Harford and Cecil County Homes

I was recently asked by the National Notary Association to endorse one of its initiatives.  Borrowers, I've learned, are sometimes asked to sign a Limited Power of Attorney (LPOA) authorizing a title company employee to sign loan documents on their behalf. Though the request may originate from go...

Our own Gary White raised a number of interesting points this morning in a post named "How much do you know about your town?"  Gary suggests that real estate agents should learn as much as possible about the history of the cities, towns, and communities in which they sell.  Without a doubt, such ...

Generally, I find it easier to do what I do than to talk about what I do.  One thing that I do is to prowl for possible examples of real estate fraud to use during presentations.  It's not as cut and dry as it might sound.  Last week, Tom Weiss shared one such example in the form of an ambiguous ...

I realize that I've been pontificating quite a bit  recently about the dangers of "offshoring" title work to India.  For those of you who are tired of my rant, I apolagize in advance.  It's just that I'm an "old school" title abstractor and title examiner.  I know that title searches conducted o...

I've written a couple of posts recently about the nasty business of "offshoring" skilled domestic jobs to points around the globe.  The comment threads on each clearly portrayed a sense of interest and concern.  One reader surmised, at first, that I might be a "liberal nut job."  He changed his m...

This morning, I saw a bumper sticker that read "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."  It struck a chord with me and was an appropriate message at the end of a troublesome week.   I attended high school during the 70's when healthy dissent was considered a personal and civic obligation.  Th...

I often talk about the importance of Active Rain to the title professionals that I meet in my travels.  I'm particularly interested in attracting seasoned veterans of the title industry to this site.  They have a great deal to offer by way of perspective and practical experience.  Title people te...

I first heard of a direct connection between the American title industry and the vast labor supply in India a couple of years ago. A vice president for Stewart Title mentioned, in passing, that title insurers were using cheap Indian labor to answer customer service questions.  Consumers calling (...

A book, soon to be released, examines the misdirected focus of the title industry in matters of public policy.  Based on four years of research by Professors Joseph and David Eaton, "The American Title Insurance Industry" attempts to expose the motives of an industry that intentionally conceals i...

A legacy is defined as something that's passed down by a predecessor.  The word, in my mind, implies a struggle to greatness far beyond the scope of ordinary life.  Freedom, civil rights, and property rights are examples of America's living legacies.  Abraham Lincoln's legacy is the thirst of a p...