Radian Group recently announced the launching of its title insurance and closing services platform, titlegenius, in Arizona, California, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
This is a strategic move as some of the hottest housing markets in the country are currently located in Nevada, California and Arizona.
The mortgage insurance and real estate services company first introduced titlegenius in Florida this past May. Titlegenius uses blockchain-backed technology to provide home buyers with an online platform to help facilitate their purchase of title insurance and the closing process in general.
Although the concept of title insurance has its origins in the mid-1800s and has seen limited innovation until recent, newer companies are using machine-learning technology and/or blockchain to streamline the process for buyers and real estate agents.
Many home buyers are unaware that they have choices when shopping for title insurance. Radian’s titlegenius’s online portal allows home buyers to compare quotes from multiple title insurance companies and purchase their policy of choice directly through the site. In addition, it provides buyers and agents with a variety of tools such as remote check capture and online notarization, all on a secure platform that uses bank-grade encryption and dual authentication.
Title insurance purchased through titlegenius is provided and underwritten by Radian Title Insurance Inc., and each policy is reinsured for up to $4 million excess of loss of $1 million through a global reinsurer.
Radian hopes to expand the availability of titlegenius in the coming months. They will also soon be debuting geniusbuyer, geniusprice and geneuity, three other parts of homegenius, their technological suite of real estate services. These new services are designed to help connect buyers and sellers with agents, and provide agents with technology to do their job.
Radian’s expansion of titlegenius comes as more and more real estate brokerages are beginning to buy up title insurance companies. Just last week Compass, the nation’s second largest real estate brokerage, announced its purchase of LegacyTexas Title Co. This announcement came less than a year after they acquired title insurance providers Modus and KVS Title, in October 2020 and February 2021, respectively.
Expansions into title insurance like Compass’s has enabled brokerages to circumnavigate a real estate regulation preventing title and escrow companies from giving individuals who place business with the title insurer any form of direct or indirect payment, fee or reward. By having their own title insurance companies, brokerages could potentially collect millions in revenue, boosting their earnings.
As more brokerages and mortgage lenders are jumping into the title insurance space, the “Big Four” title insurers Fidelity National Financial, First American Finance Corp., Old Republic National Title and Stewart Title have been making acquisitions of their own to beat back the increase in competition.