AMD and FAN CEO Aaron Davis is a little bit bearish on RON and eClosing crossing the adoption threshold in 2022. Yet, he’s also a little bullish, too. He shared his thoughts in an article written by ALTA VP of Communications, Jeremy Yohe in the January issue of Title News. (Membership Required)
(The feature, an industry outlook for 2022 featuring a number of the industry’s most successful and thoughtful decision-makers, is well worth the read if you’re an ALTA member).
Aaron observed that more than a few REALTORS and mortgage lenders do want to see digital closings go mainstream for a number of reasons. So that alone will likely drive the percentages up this year. However, he also sees headwinds—namely, in the form the practical ability for all parties to collaborate and the politics surrounding which party (buyer or seller) is calling the shot on the title company to conduct the eClosing.
Aaron’s spoken on this issue several times before. If you have some thoughts for him, or questions, contact him now.
On November 1, 2021, the FR/BAR Residential Contract for Sale and Purchase (the FR/BAR "As Is" Contract) underwent several changes reflecting an intent to level the playing field between buyers and sellers of residential property. In case you missed it, here are some notable changes. PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT a comprehensive or exhaustive view of these changes. The Contract has further updates, new riders, and other changes that you should familiarize yourself with and contact legal counsel for further information.
Section 8(b) – Loan Approval Period
Two tasks must now be completed during this period: The buyer must obtain approval for financing as described in the section (as before) with a new requirement that the buyer’s lender must receive a satisfactory appraisal before the approval period expires. This aims to prevent a low appraisal from ruining a transaction up to and including at the time of closing. It also aims to ensure that the property can return to market much sooner to find a new buyer, should funding fall through.
Make sure you’re ending the loan approval period well before the closing date!
Section 19, Standard O – Delivery Methods
Under the revised contract, methods for delivery notice have changed. They can now be delivered by fax or email, in addition to the by mail or via personal delivery options that remain in place. Other electronic delivery methods have also been deleted, such as text messaging. Texting cannot be used to provide notice under this new contract! They are unreliable in terms of providing evidence that a notice was delivered by erasure or tech ‘fails.’
Other Notable Changes Include, but are not limited to:
The definition of "Personal Property" now includes thermostats, doorbells, TV mounting hardware, and storm protection items.
FIRPTA withholding and reporting costs have been added as an item to be paid by the seller.
You can review a full breakdown the contract changes here.
It’s nice to see that Zillow recently saw fit to proclaim, in its 2022 real estate market predictions, that “the Sun Belt dominates Zillow’s list of hottest housing markets for the second year in a row.” At the top of that list? Tampa and Jacksonville.
Now, those of us who live in Florida have always known it’s a natural real estate, er…hot spot! But, especially after weeks and months of reading the doom and gloom of the impending decline of the refinance spike; rise of interest rates and shortage of inventory, it’s nice to put it all into perspective.
While it’s easy enough to aggregate numbers from numerous local markets to create some national numbers, there’s no true national market. Just a collection of local markets. So saying many trends will impact each market equally is much more often than not false. Will interest rates rise this year? Probably. But how much will they rise; how long will the rise take to impact each market and to what degree? Let’s not forget, home values have soared over the past three years. It’s not all that apparent that they will suddenly crash. Will appreciation slow? Yes. Are declining appreciation and depreciation the same thing? Absolutely not. In fact, the same Zillow forecast suggests the nation’s top 50 markets are expected to “grow healthily in 2022.” That doesn’t sound like a year of doom and gloom to us.
Now, back to Florida, where the vast majority of FAN's clients, partners and friends live and work. The same forces that drove our largest markets to jaw-dropping growth in 2020 and 2021 are still in place. Home values will likely still grow. Inventory is still moving quickly, indicating demand remands high. And employment and population indicators suggest Florida’s top markets are still home to motivated, capable buyers with confidence in the job market and their earning potential. So whether the Fed raises the primary national rates by a quarter of a percent or .000001 percent (and believe us, it won’t be raising it enough to disrupt the economy dramatically in an election year), odds are that, if you have property or clients with property in Tampa or Jacksonville (or Miami, or Orlando, or Gainesville…), it will be another productive year for our friends in the real estate business.
We’re ready for the volume here at FAN. And we’ve only continued to work at streamlining our processes to create the smoothest, fastest, most tension-free closings you could ask for in a purchase environment. Then again, we’re proud of the places we live and work, and we never bet against them. So Zillow’s just telling us what we already knew!
It's been an active year for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the settlement services space, to the surprise of nearly no one. 2020 was a record year for title order volume, leaving many firms flush with cash. Last year was a year of opportunity in a rising purchase market. This trend is expected to continue in 2022 as many economists forecast a further decline in refinance transactions...
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