Wednesday, October 08, 2008

nice try, CentRealTech

EL DORADO HILLS, CA, October 08, 2008 /24-7PressRelease/ -- CentRealTech Inc. announced today that they have released an Industry White Paper which presents a compelling case for the implementation of a Web based, automation solution for the labor intensive Title Production Process used by most title companies today. The title industry is going through one of the toughest times in its history with the direct impact of the housing slump, the subprime mortgage collapse and the regulatory/consumer group pressures to reduce premiums. Read more...


What a bunch of hooey. Real people buying real property want a real title examination behind their title insurance. That's what real people think they are buying when they pay for title work in a real estate closing.

Automation is crappy product with no thought and just because you can do it cheaply is not a good reason to do it at all.

The best thing the title underwriters can do - hopefully having learned from all of the claims they are processing right now - is to restore traditional human title examination and start educating the troops.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I get so disheartened by the seemingly inexorable erosion in standards in our industry. From Radian-style mortgage lien protection to abandonment of traditional document recordation systems in favor on internet-based databases and now this. Sure, we could all just agree to go to a casualty-based system where a title problem is rectified by writing a check, but that would require us to abandon the whole notion of real property ownership as something special, something upon which the USA was based and upon which our brand of capitalism has had its greatest success. I don't want a check when it turns out there's a title problem, because I bought that property for its unique attributes and for what it meant to me to live there, not just for its monetary value. All these "new ideas" seem, at their most basic, to forget this notion. There are ways we can improve the system, but I believe we need to do so without losing sight of the long tradition of holding that real property is more than just a monetary investment for its owners that can be swapped for money.
As always, you get it exactly right.

Sue said...

The automated product with its 90% completion rate will be processed by "examiners" who don't know what they're doing. That 10% not covered by the automated report will be responsible for 100% of the insurer's claims.
I'll always examine manually.

Anonymous said...

Dear Diane,

I do not agree with you. You are very skeptical “old school” person. Look around you, so many title companies are out of business because they are:
1. Over staffed
2. They are doing the work using manual process.

CentRealTech, Inc. has changed the way title companies will do business in the future. At least 90% is done automatically, leaving 10% to manually review and finalize the product.

Obviously you have not seen their products, otherwise you would not make false statements and comments about it. I understand, it is hard for you to accept automation, but we live in the 21 century now. Automation is here today and it is time for a change.

D said...

Hi, Anon, and thanks for commenting. I am old school on some things and new school on others.

While automation has improved efficiencies in many parts of our lives, there are still functions better left to experienced humans.

I would hazard a guess that many of the agencies out of business right now were those who relied most heavily on underwriter automated or heavily vendor managed - out sourced title product. These title "chop shops" served ABAs and subprime and charged the consumer the same amount or more than local traditional expert title insurers.

They are out of business because their referral networks aren't filled with overheated volume.

Judicial use of technology in title combined with expert humans in core positions is the best way to move forward.

Technology is a tool meant to enhance our lives. Why do you and so many others WANT to replace human beings? I mean really, WHY? What's so wrong with human beings? Are you that greedy that you'd rather leave intelligent experts unemployed while you sit in a glorified palace pushing buttons and giving consumers a crap product?

Title Regulator said...

Most states require "reasonable examination of title" and the more consumer protective states require that disclosure of all title defects be provided purchasers. This standard is not satisfied by the use of non-specific "generic" exceptions, nor is it satified by a search limited to the present owners term of ownership, unless based on an exzact prior policy that was thouroughly searched. This is considered "low hanging fruit" for regulators, easy money fines!!!

D said...

You raise a good point and I do hope regulators recognize REAL title examination versus, phony data dumps with wholesale general exceptions.

When consumers pay the same price for either, the consumer's getting the shaft.