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"Big Title" Adding Insult to Injury

In my last blog entry, Is "Big Title" Outsourcing YOUR Security?, I explored how the major title insurers are shipping your personal information off to the third world. Well, Reuters recently reported that First American Corp. is planning to spin off its financial services arm, which will include "worldwide residential and commercial title operations". According to the article, the company plans to "aggressively reduce employee counts" and cut operating costs by offshoring processing related jobs to--you guessed it, India and the Philippines.

"We are now challenging all of our operators across all of our information businesses to move at least 40 percent of their workforce offshore, and we think this exercise will drive incremental margin improvement," says Chief Operating Officer Frank McMahon.

Maybe it's just me...but in my humble opinion, when a company which calls itself First American (and whose logo is the American Eagle) is not only shipping jobs overseas, but also the sensitive information entrusted to it by its customers...that's just adding insult to injury.

Posted by Scott Perry on 01/29/2008 06:17 AM

Comments (8)

offshoring, outsourcing, first american, big title, india, philippines, reuters, security, public records, title operations

8 Comments on "Big Title" Adding Insult to Injury

JAN

2008

Scott

I have to agree. The cost savings realized by First American, and other large players, by offshoring aren't being passed on to domestic consumers. The money invested in foreign economies isn't stimulating our own economy. The Indians aren't buying goods and services produced in the U.S even though their economy is booming at this time. You and I know that title claims will experience an explosive increase in volume. Still, no one seems to care.

I don't know what to do. I've written elected officials to no avail. I've tried to convince real estate agents to use only title companies who use local abstractors. Again, everyone wants to take the quickest path though it's fraught with peril.

I'm glad you're writing, but I'm afraid that very few readers are grasping the long term implications of your message.

This is a tough issue. It starts with us ELIMINATING tax breaks for companies who ship jobs and produce over seas. Our governemnt laments the job loss on the one hand and then incents it on the other. It is too early to get me started... You are right good post

Ed - I hear what you're saying. I'm very quickly finding out what it's like to be the "lone voice crying in the wilderness". However, I'm an eternal optomist--maybe adding my voice to others will convince others to listen.

Charlie - You're on the right track, but I say take it a step further and scrap this whole regressive system of taxation that punishes achievement and forces people to plan their lives around the tax code! It's time for the Fair Tax. More to my point, though, this is just one more reason that abstractors should be certified and licensed, just like sales agents, brokers, appraisers and just about everyone else involved in real estate transactions.

Scott - Please don't feel like a "lone voice" - there are many of us out here that are fighting the same fight with you. However, we need to be heard by many many more. I heard today that the Indian Government is not the least phased by the housing climate in the US here today, they will merely shift their concentration on China utilizing what we have taught them to sell the same infrastructure and ideas to China. Not even the off shoring ocmpanies are loyal. Everyone is out for the all mighty dollar.

We need to keep talking about this atrocity to our profession. Hopefully the old term about the squeeky wheel will be appropriate!

Anita

JAN

2008

Anita - Thanks for the encouragement. Nice to know somebody is actually reading this stuff. I agree with you, maybe if enough of us stand up and make our voices heard, we can get something done.

FEB

2008

I know AR is mostly a Realtor community. Trust me when I say that you should pay very close attention to this issue. There are only a few big title companies and they are very good at placing technology under your nose as a purported helping hand. Take the hand and the next step is leading you out of the picture.

There is a reason that the big title companies have acquired the platforms on which MLS systems run. There is a reason Fidelity has launched Cyberhomes.

We may seem like voices in the wilderness, but ignore the message at your peril.

Chew on this for awhile and ponder how this kind of tool can be used in any real property transaction.

listing contract

sales contract

mortgage application

modification

refinance

Pony it up with some form of instant credit, title, automated valuation model and you have instant disintermediation of lots of people reading this post.

D. C. - Looks like some of the natives are starting to take notice. Thanks for adding your voice.

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