The Close

NOVEMBER 25, 2024

When looking into your finances, consider the following factors: Closing costs: These are generally 2% to 5% of the property’s sales price and include lender fees, title insurance, property insurance, and property taxes. The higher the home’s sale price, the higher your closing costs.

Purchase and sale agreement

Redfin

AUGUST 6, 2025

Some things to do are: Check your credit score and credit report Improve your credit score and reduce debts if needed Determine your monthly budget and household expenses Save for a down payment and closing costs. Remember, you’ll still have to save for closing costs, which can be 5% of the purchase price.

Pre-approval

Redfin

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

Market conditions: Fluctuations in the construction industry due to material costs, labor availability, supply chain issues, and economic factors can impact building expenses. For instance, tariffs on imported goods have recently increased material costs, potentially adding $17,000 to $22,000 to the price of a new home.

Debt-to-income ratio

Rochester Real Estate

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

The deposit will then be used as part of the closing costs or down payment when the purchase successfully closes. Escrow When paying an escrow deposit , it shouldn’t be given to the homeowner but the seller’s real estate agent or title company depending on local customs. Why Do You Need to Pay a Deposit?

Earnest money deposit

Rochester Real Estate

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Importance of Real Estate Commission Real estate commission plays a vital role in the industry by incentivizing agents to work diligently and provide exceptional service to their clients. Additional Costs and Closing Fees In addition to the realtor fees, additional costs and closing fees may be associated with the home sale.

Purchase and sale agreement

Rochester Real Estate

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

This certainly is due to the fact that selling a home isn’t a process that is practiced regularly by home owners and also that rules, regulations, and the industry change on a daily basis. Seller concessions allow a home owner to contribute a percentage or dollar amount towards a buyer’s closing costs and/or pre-paid items.

Purchase and sale agreement

Housing Wire

MARCH 10, 2025

In an industry dominated by private insurers, Iowa Title Guaranty (ITG) continues to operate as a state-run, not-for-profit title system that gives homebuyers a more affordable avenue for settlement services. Iowa bans private commercial title insurance in favor of its unique state-backed model.

Title

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 22, 2024

For more than two years, the title insurance industry has had to exist in what professionals have deemed a ”rather challenging” environment. The issues began in April 2022 when Fannie Mae announced it would accept attorney opinion letters (AOLs) on some mortgages in lieu of a traditional title insurance policy.

Title

Housing Wire

MAY 21, 2025

FICO), which licenses one of the most widely used credit-risk assessment tools in the mortgage industry. In a post on X Wednesday morning, Pulte asked: Why do some credit reports cost double (Bidens term) from what they did during President Trumps first term? I dont like some things Ive heard in terms of the cost, Pulte said.

Closing costs

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 11, 2024

mortgage lenders United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) and Better have joined Fannie Mae s pilot program that waives lender title insurance requirements for certain refinance transactions, HousingWire has learned. The title industry, dismissive of the “junk fees” label, argues that it introduces unnecessary risk to the market.

Title

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 26, 2022

With the housing market slowing down from its pandemic-fueled frenzy, wire fraud threats, regulatory challenges and the perennial challenge of an aging workforce, the title insurance industry will have a lot to juggle in the new year. For the title insurance industry, she feels this will result in a thinning of the herd.

Title

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 23, 2023

When people think about the title insurance industry , what comes to mind is often its core products – title insurance policies that protect property rights of homeowners and lenders. As an industry, our commitment to protection goes beyond title insurance policies.

Title

Housing Wire

MARCH 8, 2024

Despite the protests of the title insurance industry, Fitch Ratings does not believe the lender title insurance waiver pilot program for certain refinance transactions announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Thursday will have an impact on title insurer ratings.

Title

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 16, 2022

For most real estate industry professionals, title insurance needs no introduction. A trusted product , title insurance has been used to protect real estate transactions and property rights for over a century. Title insurance is different than most other insurance products. Diane Tomb, ALTA CEO Contributor.

Title

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Part of the equitable housing plans’ approach to achieving more equity includes reducing the costs and fees associated with buying a home that are often cited as a homeownership barrier for low- and moderate-income and non-white households. In fact, neither is true. What differences do exist are very small. increase in fees).

Title

Housing Wire

MARCH 9, 2023

The title insurance industry is often bemoaned for being antiquated and making minimal changes, but that has not been the case for the past 12 months. The program would grant certain mortgage lenders a waiver on title insurance requirements for loans sold to Fannie Mae and will be rolled out this spring, according to Politico.

Title

Housing Wire

MAY 9, 2022

Closing costs for homeowners who jumped on the refi wave in 2021 increased at less than one-third the pace of closing costs for home purchases as homebuyers had to cope with a hot market that fueled higher home-sale prices and related settlement costs. How to avoid home closing delays in 2022.

Closing costs

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 6, 2024

For more than two years, a storm has been brewing in the title insurance industry. Last week, the first raindrops began to fall when the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia (OAG) announced settlements with four title firms over alleged kickback schemes. Unlike RESPA, the D.C.

Title

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 13, 2022

Unlike the title industry’s cybersecurity and wire fraud challenges, which are strictly 21 st century issues, the recent interest and use of attorney opinion letters (AOLs) harkens back to an earlier era of homebuying. One of the goals they outlined in those plans is a push to reduce closing costs, especially for low-income borrowers.

Title

Housing Wire

APRIL 11, 2022

In a selling guide announcement released last week, Fannie Mae announced that it would be accepting written opinion letters from an attorney in lieu of a title insurance policy “in limited circumstances.”. If a lender receives an AOL in lieu of a title insurance policy, the lender must report Special Feature Code 155 when delivering the loan.

Title

Housing Wire

JUNE 28, 2024

Title insurance provides vital protection to the largest and most important purchase most Americans will ever make—their home. ” The agency alleges that so-called hidden “junk fees” in closing costs are at the root of housing affordability challenges. Brad Sherman (D-CA).

Title

Housing Wire

AUGUST 14, 2023

The American Land Title Association (ALTA) is celebrating a huge win in its ongoing war against title insurance alternatives. News of the rumored pilot program came in March, roughly a year after Fannie Mae first announced that it would be accepting attorney opinion letters (AOLs) in lieu of title insurance in limited circumstances.

Title

Housing Wire

AUGUST 9, 2022

Rachel Luna, principal of Patriot Title Company. With over 13,000 followers on Instagram , Rachel Luna, the principal of Texas-based Patriot Title Company , is the self-proclaimed “Texas Title Queen.” Luna has worked her way through the ranks and is now among the most recognizable pros in the title industry. “I

Title

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 9, 2023

AI-generated image of two lawyers scrutinizing title insurance joint venture agreements. In 1983 Jim Campbell launched what is believed to be the first joint venture experiment between a real estate brokerage and a title and settlement firm. In fact, it’s all his Pennsylvania-based company Title Alliance does.

Title

Housing Wire

APRIL 13, 2022

Title insurance protects borrowers from financial loss if the lender discovers a defect in the title to the property (for example, a previous mortgage) and demands a borrower to pay back the loan. Additionally, title companies are not allowed to accept any commissions or referral fees from lenders when issuing title policy coverage.

Title

Housing Wire

MARCH 2, 2021

HW: How can integrating title and valuation data points alleviate those pain points? SG: It can help close loans with greater speed and ease, reduce vendor oversight, mitigate risk, lower costs and ease underwriting reviews for lenders, servicers and investors. It’s easy to see why.

Title

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Each year, the TECH100 awards recognize the 200 most influential tech companies in mortgage and real estate that are working to improve the housing industry through tech innovation. The promises of technology have largely been lost in the mortgage industry and little has been done to reduce costs for homebuyers.”.

Industrial

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

The mortgage industry has complained loudly and often that government regulation and investor requirements are contributing to spiraling costs that get passed on to consumers. We’re also looking at identifying ways to jumpstart competition in certain closing cost categories, which can also help spur more activity.

Mortgages

Housing Wire

MARCH 1, 2024

While mortgage rates will likely fall this year, conversations about how to increase accessibility to homeownership are still top of mind — and should be top of mind — across the real estate industry. Accounting for geography, differences in title and settlement costs across groups of borrowers were not “economically meaningful.”

Title

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 14, 2023

In an update to its selling guide , Fannie Mae announced Wednesday that it was expanding the use of attorney opinion letters in lieu of title insurance. Fannie Mae first announced that it would accept loans secured with an AOL in lieu of title insurance in limited circumstance in April 2022.

Title

Housing Wire

MARCH 28, 2023

Those looking to buy a home can earn 5% back by using the Rocket Visa Signature Card for up to $8,000 that can be used toward closing costs and down payments. In turn, homebuyers can use points to get discounts on their closing costs in the future.

Closing costs

Housing Wire

JUNE 30, 2021

Data analytics giant CoreLogic announced on Wednesday the acquisition of closing cost data and tech provider ClosingCorp. The closing data company also utilized CoreLogic’s home price data to release its first national refinance closing cost report in 2021, so there’s quite a bit of familiarity between the two firms.

Closing

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

Not available anywhere else in the industry today, consumers can gather inspiration on social media networks like Pinterest, upload photos of their dream home and homegeniusIQ, homegenius Real Estate’s proprietary technology, will instantly analyze the photos and present homes with similar features.

Closing costs

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

HW Media CEO Clayton Collins and Scott Happ, president of Secondary Marketing Technologies at Black Knight, discuss Black Knight’s acquisition of Optimal Blue and what the industry can expect from the company’s new Secondary Marketing Technologies division. Presented by: Black Knight. The company appears to be only licensed in California.

Loan Officer

Housing Wire

APRIL 9, 2024

While most people are focused on how the proposed NAR commission settlement might change the realty industry, not enough focus is on first-time homebuyers, who might have to come up with significantly higher down payments, which in turn could exacerbate biases against homebuyers using FHA loans. But now a new threat is emerging on this front.

FHA loan

HomeLight

JANUARY 31, 2025

When youre preparing to sell or buy a home, the phrase closing costs will be spoken (and written) on both sides of the transaction table. But what are closing costs? Understanding these costs upfront can help you budget properly and avoid surprises. Get Started What are closing costs?

Closing costs

Housing Wire

MAY 14, 2024

While most people are focused on how the proposed NAR commission settlement might change the realty industry, not enough focus is on first-time homebuyers, who might have to come up with significantly higher down payments, which in turn could exacerbate biases against homebuyers using FHA loans. But now a new threat is emerging on this front.

FHA loan