As the real estate and mortgage industries go, by extension so goes title insurance.

Therefore the business trends that are being experienced by title insurance professionals will also offer some insight into the health and direction of transactional real estate and mortgage refinances.

Hallmark Abstract Service, as a participant in a monthly national survey of  title insurance industry professionals that’s conducted by Zelman & Associates, would like to share some of last months results as well as industry experiences with TRID…

Residential Purchase Orders: Agent Closed Orders Decreased 4% in January but Open Orders Showed Continued Positive Growth

          – Agent closed purchase orders decreased 4% year over year in January versus a 4% increase for First American, the only publicly-traded title insurer that discloses intra-quarter monthly order flow.

          – Agent opened orders increased 4% year over year versus a 5% decline for First American.

Residential Refinance Orders: Agent Closings Decreased 11% Year Over Year in January

          – Agent closed orders decreased 11% year over year in January versus a 4% decline for First American.

          – Agent opened orders decreased 9% year over year versus a 35% decline for First American.

          – Agent closed orders decreased 34% sequentially in January versus a 19% decline for First American.

          – Agent opened orders decreased 4% sequentially versus a 2% decline for First American.

TRID Experience

With respect to closing and documentation on TRID forms, survey participants noted similar issues as previous months, with communication bottlenecks, lack of knowledge of the rules and process and technology bugs topping the list. While participants generally note a significant number of problems, many have indicated they are slowly working through them, with seasonally-low volumes aiding the process.