Excerpted from Bank of America memo to Settlement Industry
CFPB Integrated Mortgage Disclosures – The Closing Disclosure & Closing Insight™
To: Settlement Agents
Bank of America continues to prepare for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Integrated Mortgage Disclosures rule under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Regulation X) and the Truth In Lending Act (Regulation Z) that go into effect August 1, 2015. With less than a year before the implementation date, we have started to share information with the settlement agent community about the rule and will now begin to share how the rule will change the way you work with us.
Bank of America will use Closing Insight™, an industry tool developed by RealEC® Technologies, to support the implementation of the CFPB’s Integrated Mortgage Disclosures rule.
What is changing with how you work with Bank of America?
Bank of America will continue to work through all that is needed to meet both the requirements of the regulation and continue to deliver an exquisite experience for our mutual customers. We will share more information in the coming months as it becomes available. In the meantime, please submit any questions or feedback you may have regarding how Bank of America will expect you to handle transactions after August 1, 2015 to Integrated.Disclosures.Feedback@bankofamerica.com.
For more information about RealEC® Technologies or Closing Insight™, please visit their website at www.bkfs.com/realec. In addition, many Title & Escrow production systems are working with RealEC® Technologies to enhance current integrations in support of Closing Insight™. For more information about how or if they plan to support Closing Insight™, reach out to your provider directly.
Thank you for your partnership.
Is there such a thing as “self-certification?”
I chat one-on-one with Aaron Davis, fast-moving CEO who grew Hillborough Title into the FloridaAgency Network--the state's 4th largest privately owned agency. On tap is the ongoing conversation about certification–will ALTA Best Practices be enough? Can agents afford to pursue SOC II certification? Can they afford not to? Aaron also shares his thoughts on protecting NPI, “self-certification” and the future success of the small agent.
Follow Robert Reich on his Twitter account (@RobertLReich) or the NextDeal on their Twitter account (@NextDealDigDocs).
Your email is your business’s lifeblood these days. Most clients like the convenience of reading their updates on their home, on their title commitment, and everything else through the convenience of email. And, while they may or may not be following safe procedures, it should be one of your primary concerns.
After all, your clients private information is in those emails. Financial records, account numbers, names, and other forms of sensitive data that shouldn’t be released to the public. What if someone guesses your password or otherwise gets access?
There are some very good tips you can follow to keep your email safe. Most of these solutions are simpler than some recipes you’ve been dying to try or some driving maneuvers you perform daily. If you add these layers of security, you can be confident in your email’s safety.
The first line of defense against people who’d like your information is to create strong, unique, and unguessable passwords to your accounts. Many people tend to use passwords like “pa$$word1! “ when that’s one of the most easily guessed passwords. Below is a list pulled from CBS News of the 10 most common passwords last year:
If you see any of your passwords on here, you should be changing them right now. Those are the most common and they are also the most easily guessed.
Best practice for passwords is to use a random string of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols of significant length (8 or more characters). It should look more like “1dfGHt#2” than “password.”
If you’re worried about remembering passwords, use a password manager app or sync tool like iCloud Keychain or 1Password. That way, you can generate extremely secure passwords that your phone and/or computer will put in automatically for you while still maintaining the security that you need.
But, a good password isn’t worth anything if you give it away willingly. We’ve all been warned about phishing and spam, and never to click links in emails where you (a) weren’t expecting an email or (b) don’t know the sender. Those maxims are still true but there’s even more to be worried about now.
Phishing is, specifically, the act of imitating a legitimate company’s login screen to get your password. They’re getting good at replicating the official website, too. Here are some common traits of phishing emails, pulled from Microsoft:
Follow this rule of thumb if you don’t want to get caught by a phishing scam: if you receive an email from anyone asking you to login, give them your password, or otherwise give up information, do not use their links or give them that information. Instead, if you’re concerned, go to the website they’re claiming to be from yourself by hand-typing the URL into your browser. That way, you can be sure you’re at the right place.
A problem that faces real estate and title professionals in particular are schemes to get you to transfer funds to a dummy account. The emails in question will look almost exactly like real requests for transfers and if you’re not careful, you might end up sending large amounts of money to fake accounts. When in doubt, verify the transaction request with the sender if you know them, or take steps to find out if they’re legit. Use the tips above to recognize and avoid emails intended to steal passwords or cash and delete the offending messages as soon as you can.
Recovery options are also difficult because if you’re vigilant about setting a good password and avoiding/ignoring phishing but make your security questions easy to answer or easily researched, you’ve done a lot of hard work for nothing. When you set up your security questions, make sure they’re:
If you’ve ever revealed your security question’s answer anywhere, ever, don’t use it. Instead, if you’re given the option, make up your own question about something you don’t tell others, or use the question that you’ve never told anyone. Be aware, too, that some image memes that are commonly shared on Facebook are looking for information commonly found in these questions. If you know you use certain details for these questions, don’t publish them on any social media network or tell anyone you don’t trust.
Some websites (like Google, Facebook, and Twitter) have introduced what’s known as 2-factor authentication. It may sound complex but it’s actually rather simple: they require any password input to have another, smaller password generated by another device. The services I mentioned earlier all use apps on iPhones/Androids to generate the code. If you activate this system, you’ll be asked for a code each time you log in that only you, on your device, can make. That way, even if someone else has your password, the only way anyone’s getting in is if they have your code generator—and they’d need to steal your phone for that.
The only way that you’re going to lose your data and your email account if you use these tips would be to hand it to them directly. Staying safe has never been easier thanks to the basic tools that we’ve been given from the email providers themselves and the basic tips to maintaining a safe, secure email system earlier in the email: make a good password, give it to no one, don’t log in through links but rather through the sites themselves, and just practice good email management, and you’ll be fine!
Follow these basic tips to stay safe through your email:
As professionals, it can be difficult to keep track of what's going on in the world we live in. From the vast social networks that we must keep track of to the niche sites where our businesses might be talked about without our knowledge, how can you keep your eyes on what's being said—and how can you use that information to make your business better?
One popular way of monitoring your image is to use Google Alerts to ensure that you're always on top of what Google sees—and we all know that Google sees just about everything. Put your name into the box, set your email to receive the alerts, and you'll be on your way. If there's something new that Google finds, you'll hear about it as often as you like. That way, if something happens in one of the remote corners of the web, you'll know about it.
You can track your image on social media channels mostly by making sure you maintain a solid presence online. The internet is not shy about telling you exactly what it thinks, good or bad. If you give people an outlet to pour out their experiences, good or bad, you'll hear about it. In fact, some companies have taken to proactively diagnosing and fixing the problems while engaging entirely through social media channels. Listening to social media for your name or business name can be as simple as searching through Twitter, Facebook, or your preferred network's search function, but you might consider using a solution like Hootsuite to set up search terms on each network that it will monitor and create a dashboard for. It might make it simpler for you to be listening for what people are saying about you.
A big one that people don't generally think of is to be monitoring sites like Yelp, Google+ Local, and other map-based sites where people might be tempted to leave bad reviews or say bad things. Make sure that in your search of the internet that you keep sites like these in mind. It'll help you in the long run because not only is it good to claim your locations and keep the info up-to-date, you'll be able to head off customers who didn't use the proper support channels to let you know about the problem.
Overall, monitoring your online image is easy once you get the hang of it. In fact, most of it is automated thanks to tools like Alerts and Hootsuite. Don't let it distract you from the goal of providing the best client service that you can.
We're sure that you're all familiar with data caps as members of the RE industry. After all, with cell phones becoming increasingly common (91% of adults have one), usage is at an all time high—which might explain why companies such as AT&T and Verizon put data caps in place, to make more money and to reduce network congestion. And you, as professionals, use apps like Maps and services like Evernote to keep everything up to date with your services. When your data cap is looming large over you, free WiFi might seem like a godsend. Use your services without adding to your data cap—the perfect combination!
But, before you connect to just any network, we have a warning for you: while WiFi from businesses and private providers like Brighthouse or AT&T is everywhere, it's also dangerous.
Free WiFi feels great, but certain providers of free WiFi prefer to use managed systems rather than password-secured hotspots like businesses use—usually to ensure that the public can connect and increase their awareness. But the problem here is that on an unsecured network like this—even if there's a login screen for your personal credentials—none of your data is properly encrypted, meaning that anyone can get on the network and, with a little bit of knowledge and work, can get your personal information from what you're broadcasting over the air.
While some apps and websites do use encrpytion to connect (such as Facebook and most banks), care should be taken because other sites and apps have not adopted the standard. Responsible use of WiFi can and will make your life better but it only takes one irresponsible person to ruin your accounts or your work. Be safe when connecting!
We've also been receiving reports of thieves using fake hotspots to lure you into trusting them. They follow the same system as phishing attempts through your email: recreating websites to look official to get you to give up your credentials. It's worse when you realize that most cell phones (regardless of operating system) are set up to automatically connect to their provider's hotspots automatically—but they put no controls in place to prevent fakes from replacing them.
Here's a scenario: let's say your WiFi is toggled on your iPhone and you're walking to a showing. If someone in the area has named their WiFi "attwifi," the normal name for AT&T's hotspots, you'll automatically connect whether the hotspot's legitimate or not. Then the thief can go to work sniffing out your data. If you're not expecting a free WiFi hotspot, you might not notice and then you'll be compromised.
There are steps you can take to help prevent this problem. For one thing, every modern smartphone has an indicator showing that a website is secured and encrypted (meaning it's far harder to read what you're sending). On iPhone, there will be a grey lock next to the name of the site you're on. This means that the connection is secured and the identity of the site is verified by a third party. On Android, it depends on browser, but the Chrome browser displays a green lock. Look for these symbols when doing any transaction with your data! Without them, you are at risk.
Secondly, you should turn off auto-login to any and all WiFi hotspots that they're currently enabled for. While it's a bit more work to do, it's not all that difficult to do. On iPhone, it's in Settings > WiFi > (Network Name — click the circled "i" symbol) > Auto-Join.
These tips will make your life more secure and protect your contacts, leads, and business from being spied upon—or worse!
We read an interesting article from NPR recently about one of the famous "Painted Ladies" selling at an astonishing 900K less than the asking price. They're iconic of not only the city, but of the environment that we all feel San Fransisco has. There's curb appeal built in—they're the houses from Full House for goodness sake!
"Painted Ladies" by King of Hearts - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
But in reading the article, we suddenly got another picture: that of any homeowner living in homes that are iconic enough to be recognized nationwide—dealing with the tourism and the hassles that come with a home that's also an attraction. Some people like the attention but even celebrities don't like the papparazi and other privacy invaders. Imagine buying one of these gorgeous homes and having pictures taken of you when you're unsuspecting! That's enough to turn off most homebuyers—and seemingly enough, it affected the sale of the Painted Lady in San Fransisco.
But, does this translate over to a home that's not famous? Probably not. If the home's not an icon of your neighborhood or city, then as much curb appeal as you can muster is usually a good thing. Let's use the Painted Ladies of San Fransisco as an example of what curb appeal is. Overly famous or not, they are very pretty homes.
Firstly, the home is painted well. The name "Painted Lady" itself comes from the paint job, three colors used to bring out the architectural nuances of the home and to make the home stand out and have character. Curb appeal is all about the visuals and the Painted Ladies definitely have the visual elements going on for it.
There's no yard to speak of at these homes, either, but the front of them are kept well and offer simplicity as their main attraction. Simple stoops, well-groomed trees, a clean exterior. Simplicity is the key here. Nothing is overwrought, but it's all well thought out.
That's key: every homeowner wants a nice looking home, but most of us work and complex looks or elaborate landscapes to keep up might not be to our taste. A simple cleaning and a new coat of paint every so often? Most can manage. Keep your homes simple.
Finally, the homes are generally accessible. They're by a park on a main street. The location is very good. They're right off the 101 and I-80 in San Fran, meaning that to get anywhere, it's a simple commute. The university is just down the street. Between location and looks, the houses (if they weren't famous) would net almost any asking price the owner wanted. (After all, while this Painted Lady sold for far below asking price, the owner still got $3.1 million for it. That's nothing to sneeze at!)
The simple answer: no. Too much curb appeal generally isn't possible. Keep up on the modern trends of exterior design, keep the place clean, well painted, and if you can, play up the conveniences of living there. That will help your home sell.
It'll also help if you don't let a show film at your home. That'll keep the papparazi down. Otherwise, make your house look as good as you know that it is!
Troubleshooting: Everyone's had a bad experience with a computer at some point: either a program crashing, a slowdown, a virus, or even just computer age. Well, while manufacturers would like you to upgrade often, there's a better way to keep your computer running for a while longer—especially if you don't want to move to new equipment or if you're waiting on a certain feature to come to market. We've got the tips you need to do some troubleshooting to your computer!
Every computer system has its fair share of problems but there are always ways to fix those or improve how they work—and slowdowns are no different. Here are a few things we think are useful to help you keep your system running the way it should:
While we're sure you've heard more than your fair share about viruses, it bears repeating: viruses are dangerous to your security and can cause your system to run slow, incorrectly, or even destructively. Somewhere around 32% of computers have some sort of infection on them. Keep your virus scanners up to date and keep malware and adware protection on your computer. That will help solve most of the problems resulting from viruses.
Don't buy into the idea that you need a whole new system if you're experiencing slowdowns. The above tips can help you avoid replacement, but there's something else you should consider: if your PC is more than 5 years old, slowdowns are not only common, they're inevitable. The rate that hardware is improving means that 5 years is the difference between bleeding-edge and dinosaur. This doesn't mean your PC is useless, just that it might take a little longer to run the new versions of software or to boot up. This is normal and expected, and shouldn't cut into your workflow too much.
Either way, using these tips, you should be able to milk a little more life out of your computer, regardless of operating system. Troubleshooting can save you a lot of time and money, and it doesn't have to be difficult.
Blogging is the thing to be doing in online marketing. The trends in marketing are all heading towards online marketing. While hand shaking and grinning at events is always effective (and word of mouth is still king), an online presence is becoming more and more important. While mobile technology is 7 years old, it's still in its infancy—meaning that now is the time to get in on the game.
Blogging is the key to getting into this space. Blogs are well-equipped to do three things for your agency:
It's not just a hobbyist thing anymore, nor is it just for revolutionary ideas. You'll never know the reaction you'll get from your ideas if you don't put them out there.
Blogging is for ideas. You have ideas. Big ones. Whether it's about how the market is flawed (and your great solution to that flaw) or how someone can make the market work for them rather than working the market, you've got something to say about the market somehow. Start saying something big, develop those ideas.
Some of the biggest internet successes all started by seeing a great idea and developing those ideas into bigger things. Their sense of entrepreneurship and intelligence moved them from people with ideas into people with products. Elon Musk moved from having a simple web company into helping found SpaceX and Tesla Motor Company. Larry Page started Google on an idea and some knowledge. So can you!
While you might not quite make that level, there's room in the market for your ideas on real estate. Blog about them, talk about them, get them on paper and into the public. The thing all of these folks have in common is that they made websites that primarily assist others in achieving their goals. Do the same yourself, and see the results grow.
When it comes to the internet, you need to understand that it's a primarily social medium. Blogs don't exist just to detail ideas, they're made to discuss them and make them better. Every big, successful blog has methods of creating conversations around them. WordPress has implemented a system where you can find content on their site and engage using your account. Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr all have their own conventions on how to share and respond to content.
The key here is that no matter the medium, the form exists to talk to others. Comment sections and conversations on Twitter are important. Invent a hashtag, get people talking, ask for responses. People talking about your idea, especially if you can get your name or your hashtag attached to the conversation, means that you're getting free press and association with your idea.
Even if people don't want to be part of your conversation—say, people are already impressed or just want others opinions for their consideration—at least make it easy and simple for people to share those ideas and articles with others. Promote the ideas on Facebook, Twitter, Quora, wherever you have a social media presence.
Remember when we said earlier that word-of-mouth was the best form of advertising? As the world moves more and more to mobile technology and consumption of media, social sharing and commentary is the new word-of-mouth. In fact, search engines like Google are starting to use social shares through sites like Google+ and other social media to help rank sites in their results—a big factor in getting found online.
There are many forms of blogging. Twitter, technically, is a micro-blogging app, which amounts to a series of small posts of ideas you could put up during a lunch break or between appointments. If you find your ideas don't fit, WordPress.com has a longer form that you can flesh out your ideas on. If answering questions is your thing, Quora is the place to go.
The one thing you shouldn't do, however, is let your ideas live in your head alone. We live in a big, beautiful world with people who could use them—and who could amplify your idea to your next client.
We've recently discussed the "Internet of Things" and smart homes, but now there's some big news from Apple that might shake some things up.
If you need a quick refresher as to what the internet of things are, it's a series of gadgets that have been given the ability to connect to the internet for your convenience.
This means that your fridge might have a screen where you log your food levels so you know when to go to the store—and how much to buy. Or, your thermostat could detect if you were home and adjust itself accordingly to save you energy. These features are gaining ground and making sure homes are equipped (or at least ready) for these appliances is a big deal.
Apple announced yesterday during their WWDC keynote presentation that they're working with some of the biggest names in home technology to get most (if not all) devices onto a single standard of communication. This is a welcome change as the current market is filled with apps for each device, making managing a smart home a little complex.
The list of companies on-screen at the keynote are:
Now, with the addition of these standards, Siri can control the home with certain commands. The keynote itself used the example of telling Siri "I'm going to bed" to initiate the doors locking, lights going out, and other actions.
There will also be an app (most likely) that will allow you to control all of your devices at once—smoke alarms, thermostats, door locks, and others to start.
If you're a real estate agent of any kind advising your clients or assessing market value of a home, home automation systems are still valuable, but stay tuned to find out which systems will follow these new standards—and to see how Apple's new developments will help push the smart home into more common acceptance. This could be big news for the real estate market as well as the consumer market.
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