🔒The midterms changed Washington’s political arithmetic, but two questions remain unresolved: which ROAD to Housing programs will get funded, and can the watchdog overseeing Fannie and Freddie still do its job?
Upgrade to see what could decide the funding fight—and what’s behind the watchdog’s warning.
State
🔒Eleven states. Nineteen developments. And election results are only part of the story: deed timing, tax-sale protections, producer licensing, homestead eligibility and local transfer taxes all have consequences buried in the fine print. Add billions in potential housing financing, and the question is which changes can affect a file or closing estimate now—and which still have another step to clear.
📖 Book of the Month
How to Start A Title Insurance Company
Thinking about opening your own title agency? Lisa Williams tells the story of building one from a home office, adding employees and moving into a commercial space. Her short guide offers a firsthand look at the early entrepreneurial decisions, effort and growing pains behind the business. Published in 2012, it’s a founder’s perspective—not a current licensing or compliance manual.
🎟️Events
🎟️ ALTA AI & Fraud Defense Bootcamp
📅 November 9, 2026 | ⏰ 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET | 📍 Register Here
📅 November 9-11 | ⏰ All day | 📍 Bonita Springs, FL
🎟️ PLTI — Lien Priority & Divestiture Webinar
📅 November 10, 2026 | ⏰ 9:30–11:30 a.m. ET | 📍 Register Here
🎟️ PLTI — All About Decedents’ Estates Webinar
📅 November 12, 2026 | ⏰ 9:30–11:30 a.m. ET | 📍 Register Here
🎟️ ALTA — The Infrastructure Behind AI: Navigating Data Center Development
📅 November 12, 2026 | ⏰ 1:00–2:00 p.m. ET | 📍 Register Here
🎟️ OLTA — Managing Risk in a Risky World
📅 November 12, 2026 | ⏰ 1:00–2:00 p.m. ET | 📍 Register Here
💼 Job Postings
Escrow Support Processor (Temporary) - PGP Title / PulteGroup
Coppell, TX (on-site) | $20–$23/hour
Supports escrow file preparation, closing documentation, post-closing audits, and recording in a temporary assignment through January 8, 2027.Policy Production Processor I - Stewart Title
Remote (South Carolina)
Reviews and prepares title policy packages and endorsements while coordinating accurate, timely delivery to agents and customers.Residential Title Examiner - Transnation Title Agency
Houghton, MI (on-site)
Examines land records, prepares residential title commitments, and helps resolve ownership, lien, and other title defects.Title Examiner (Texas) - Rocket Close
Fort Worth, TX (hybrid)
Reviews Texas property records, vesting, liens, and title requirements to identify issues before settlement.Texas Licensed Escrow Officer - Blue Owl Capital
Dallas, TX (on-site) | $140,000–$165,000/year
Manages complex commercial real estate escrow transactions, coordinating closing documents, funds, recording, and compliance.Title Sales Representative – Non-Traditional Services - Beeline Title
Remote (United States)
Develops title-service relationships with servicers, investors, banks, and asset managers in nontraditional transaction channels.Title Agency Support Trainer - Old Republic Title
Boca Raton, FL (on-site)
Trains title agents and internal staff on title and closing software, workflows, and customer support processes.Escrow Officer, Default Services – REO - ServiceLink
Irvine, CA (remote within California) | $24–$32/hour
Coordinates California default and REO escrow closings, including documents, payoff requirements, funding, and title issues.Escrow Officer - First American Title
Greenwood Village, CO (on-site) | $26.88–$35.83/hour
Handles escrow closings, reviews settlement documents, manages funds, and coordinates transaction parties.Office Assistant – Escrow Department - Express Employment Professionals
Bozeman, MT (on-site) | $22/hour
Provides administrative support for escrow files, closing paperwork, client communication, and daily office operations.
💼 Place Your Job Posting Ad Here
Stay Wicked,
Cheryl
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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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