PAGE 1
AGENCY Insights
For Agents of Fidelity National Title Group
Vol. 5, Issue 5, August 2014
Proudly Celebrating Our 25th Issue This Month!
SUCCESS: IT’S ALL IN THE PREPARATION
by Erika Meinhardt,
President, National
Agency Operations,
FNTG
B
enjamin Franklin said it well when
he said, “By failing to prepare,
you are preparing to fail.” For
our industry, preparation has been and
continues to be essential to our survival
and success. With summer more than
half over and our second quarter results
in, the time is right to take a moment to
reflect on where we are heading as a
company, as agents and as an industry
and to look at what areas of preparation
will be key both short and long term.
PREPARING FOR BEST PRACTICE
COMPLIANCE
You can’t say the word “preparation”
without thinking about our industry Best
Practices and the energy and resources
that have been put into action as title
agents move forward to attain Best Practice compliance. In fact, ALTA recently
announced its recommendation that
title professionals take steps to implement the Best Practices and conduct a
self-assessment no later than September
2014 (page 6).
The good news is that you’re not
alone in this process. We have created
a variety of resources to assist you in
your journey toward compliance. We
are pleased to offer a new Best Practice brochure to our agents and service
providers (page 6). We also offer important Best Practice information on our
website: www.fntg.com/bestpractices.
Additionally, our FNTG Agency website
offers Best Practice tools and information available only to our network of
agents: www.nationalagency.fntg.com.
And while this is the age of technology, I
encourage you to remember one of your
greatest assets: your agency representa-
PAGE 2
Company
Announces
Second-quarter
Financial Results
PAGES 3 – 5
Don’t Become a
Cyberheist Victim;
Vendor Spotlight:
Arthur J. Gallagher
PAGE 6
Best Practices:
Update From ALTA;
New Brochure
Available to Agents
PAGE 7
Land Under
Development and
Vacant Land
continued on page 3
AGENCY INSIGHTS CELEBRATES ITS 25TH ISSUE!
PAGE 8
Tech Corner:
The Nuts and Bolts
of Building a Social
Media Platform
25!
We are excited to announce that this marks the 25th issue of Agency
Insights! We hope that you enjoy the newsletter and find the featured
articles and news useful. As a reminder, you can access prior issues of
the newsletter from FNTG’s Agency website: www.nationalagency.fntg.com. From
the content tabs at the top of the site, select Resources and then Agency Insights.
You can view prior issues in PDF or electronic format. The current issue also is
accessible from the carousel banner located near the top of the website. And as
always, we’d love to hear from you. If you have a topic you’d like discussed or have
a submission for a future issue, please contact John Obzud, EVP, National Agency
Operations, at 877.947.5483 or [email protected].
www.nationalagency.fntg.com
© 2014 Fidelity National Financial
IN THIS ISSUE >
PAGE 10
Vendor Spotlight:
National Due
Diligence Services
SEE PAGE 11 >
FOR OUR AGENCY SPOTLIGHT
Send your submissions to John Obzud, EVP, National Agency Operations, at
877.947.5483 or [email protected].
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014
PAGE 2
COMPANY ANNOUNCES SECOND-QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS
“Our company’s
ability to generate a 14.6 percent pre-tax margin this quarter — despite
a lagging purchase market and
a soft refinance market — is a
Randy Quirk,
CEO, FNF
and FNTG
F
testament to our employees’
and agents’ diligent efforts.”
idelity National Title
Group reported solid
earnings during the
second quarter of 2014,
generating $1.5 billion in total
revenue for the quarter and
$2.7 billion for the first half of
2014.
Commenting on the results,
FNF and FNTG CEO Randy
Quirk said, “Our company’s
ability to generate a 14.6 percent pre-tax margin this quarter
— despite a lagging purchase
market and a soft refinance
market — is a testament to our
employees’ and agents’ diligent
efforts. As an organization, we
remain committed to providing
the highest level of customer
service and to carefully managing our business operations —
a strategy that positions us well
for continued success this year
and beyond.”
TITLE PREMIUMS & ESCROW
• Second-quarter results
— FNTG’s total title premiums
for the second quarter of 2014
were $951 million, with an
additional $482 million generated from escrow, title-related
and other fees, resulting in
total revenue of $1.5 billion
for the quarter, which includes
interest and investment
income of $33 million.
• First-half results —
FNTG’s total title premiums for
the six months ending June 30,
2014, were $1.7 billion, with an
additional $905 million generated from escrow, title-related
and other fees, resulting in total
revenue of $2.7 billion for the
first half, which includes interest and investment income of
$63 million.
AGENCY CONTRIBUTION
• Second-quarter results
— For the agency segment of
our title insurance business,
500,900 closing protection letters and 517,400 policy jackets
were issued during the second
quarter of 2014. Additionally,
FNTG agents were responsible
for generating $518 million in
title premiums, representing
54.5 percent of FNTG’s total
title premiums earned in the
second quarter of 2014.
• First-half results — Looking at the agency segment for
the six months ending June 30,
2014, FNTG issued 907,700
closing protection letters and
1.0 million policy jackets. Additionally, FNTG agents were
responsible for generating
$922 million in title premiums,
representing 54.0 percent of
total title premiums earned in
the first half of 2014. ~
FOR MORE
INFORMATION >
To learn more, visit FNF’s website
at www.investor.fnf.com.
2Q 2014
2Q 2013
FNTG’s financial information for
the three-month period ending
June 30, 2014:
FNTG’s financial information for
the three-month period ending
June 30, 2013:
$1.5 billion
$1.6 billion
$214 million
$269 million
Total revenue
Adjusted
pre-tax earnings
14.6%
Adjusted
pre-tax margin
500,900
Agency: Total closing
protection letters issued
517,400
Total revenue
Adjusted
pre-tax earnings
16.8%
Adjusted
pre-tax margin
809,700
Agency: Total closing
protection letters issued
693,300
Agency: Total policy
jackets issued
Agency: Total policy
jackets issued
First-half 2014
First-half 2013
FNTG’s financial information for
the six-month period
ending June 30, 2014:
FNTG’s financial information for
the six-month period
ending June 30, 2013:
$2.7 billion
$3.0 billion
$279 million
$441 million
Total revenue
Adjusted
pre-tax earnings
10.4%
Adjusted
pre-tax margin
907,700
Agency: Total closing
protection letters issued
1.0 million
Agency: Total policy
jackets issued
Total revenue
Adjusted
pre-tax earnings
14.8%
Adjusted
pre-tax margin
1.5 million
Agency: Total closing
protection letters issued
1.4 million
Agency: Total policy
jackets issued
To learn more, visit FNF’s website at
www.investor.fnf.com.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014
PAGE 3
DON’T BECOME A CYBERHEIST VICTIM
by Steve Hamlin, Director
– Internal Investigations,
Corporate Compliance
Department, FNF
SUMMARY: A Missouri title
company was victim of a cyberheist involving hackers who
compromised the title company’s online banking ID and
password and used those credentials to send a $440,000
wire to eastern Europe.
The title company sued its
escrow bank, alleging that because the bank offered both
single-authentication and du-
SUCCESS:
IT’S ALL IN THE
PREPARATION
continued from page 1
tive. If you have questions or need resources,
please reach out to your
rep. Our knowledgeable and experienced
employees are dedicated
to helping you.
We also want to
hear about your success stories. Has your
agency obtained compliance, or do you have
tips to share with other
agents? If so, contact
your agency rep or John
Obzud, EVP of FNTG’s
National Agency Operations, and we’ll do our
best to highlight your
accomplishments in an
upcoming issue of the
newsletter. In this issue,
we share how Grand
Canyon Title Agency
successfully completed
its Best Practice compliance review (page 11).
al-authentication options for
outbound wires, the bank was
not following FFIEC guidance,
which states that single-control
is inadequate in certain situations. Both the trial and appellate courts found that the bank
had informed the title company of the importance of using
dual-authentication, that the
title company had made an informed decision to not use dualauthentication, and that the
bank had offered commercially
reasonable security procedures
which the customer declined.
In addition, the court ruled that
the bank could recover its litigation expenses from the title
company, as per the indemnification agreement in the bank
contract with the title company.
“This case serves as an important warning that
all title agents should implement strong controls
over escrow wires (dual control, multi-factor
authentication and reserved computers for banking that are not otherwise used on the internet)
and monitor escrow accounts — particularly
outbound wires — daily.”
counsel before pursuing legal
action against their bank. Title
companies should also ensure
that they have insurance coverage for losses due to cybercrime and banking and system
breaches. ~
TAKEAWAY: This case serves
as an important warning that
all title agents should implement
strong controls over escrow
wires (dual control, multi-factor
authentication and reserved
computers for banking that are
not otherwise used on the internet) and monitor escrow
accounts — particularly outbound wires — daily. If an agent
becomes a victim of a cyberheist, they should review their
banking agreements with legal
PREPARING FOR THE
FUTURE
As we prepare for the future,
it’s important to continue
monitoring economic factors
such as consumer confidence
and employment growth that
impact the real estate industry. Another influence is the
recent shift in demographics.
According to the June CoreLogic MarketPulse report, the
Millennial Generation (typically defined as those born
between the 1980s and early
2000s) will affect the market in
both the short and long term
because they will remain renters longer than expected. As
a result, the industry is seeing
less home-buying among 21to 34-year-olds. On a positive
note, while Millennials are
becoming homeowners at a
slower pace, they are more
focused on attaining higher
levels of education, which
should translate into many of
them having a greater future
earning potential for homebuying down the line.
Another vital area of preparation continues to be the one
constant in our ever-changing
industry: careful management
of our business operations,
risks and costs. For the first
half of 2014, FNTG produced
$2.7 billion in total revenue.
Our agents were responsible
for generating $518 million
in title premiums during the
second quarter and $922 million in title premiums for the
first half of 2014, representing
54.5 percent and 54.0 percent,
respectively, of FNTG’s
total title premiums
earned. We are incredibly
proud of our agency network. You are an important
part of the FNTG family,
and your efforts to carefully manage your business have been key to
adapting to our evolving
industry. Of course, none
of us has a crystal ball to
see what the future holds,
but as we move through
the third quarter and
beyond, we are confident
that the continued focus
on meeting CFPB regulations, preparing for economic factors and carefully
managing our operations
will serve all of us well for
future success. ~
See pages 4 – 5
for more articles
on this topic.
BEST PRACTICE RESOURCES AT YOUR FINGERTIPS >
• New Best Practice brochure available to FNTG agents and service providers.
See page 6.
• FNTG Best Practice website: www.fntg.com/bestpractices.
• FNTG Agency website offers Best Practice tools and information available specifically
for our network of agents: www.nationalagency.fntg.com.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014
PAGE 4
Steve Hamlin’s article (page 3) discusses a cyberheist loss incurred by a Missouri agent that, depending on the specific facts, may have
been covered in whole or in part by Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s Fidelity-Pak or Security-Pak programs. Read on to learn more about the
importance of Escrow Security Bonds (ESBs) and the benefits of cyber liability coverage, and see page 5 for details on Security-Pak,
which is newly offered by Arthur J. Gallagher. The Fidelity-Pak and Security-Pak programs are underwritten by Lloyd’s of London. Both
programs offer cyber liability and ESBs, while Fidelity-Pak also offers E&O insurance. To learn more, contact Dan Riebling of Arthur J.
Gallagher at 516.622.2431 or email [email protected].
UNDERSTANDING THE BENEFITS OF THE COMPUTER SYSTEMS RIDER
T
by David Koury, Esq.,
BatesCarey LLP. David
also serves as Coverage/
Claims Counsel for various
underwriters at Lloyd’s of
London.
he Escrow Security
Bond (ESB) offers
protection for losses that agents may incur
as a result of fraudulent
or dishonest acts by their
employees. The ESB also
offers first-party insurance
for certain other losses that
may be incurred as a result
of vandalism or theft, which
may not be covered under
other kinds of commercial
first-party insurance poli-
cies or third-party liability
insurance.
One coverage provided
pursuant to the ESB is Computer Systems coverage.
This coverage provides a
sub-limit for certain types of
direct loss resulting from the
theft of property from your
premises, or certain other
locations (like your bank),
due to computer fraud by
an unauthorized party. This
coverage fills a potential
coverage gap by providing insurance to agents for
losses resulting directly from
computer hacking or fraudulent wire transfers.
For example, suppose
a computer hacker gains
access to the agent’s
computer system. With this
access, the hacker enters
data that changes account
information in the agent’s
continued on page 9
AVOID THE RISK OF PRIVACY AND SECURITY BREACHES WITH CYBER LIABILITY INSURANCE
by Kari Timm, Esq.,
Walker Wilcox Matousek
LLP. Kari also serves as
Coverage/Claims Counsel
for various underwriters at
Lloyd’s of London.
W
ith cyber attacks and
data breaches on the
rise, and data and
privacy regulations continuing to
strengthen and evolve, businesses of all sizes are at risk
for privacy or security breaches.
Fidelity-Pak and the newly
offered Security-Pak insurance
programs underwritten by Lloyd’s
of London offer FNTG agents
cyber liability coverages for the
following cyber, privacy, multimedia and network liabilities:
Security & Privacy Liability
— Damages and defense
expenses incurred as a result
of a lawsuit filed against you
arising out of privacy and
computer security breaches,
including: loss of employee or
client information; theft of data
from your system; transmission of a computer virus from
your system to another’s; and
violations of data and privacy
regulations.
Example: An agent’s assistant inadvertently emails to a
client the agent’s client list containing personal information for
the clients. One of the clients
on the list files suit against the
agent for breach of privacy.
Crisis Management, Customer
Notification Costs, Customer
Support & Credit Monitoring
— Expenses you incur to
comply with data and privacy
breach notification statutes or to
otherwise notify your clients or
employees of a breach, as well
as costs you incur to provide
credit monitoring to individuals affected by a breach, legal
expenses you incur to determine
your notification obligations and
public relations expenses.
Example: An agent’s laptop
is stolen. Because the laptop
contains personal information on the agent’s clients, the
agent is required to notify the
clients of the breach. Because
the information includes Social
Security numbers, the agent
also offers each client one year
of credit monitoring.
In the event of a breach, the
policy provides access to privacy attorneys, forensic experts
and other service providers
necessary to assist insureds in
complying with breach notification regulations.
Example: An agent discovers that data on his server
was corrupted by malware and
must retain a forensic expert
to restore the data and remove
the malware.
Privacy Regulatory Defense
& Penalties — Legal expenses
you incur to respond to or
defend against a regulatory
action arising out of a privacy
or computer security breach,
as well as regulatory fines
and penalties assessed in the
action.
Example: The FTC files an
enforcement action against
an agency after the agency
suffers a data breach, and it
is discovered that the agency
stored personal information
on a computer network with
inadequate security.
Multimedia Liability — Damages and defense expenses
arising out of your internet marketing and advertising activities, including: defamation, libel
and slander; infringement of
intellectual property; plagiarism;
and misleading advertising.
Example: An agent is sued
by a competitor who alleges that
the agent posted an article on
her website plagiarizing material
produced by the competitor.
Data Recovery & Loss of
Business Income — Costs
you incur as a result of a
computer security breach, or a
network interruption or downtime, regardless of whether
it is caused by human error,
employee sabotage, an outside
attack, a programming error or
a natural disaster. This includes
costs to restore or replace your
data, forensic services, the rental
of external equipment and labor.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014
Data Extortion — Costs you
incur to investigate and
respond to a cyber extortion
demand, including money you
pay to terminate the threat.
Example: An agent discovers that his computer files
have all been encrypted by
an unknown third party who
is demanding that the agent
pay a ransom to unencrypt the
information. ~
See page 5 to
learn more about
Security-Pak.
PAGE 5
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
SECURITY-PAK:
Offering Comprehensive Cyber Liability & Computer Crime Coverage for FNTG Agents
ASK YOURSELF THESE IMPORTANT INSURANCE QUESTIONS ...
Cyber Liability Insurance:
Does your current E&O Policy cover and insure you for:
vSecurity & Privacy Liability — Damages and defense expenses incurred as a result of a lawsuit filed against you arising
out of privacy and computer security breaches, including: loss of employee or client information; theft of data from your
system; transmission of a computer virus from your system to another’s; and violations of data and privacy regulations?
v Crisis Management, Customer Notification Costs, Customer Support & Credit Monitoring — Expenses you incur
to comply with data and privacy breach notification statutes or to notify your clients or employees of a breach, as well as
costs you incur to provide credit monitoring to individuals affected by a breach; legal expenses you incur to determine
your notification obligations; and public relations expenses?
Comprehensive Crime Insurance:
v Does your agency have a Fidelity Bond?
v Does your bond insure losses caused by a Third-party Hacker who fraudulently enters data within your agency Computer
System to transfer funds from your escrow accounts?
v Does it insure the Theft of Settlement Funds by an Employee,
Partner or Owner?
If you are not Security-Pak insured, the answers to these questions
are very likely, NO.
If you are not purchasing Cyber Liability and Comprehensive Crime
Insurance, your agency could suffer devastating financial losses
caused by the theft of your customers’ personal financial information and/or theft of settlement/escrow funds.
What’s the Solution? Security-Pak!
vThe Newly Offered Security-Pak Cyber and Escrow Security Bond (ESB) Program!
vAffordable Premiums — $200 per month for most agents.
vPurchase Security-Pak now, and we will offer you a 10 – 15% Premium Discount on your Errors and Omissions
Insurance Renewal!
vMeet ALTA Best Practice Recommendations & New CFPB Requirements.
vIncrease Market Share — Tell your lenders, real estate agents and customers that you have purchased Security-Pak to satisfy ALTA’s Best Practice Guidelines with respect to theft of personal financial information and settlement/escrow funds.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information regarding Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.’s newly offered Security-Pak program or Fidelity-Pak, contact
Dan Riebling at 516.622.2431 or email [email protected]. The Security-Pak and Fidelity-Pak programs are underwritten by
Lloyd’s of London. Both programs offer cyber liability and ESBs, while Fidelity-Pak also offers E&O insurance.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014
PAGE 6
TITLE INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS ENCOURAGED TO CONDUCT ASSESSMENT OF ALTA BEST
PRACTICE COMPLIANCE BY SEPTEMBER 2014
he American Land
Title Association’s
Board of Governors
announced in July its recommendation that title professionals take steps to implement ALTA’s Title Insurance
and Settlement Company
Best Practices and conduct a
self-assessment no later than
September 2014.
“An ongoing compliance
management program is
essential to protecting the
integrity of the real estate
transaction,” said Michelle
Korsmo, ALTA’s CEO.
“Reducing settlement risk
and safeguarding consumer
money has always been
a keystone of the title and
T
settlement business.”
After completing the selfassessment, ALTA encourages members to use the
Compliance Guide to communicate their compliance management programs with their
lender clients and customers
as soon as possible.
“ALTA is dedicated to
providing services to aid our
members with the implementation of the ALTA Best
Practices,” Michelle said. “It
is beneficial for businesses
to promote self-regulation
through the publication of
best practices that meet high
professional standards of
operation to protect consumers and businesses.”
The Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau’s new
integrated mortgage disclosures — which go into effect
Aug. 1, 2015 — will spur the
need to further protect nonpublic personal information
(NPI). Settlement agents and
lenders will need to securely
After completing the self-assessment, ALTA
encourages members to use the Compliance
Guide to communicate their compliance management programs with their lender clients and
customers as soon as possible.
share private data in order
to complete the Closing Disclosure, which will replace
the current HUD-1 Settlement Statement.
“Systems will need to
be in place to efficiently
exchange and protect
sensitive customer data,”
Michelle added. “This is
where ALTA’s Best Practices come into play because
they help ensure lenders
have the ability to continue
working with as large of
a network of settlement
providers as possible,
which ultimately leads to better
service for consumers.” ~
FOR MORE
INFORMATION >
• For information about
ALTA’s Best Practices
and related tools and
resources, visit
www.alta.org/bestpractices.
• To join ALTA, go to
www.alta.org/membership.
NEW BEST PRACTICE BROCHURE AVAILABLE TO AGENTS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS
N
ational Agency is excited
to offer a new Best Practice brochure to agents and
service providers. The accordion-style
brochure:
• provides an explanation of our
seven industry Best Practices;
• explains what each Best Practice repre sents from the customer’s viewpoint;
• offers solution partners that can
assist agents in attaining Best
Practice compliance; and
• directs service providers to the
resources available to complete
a self-assessment.
ORDERING INFORMATION
• Agents can obtain a copy of the bro-
chure by contacting their agency rep resentatives or state agency managers.
• Agency staff can order copies of
the brochure by emailing Hai Tran,
FNF’s Print Shop Manager, at
[email protected].
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014
PAGE 7
LAND UNDER DEVELOPMENT AND VACANT LAND
give the underlying coverage. In other words, the site plan must be
sufficient to allow you to do your normal survey underwriting. For
example, if you need parking spaces indicated on a survey to give
a Zoning 3.1-06, you would need the same information disclosed
on the site plan to give a Zoning 3.2-06.
by Marjorie Ramseyer Bardwell, VP and
Director, Underwriting Services, Office of
the Chief Underwriting Counsel, FNTG
y now, most of you have seen a new ALTA classification in
a number of its owners and loan policy endorsements. The
designation, “Land Under Development” (LUD), and the
applicable forms of endorsement are used to give conditional coverage
for proposed construction that normally depends upon an improvement
being in existence at Date of Policy in order to underwrite. The coverage given by this new class of endorsements is based upon the
assumption that the building will be built as shown in the site plans.
B
The language usually runs along these lines:
1. For purposes of this endorsement:
a. “Improvement” means a building, structure, road,
walkway, driveway, curb, subsurface utility or water well
existing at Date of Policy or to be built or constructed according to the Plans that is or will be located on the
Land, but excluding crops, landscaping, lawns, shrubbery,
or trees.
b. “Plans” means those site and elevation plans made
by [name of architect or engineer] dated _____, last
revised _____, designated as [name of project ] consisting of _____ sheets.
(From the ALTA 3.2-06 Zoning – Land Under Development —
April 2, 2012 © American Land Title Association.)
This language was developed so that Lenders, and in some cases
Owners, could get the coverages on new construction that they
were familiar with getting on existing improvements. Not all ALTA
endorsements are available for this type of conditional coverage.
ALTA currently has seven endorsements that use this terminology:
• ALTA 3.2-06 (Zoning-LUD)
• ALTA 9.7-06 (REM-LUD-Loan)
• ALTA 9.8-06 (CCR-LUD-Owners)
• ALTA 35.3-06 (Minerals-LUD)
• ALTA 36.4-06 (Energy Projects-CCR-LUD-Owners)
• ALTA 36.5-06 (Energy Projects-CCR-LUD-Loan)
• ALTA 41.3-06 (Water-LUD)
“Land Under Development” is not the same as “Unimproved Land”
as used in the ALTA 9.1-06 (CCR-Unimproved Land – Owners
Policy). That ALTA form is meant for use with vacant land with no
conditional coverage as to what might be built in the future. There
is no reference to any improvements being built pursuant to “plan
and specs,” as we used to refer to this type of coverage.
To give Land Under Development (LUD) coverage you must be
in receipt of a site plan that is sufficiently detailed to substitute for
a survey. The future improvements must be located on the plan,
together with all easements, set-backs and other survey matters
that you would normally insist be on any survey that you need to
It is very important that you correctly indicate which set of plans you
are relying upon, since it is not unusual to have a project change
as it is going through the approval and construction process. If
you are given a plan at closing that has been modified in any way
since the one you based your coverage on initially, you must reexamine the plan and identify it in the endorsement accurately.
It is also very important that you do not give any other standard
coverages on vacant land or LUD without discussion with your
Company underwriting advisor. This was the lesson of a recent
case in Idaho where an agent gave a Location Endorsement and
filled in the blank with what was proposed to be built as if it were
already there. The language of the endorsement quoted by the
court in Bank of Idaho v. First American Title Insurance Company,
Supreme Court of the State of Idaho, 2014 Opinion 45, June 17,
2014, is identical to the ALTA 22.1-06 (Location with map):
“The Company hereby insures the owner of the indebtedness
secured by the insured mortgage against loss or damage
which the insured shall sustain by reason of the failure of (i)
a MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENCE … known as [street address] …
to be located on the land at Date of Policy … . ”
The facts of the case show what can happen when plans change.
The bank originally made two separate loans for the construction of
a fourplex on each of two lots. A location endorsement was issued
as described above and attached to each separate loan policy. During the course of getting the permits and approvals, it was decided
to build both of the buildings on one lot and use the other for
parking and drainage purposes. Flash forward to the foreclosure of
both loans. When the bank was not able to sell the two lots for the
amount owed on the loans (face amount of the mortgages totaled
$453,779 and the foreclosure sale netted only $360,000), it sought
the difference from the underwriter, claiming coverage under the
endorsement on the parking/drainage lot, since there was no “MultiFamily Residence” located on it. The title company won at the lower
level but was overturned by the higher court.
This case is an important reminder to think about the effect of
even the most commonly issued endorsements when you are
dealing with vacant land or LUD. Use only the appropriate forms
for the risk you are undertaking. If there is no improvement on
the Land at Date of Policy, it is inappropriate to give the standard
location endorsement used in your state, such as the ALTA 22-06.
This endorsement, by its very wording, is meant only for improved
lands. Any request to give it on vacant land should be refused.
Please consult with your Company underwriting advisor regarding
any issue discussed above. ~
FOR MORE INFORMATION >
Questions on this topic? Contact Marjorie Ramseyer
Bardwell, VP and Director of Underwriting Services, FNTG,
at [email protected].
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014
PAGE 8
TECH CORNER: SUMMER SOCIAL, PART II
THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM
Tech Corner shares a variety of technology-related tips and information with
agents and staff. If you have a topic for
a future article, please send it to Linda
Grahovec, VP and Regional Director of
Marketing and Business Development, at
[email protected].
n the last issue,
we talked about
the “why” of social
media — advertising your
business, communicating
useful information, connecting with customers and
reinforcing your brand. This
issue, we’ll give the nuts
and bolts on how to do that
within the three platforms
best suited for our industry:
LinkedInTM, FacebookTM and
TwitterTM.
I
LINKEDIN
LinkedIn is the most business-oriented of the three
platforms. On it, you can
build a profile for yourself as
a professional in your field
as well as a separate page
for your agency or business.
LinkedIn offers basic (or
free) accounts, and premium accounts that promise
greater access to connections. LinkedIn is more
than just a place to “post
your resume.” It’s your own
customized networking site,
where you can highlight your
professional capabilities,
connect with agents, peers
and prospects, and get and
give recommendations.
To create an individual profile, go to www.linkedin.com,
select Join LinkedIn Today,
and follow the instructions. A
few tips:
• When you enter your Profile
Information, include a clear,
recent and business appropriate photo of yourself.
• For your Qualifications,
include your current position
as well as employment
history, education, volunteer
history, degrees and/or
professional training.
• You’ll add a Summary,
where you can give your
connections a closer look at
the “brand” that is you.
SOCIAL MEDIA RECAP
• FACEBOOK is effective for visually based posts
(pictures, video clips, seminar photos and
announcements)
• LINKEDIN is typically article- and discussion-driven
(industry news, polls and topics to encourage
discussion)
• TWITTER allows for real-time posting (while you are at an event, for example, using hashtags to join similar topics)
Use it to define your goals
and highlight your
strengths.
• You’ll also add Specialties,
Connections and Websites.
For websites, you can
include your company’s
website, your personal site,
your blog and your Twitter
account. Link to Facebook
only if it’s your Facebook
business page.
Fill in your profile as completely, but succinctly, as possible. Complete profiles attract
more traffic.
Once you’ve set up your
individual profile, you can set
up a company page. However,
LinkedIn requires that you meet
certain criteria, including profile
strength, number of connections, valid contact information
and a current position that
matches what’s listed in the
Experience section of your
profile.
To create a company page:
• Click Interests at the top of
your homepage and then
select Companies.
• Click Create in the Create a
Company Page box at right.
• Enter your company’s
official name and your work
email address.
• Click Continue and enter
your company information.
On a cautionary note,
LinkedIn doesn’t offer a preview
option. Once your page is
established, it’s live! So take
your time in building your site,
and be sure to check out the
information on marketing, sales
and brand building in the Help
section.
Check out a sample of an
FNF LinkedIn company page
here: FNF IPX1031.
FACEBOOK
When we talk about Facebook, we’re talking about a
Facebook business page,
separate from the personal
page where you may already
connect with friends, family and people you know on
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014
Tech
CORNER
some level. While a personal
page includes vacation photos and updates about family,
your business page is where
you connect with existing or
prospective clients by offering
them information about your
business. In a way, it’s the
calling card for prospects to
decide if they want to get to
know you better and, hopefully, become customers.
Facebook, like LinkedIn,
provides extensive information on how to set up a business page and also offers the
useful option of previewing
your page before you publish
it. Go to Settings, then select
General, Page Visibility, Edit
and then Unpublish. (Publish
is the default mode, so make
sure you do this first.)
To create a Facebook
business page:
• Go to www.facebook.com/
pages/create.
• Click a Page category.
• Select a more specific
category from the dropdown menu and fill out
the required information.
Facebook also provides
an Ad Create Tool to create
ads based on what type of
response you’re looking for,
such as Page Likes, Clicks to
Website, Events Responses
and more.
The most successful Facebook business pages spotlight
photos from industry and office
events, pictures from clients’
grand openings or video clips
from a recent seminar. Check
out one of our company pages:
FNTG MWA Facebook Page.
continued on page 9
PAGE 9
BUILDING A
SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL
MEDIA PLATFORM
continued from page 8
TWITTER
Twitter enables its users to
share their thoughts and news
in 140 characters of text with a
large, public platform. All posts
or “tweets” are presented in
real-time. Users “follow” each
other to connect or talk to specific people or groups.
Twitter is perfect for a quick
shout-out to a peer or customer
who has accomplished something industry-related. Just
remember that the message
and any related link must meet
the character requirements.
To join, go to twitter.com/
signup, follow the easy steps,
and you’ll be tweeting in no
time! And remember, the best
way to get a follower on Twitter
is to follow someone else. (In
fact, you can start right now by
following Linda Grahovec:
twitter.com/LindaGrahovec or
@LindaGrahovecFNTG.)
HOOTSUITE
Once you’ve established your
social media platforms, you
can use a tool like Hootsuite
(the most popular and best
reviewed of its kind) to manage
all of your social media from a
single source or “dashboard.”
Hootsuite offers a free version
for up to five accounts and a
paid version to manage up
to 50 social media accounts.
Both versions offer the ability
to schedule posts to multiple
platforms, monitor activity and
receive analytics, such as click
stats, follower growth, gender
and regional summaries, and
more.
Hootsuite is web-based and
requires no software downloads. There are mobile apps
for iPhone and Android. Visit
hootsuite.com to learn more.
PROVIDING VALUE
The real trick with social
media is using it to build your
business by posting content on a regular basis that
offers value to your audience.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to
be time-intensive to do this.
With Hootsuite and similar
services, you can post your
news on multiple social media
platforms from one place. Post
photos and short updates from
recent industry events such
as grand openings, seminars
and speaking engagements
involving you, your colleagues
or your customers. Include links
to industry-specific articles
or websites that can educate
or add value. Or congratulate
customers and peers on their
achievements.
So where else can you find
content? We can help you!
Do you receive our weekly
“NewsDesk”? If not, email
[email protected] and sign
up for the RSS feed, or follow
NewsDesk on Twitter at twitter.
com/newsdesk_feed. Our
weekly NewsDesk provides a
series of current articles from
THE BENEFITS OF
THE COMPUTER
SYSTEMS RIDER
continued from page 4
“The real trick with social media is using it to
build your business by posting content on a
regular basis that offers value to your audience.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be time-intensive
to do this. With Hootsuite and similar services,
you can post your news on multiple social media
platforms from one place.”
various publications on a set
group of topics, including
Industry News and Technology News. You can copy and
paste the URL of one or more
of those articles into your
social media. This can save
you time trying to research or
collect appropriate information to post. Voilà — value!
We’ve offered just the
basics to getting started on
these social media platforms.
There’s much, much more
that you can and should
do as you gain more confidence — to take advantage
of these sites and others to
the fullest. Whether you’re a
social media pro or just getting started, your efforts with
social media will be one more
important way to reach out to
new and existing clients and
colleagues. ~
authorities and the various
parties to the transaction.
The FBI and a forensic
accountant later determine
that the funds were wired
to an overseas account
and will likely never be
recovered.
and other costs in defending against the lawsuit
brought by the seller.
Subject to the terms,
conditions, limitations and
exclusions of the ESB, the
agent is entitled to indemnity for the stolen funds
system regarding where
settlement funds intended
for the seller
in a particular
transaction are
“One coverage provided pursuant to the ESB is Comto be sent.
puter Systems coverage. This coverage provides a
Unaware of
the changes
sub-limit for certain types of direct loss resulting from
made by the
the theft of property from your premises, or certain
hacker, the
agent unknowother locations (like your bank), due to computer fraud
ingly wires
the funds to
by an unauthorized party. This coverage fills a potenthe wrong
tial coverage gap by providing insurance to agents
account, which
is controlled
for losses resulting directly from computer hacking or
by the hacker.
fraudulent wire transfers.”
The funds are
immediately
withdrawn by
the hacker. By the time
The agent is later sued
as well as for attorneys’
funds are identified as
by the seller, who seeks
fees and costs incurred
missing and the scheme
reimbursement for the
in defending against the
is revealed, the hacker
missing settlement funds
seller’s lawsuit. ~
and the funds have
that he never received. The
vanished. The agent
agent ends up incurring
immediately contacts the
significant attorneys’ fees
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014
PAGE 10
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                  
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                
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AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014
PAGE 11
AGENCY Spotlight
GRAND CANYON TITLE AGENCY COMPLETES BEST PRACTICE COMPLIANCE REVIEW
ongratulations to
Grand Canyon
Title Agency Inc., a
Phoenix-based firm with 120
employees and 18 offices
located throughout Maricopa County, Ariz. Under the
leadership of Stan Feffer,
President and Chief Operating Officer of the agency, the
firm successfully completed its
first Best Practice compliance
review earlier this year.
The efforts to achieve this
began back in 2012, when
Stan aggressively moved to
establish the agency as a
leader in compliance and an
easy choice for lenders to
work with. This included adopting ALTA’s Title Insurance and
Settlement Company Best
Practices.
In 2013, Stan engaged a
Scottsdale-based informa-
C
tion technology and security
consultancy with extensive
banking and real estate
experience to lead the effort.
ALTA’s Best Practice No. 3
deals specifically with protecting consumers’ non-public
personal information or NPI.
Best Practice No. 3 includes
requirements and procedures
for physical security of computers, “clean desk” policies,
risk management, disaster
recovery, information security
practices and methods for the
encryption of private data.
For instance, loan and
closing documents that are
emailed and contain NPI must
be encrypted. Collectively,
these practices are a means
for settlement service providers to address the need for
increased lender oversight
and to ensure necessary
safeguards to protect consumers. According to Stan,
working with a technology and
security firm with direct industry knowledge and extensive
information security experience made the process clear
and kept the mission on track.
Under the ALTA Best
Practice Program, settlement
service providers perform a
detailed review and assessment of their operations —
typically using an experienced
third-party expert. The resulting Best Practice Certification
Package is then used to certify to consumers, mortgage
originators and mortgage
servicers that the assessment
found the firm to be in compliance with the ALTA Best Practices in all material respects
and represent that the firm will
remain in material compliance
for the next two years.
In January of 2014, Grand
Canyon successfully completed its first compliance
review. Stan proudly presented the document to his business partners as evidence
of their continued leadership
in the Phoenix marketplace.
Now, Grand Canyon staff
confidently present copies
of the Certification Package to lenders when they
meet, assuring them of their
continued compliance effort.
Stan’s hope is that mortgage
lenders and their peers will
recognize Grand Canyon’s
efforts and see the company
as a logical choice to provide
closing services and to help
mitigate risk in this changing
environment. ~
BEST PRACTICES BOOT CAMP OFFERS PRACTICAL TIPS AND TOOLS; PART II COMING IN OCTOBER
M
ay 28 was the launch
of an educational
webinar series titled
“Best Practices Boot Camp”
sponsored by LenderSecure™.
2014 has been aptly labeled
the “Year of Implementation”
for ALTA’s Best Practices, and
forward-thinking agents are
seeking educational resources
to better understand the
requirements and rationale,
as well as viable cost-effective
solutions to satisfy the new
compliance standards of their
underwriters, regulators and
lenders. To address this need,
the partners of LenderSecure
developed a four-part webinar
series that outlines the requirements for each of the seven
pillars of Best Practices.
Best Practices Boot Camp
delivered a 60-minute webinar
that outlined practical tips and
tools to assist attendees with
securing their data, documents
and dollars. Nearly 800 settlement agents, attorneys, under-
writer representatives, escrow
agents, notaries and others
allied with our industry registered for the event, and more
than 75 percent attended!
“We were confident that the
content we developed was
relevant and timely, but the
overwhelming response to Boot
Camp has more than exceeded
our expectations,” said Chris
Gulotta, CEO of Real Estate
Data Shield. “The LenderSecure
partners have traveled to New
Orleans and San Antonio for
conferences over the past few
weeks, and we continue to hear
positive feedback on the webinar.”
“We were mindful in the
design of the Boot Camp content
to emphasize security practices
and procedures, and refrain
from delivering a commercial to
attendees, as this will ensure
success for the remaining three
parts of the series,” said Dick
Reass with RynohLive.
With the remarkably positive
response received from the first
Are You Best Practices
Compliant?
installment in the Boot Camp
webinar series, LenderSecure is
optimistic that the next part will
be just as popular. The LenderSecure partners look forward to
continuing to help agents implement ALTA’s Best Practices in
the most practical and efficient
way possible.
Best Practices Boot Camp
Part II is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 22. To learn
more about LenderSecure,
visit lendersecure.com. ~
LenderSecure™ was formed in 2013 by the leaders in information
security and escrow fund security to make available to real estate
settlement service providers the most essential compliance tools
in a one-stop marketplace. The solution-provider partners that
comprise LenderSecure include only the best-in-class Best Practice-compliance service providers who have achieved Preferred Vendor status with the leading title insurance underwriters.
AGENCY INSIGHTS I VOL. 5, ISSUE 5, AUGUST 2014