TitleSmart sponsors Puppa mascot to support Spare Key and the “Hearts for Elizabeth” Fund (Saint Paul, MN) A Minnesota based non-profit’s effort to keep its mission alive with a desperate 1,700 mile, 10-state, two-month raft trip down the Mississippi River will get a boost from an official mascot. Spare Key, www.sparekey.org, is a Minnesota based … Read More
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac are backing larger mortgages now that the 2020 loan limits have gone into effect. The higher loan limits went into effect on January 1, 2020. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) made the announcement in November 2019 that it would begin allowing mortgage borrowers … Read More
TitleSmartING: a verb meaning to excel at ALL things title! And that is exactly what our #Smarties do each day at TitleSmart. As we approach our 13th year in business (April 1st!) we are proud to look back on how we have been able to continue to enhance the customer experience and grow exponentially as … Read More
Researchers at First American Financial Services looked at how the U.S. housing market has fared historically during recessions. Based on past data, the next recession is unlikely to trigger a major housing downturn. Read the full story here.
iBuyers are increasing their market share in some U.S. markets, finds a new Redfin analysis. iBuyers purchased 3.1 percent of homes in 18 markets during the third quarter of 2019. This figure marked a 1.6 percent increase in the market share for iBuyers since a year earlier. Read the full story here.
Baby Boomers, the second largest generation behind the millennials, have already started aging into retirement. In the coming years, a flood of homes that are currently owner-occupied are expected to hit the market. The phenomenon, coined the Silver Tsunami, could help ease the inventory drought that has plagued the U.S. housing market in recent … Read More
A new forecast from Realtor.com predicts an uncertain year for U.S. housing markets as changing economic and political conditions impact the country. The U.S. housing market will continue to slow in 2020 as housing inventory declines to historic lows and economic uncertainty causes consumers to reduce their spending even further, according to the Realtor.com … Read More
On April 15, 2019, the world watched as images were streamed across the globe of the fire that destroyed the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. Over 400 first responders worked to save the 850-year-old structure and its valuable contents. A “bucket brigade” was set up to ferry artifacts from the vaults to safety. In … Read More
Who was the very first title agent in America to disburse escrow funds? That question is very hard to answer. There is no clear point in time that use of closing agents and “escrows” became commonplace in our real estate system. Each state took a different road to the use of escrow agents, attorneys or … Read More
Real estate agents are often multi-tasking so much in an effort to move their businesses forward that they sometimes become confused and overwhelmed, and can’t keep up when things really start to take off. Burnout is common and can easily happen if you don’t have a plan to deal with your emotions when you start … Read More