The Title Tycoon

Stewart Title Guaranty Company has hired a new executive. Today Stewart Title announced the hiring of Brent Stokes as their Regional E Sales Director. Stokes will be responsible for developing business in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Guan and Saipan. Allan Wasserman, Executive Vice-President says “We have focused the past 18 months on expense reduction . It is now time to focus on sales and revenue enhancements”. Okay time to read between the lines, expense reduction = cut cost and revenue enhancements = we need to make more money. READ MORE

Remember, as a child and you would say the word “Never” in a sentence and an adult would tell you to
“Never say Never you don’t know what you might do. Well, apparently that old adage NEVER reached Michael Jackson. Someone should have told Jackson to “Never build an Estate that requires a staff of 60″, “Never take out a $24 million dollar loan when your income is derived from 1985″ and “Never name your property Never”. READ MORE

Inflation is hitting the United States Postal Service (USPS) yet again. The postal service seems to increase their fees every year. READ MORE

The United States House of Representatives has approved a foreclosure prevention bill. The bill was approved today by more than 266 members of Congress however, 154 members opposed the bill. The bill seeks to help remedy the mortgage meltdown and foreclosure crisis READ MORE

Yesterday evening, Nightline aired a story on the City of Maricopa, Arizona. The city of Maricopa is located in the desert south west of Phoenix. During the height of the housing boom many people had been priced out of Phoenix so Maricopa became the next best thing. The city had a population of 1000 in 2005 and now presently has over 33,000 residents. The city which couldn’t build and sell homes fast enough is a virtual ghost town. Homes that were originally listed for $225,000 are being sold for $105,000. READ MORE

This beautiful residence has unfortunately been eaten by the foreclosure bug. This home was owned by former major league player Jose Conseco. READ MORE

OCTOBER RESEARCH CORP HOSTS 2-DAY CONFERENCE

The October Research Corp., will host a 2-day conference for title agents from December 4-5 at the Hard Rock Casino in Orlando, Florida. The workshops includes “Deal Making and Negotiating in the Title industry” and “Leveraging Partnerships To Build A Successful Title Agency,” just to name a few. Licensed title agents in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia may receive CE credits for attending. For additional information or to register, click the following link. http://www.octoberresearch.com/seminars/growth/index.cfm

London based First Title, P.L.C., a subsidiary of First American Title Insurance Company is expanding. The company recently opened a new office in Turkey’s Istanbul financial district after opening one in Hungary last month. As the population and building growth increases throughout Europe, so does the need for title insurance.

AMERICAN DREAMS BECOME FOREIGN STREAMS

Will “The American Dream” of home ownership be financed by foreign governments? America’s largest bank, Citicorp had to write off $6.5 billion dollars in losses. Guess what, that was just for one quarter. The bank may also have to write off an additional $11 billion dollars in subprime losses. Needless to say, that really creates an unbalanced sheet. So the Saudi’s have stepped in to help anchor the sinking ship. Abu Dhabi has provided Citicorp with some much needed funding. The Country has increased their stake in Citcorp by $7.4 billion dollars. This will surely help write off the subprime loans. Then what? A couple years from now will Americans be filling out loan applications and awaiting approval from underwriters in foreign governments? Please let me know what you think?

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FORE! Professional golfer Greg Norman is selling his Juniper, FL estate. The list price currently stands at $65,000,000.00. Yes, all of those zeros and commas are real. The Estate boasts a 9,287 square foot main home, 140 ft dock, 50 ft pool and a 17 car garage, and those are only a few features. Norman purchased the home in 1992 for 4,900,000.00. This golfer will certainly have a “Hole in One” at settlement. The property is listed with Wendy Overton and Randy Ely of the Corcoran Group. Here’s the link. http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=FL&ListingID=3711