🐐 Love, Lies & Liens: Swipe Right on Growth, Swipe Left on Fraud

This Week in the Title Underground (15-February-2026): Who’s Breaking Up with Fair Housing? The Affair Between Housing Policy & Your Pipeline & 6 Predictions for 2026

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📜Title Archive: Educational Resources

🐐Search the Title Archive by Topic🐐

• 🐐🧱: Title Agencies: Busy Isn’t the Flex You Think It Is

• 🌍 Foreign Tax CPA: Buyer Liability Under FIRPTA: What Happens When a Residential Waiver Isn’t Followed

• 🎥 Who Is FinCEN? Understanding the Agency Behind Financial Compliance

• 🎓 Brief History of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) (MS) (CE) ($)

• 🎙️Zombie Foreclosures Creep Into the Market

• 🎓Florida Remote Online Notary Certification Course (FL) (CE) ($)

• 📄May a property owner holding a title insurance policy transfer title to the insured property to themselves as trustee for their intervivos trust using a quitclaim deed and retain the coverage?

• 🎥All About Reverse Mortgages

• 📄Reverse Mortgages and Title

• 🎥 Why a Warranty Deed Could Save You Thousands (Deed Types Explained)

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💬 Join the Conversation

• 💬 RON or Mobile Notary What is your company’s preferred method of execution and why?

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🕵️‍♂️Underworld Intel

• 📄Consumer Delinquencies at Highest Level in Nearly a Decade

• 📄Realtors report a ‘new housing crisis’ as January home sales tank more than 8%

• 📄Did you hear about the bank that failed in ILLINOIS last Friday? It didn’t get a lot of attention outside of the financial press . . . Let us hope that it is an isolated event. - Mark Nemetz,  Residential Mortgage/Title Consultant

• 📄What’s Ahead in 2026? 6 Predictions for Title Professionals

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Discover the secret to unlocking exponential growth for your business with The Ultimate Guide to Leveraging Facebook Community Groups to Grow Your Business

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⚖️Regulatory & Policy Updates

National

• 📄Housing for the 21st Century Act - The Housing for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 6644), passed by the U.S. House in February 2026 with strong bipartisan support, aims to increase housing supply and affordability by modernizing federal programs, cutting regulatory red tape, and incentivizing zoning reform.

  • The Housing for the 21st Century Act presents several significant implications for title agents:

  • Increased Housing Inventory: With the legalization of duplexes, triplexes, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs), title agents may see an uptick in transactions involving these types of properties. This could lead to more closings and a broader range of property types needing title services.

  • Expanded Financing Options: The higher Federal Housing Administration (FHA) multifamily loan limits and the introduction of a small-dollar mortgage pilot program could result in a more diverse clientele for title agents, as more first-time and entry-level homebuyers enter the market.

  • Faster Project Approvals: The act aims to streamline permit approvals and reduce environmental review timelines, which could lead to quicker closings. Title agents may need to adapt to a faster-paced environment and prepare for an increase in transactions as developers and builders respond to these changes.

  • Manufactured Housing Transactions: By treating factory-built homes on permanent foundations similarly to site-built homes, title agents will likely encounter more transactions involving manufactured housing, which may require different title processes and considerations.

  • Increased Resale Options: As financing and resale options for manufactured homes improve, title agents may need to familiarize themselves with the specific requirements and regulations governing these transactions.

  • Role in Consumer Protection: As the act emphasizes transparency and consumer protections, title agents will continue to play a crucial role in ensuring buyers and lenders navigate the closing process confidently, especially with the influx of new financing tools and housing types.

  • Overall, the act could lead to a more dynamic real estate market, presenting both challenges and opportunities for title agents as they adapt to changes in housing supply and financing.

• 📄HUD Administration One Year Review: Withdrawal of Fair Housing Guidance, Administrative Cutbacks, and the Implications for Housing Providers

• 📄FHFA Repeals Fair Housing and Fair Lending Rule

• 📄FHFA’s Pulte plans pricing changes for builders, lenders

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🤖PropTech, Cyber Security & Fraud

• PropTech

  • 📄🔒Congratulations Closinglock Winner in: The 2026 TECH100 Real Estate Awards from Housingwire

  • 📄HomeCode Reviews launching as ‘Yelp for real estate tech’

  • 📄Old Republic Title shifts direct operations to Qualia - Housing Wire

• Fraud

  • 🎥 Love, Lies, and Deeds: When Romance Becomes Real Estate Fraud

  • 📄The Two County Haunting of a Missing Deed

  • 🎥📄Iowa Title Guarantee now offers, Title Theft Protection, legal defense for owners caught up in a peoperty scam

  • 📄Chicago Title sues after wire fraud drains $4.1 million from escrow

  • 📄Fourth Circuit Reverses Judgment Against Lender for Aiding-and-Abetting Fraud Premised on Willful Blindness

  • 🎥 Never Wire Money Until You Do This One Thing (Real Estate Scams)

• AI

  • 🎥 4 AI Tools Every Real Estate Agent Should Be Using in 2026 (Save 20 Hours a Week).

  • 📄I Wasted 2 Years Prompting AI The Wrong Way. Don’t Make These Mistakes

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💼 Job Postings

Search Zip Recruiter 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

• Title Manager (Remote)

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• Title Agent (MS)

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📻Your Title Playlist

Crush Fraud Not Hearts (Valentine's Day by CloseSimple)

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