ALTA Honors New York State Land Title Association President with National Title Professional Recognition

Washington, D.C., April 23, 2024 — Eric Swarthout NTP has earned his National Title Professional (NTP) designation from the American Land Title Association (ALTA), the national trade association of the land title insurance industry. Formally acknowledged with his NTP designation on March 1, Swarthout is one of 111 leaders across the United States, and the third in New York State, who have devoted their careers to the land title industry and earned their designation.

The designation recognizes land title professionals who demonstrate the knowledge, experience and dedication essential to the safe and efficient transfer of real property.*

“‘National Title Professional’ is a recognition bestowed upon only the most knowledgeable and committed title insurance professionals,” said ALTA President Don Kennedy. “ALTA members earning their designation must undergo a vigorous audit and demonstrate extensive experience in and dedication to the title insurance industry. Eric has been a title professional for 25 years; his knowledge, expertise and longevity made him an ideal candidate for the NTP designation. I hope other title insurance professionals follow his lead and aim for this achievement.”

As a member of the title insurance community since 1999, Swarthout is the president of Thoroughbred Title Services, a HomeServices of America company, in Rye Brook, N.Y. He also serves as president of the New York State Land Title Association. Swarthout received his New York Title Insurance Producer license in 2015.

A full directory of National Title Professionals is available here.

On March 7, 2024, FHFA announced the intention to explore a pilot that would allow lenders to forgo a lender’s title insurance policy or attorney opinion letter (AOL) on a small population of refinance loans sold to Fannie Mae in an effort to reduce closing costs for borrowers.  Since that announcement, Fannie Mae has been working with FHFA to develop a Title Acceptance pilot framework and has received increased interest from title and settlement service and technology providers seeking to participate in the pilot. 

In response to that interest, Fannie Mae announced today that it will issue a Request for Proposal to identify potential suppliers to participate in the Title Acceptance pilot.  The Request for Proposal, which will be issued by the end of the second quarter, will provide Fannie Mae the opportunity to evaluate interested industry participants for potential inclusion in the pilot that have viable technology solutions for managing title-related risk and reducing closing costs for borrowers.

The chart of municipal search fees has been updated.

Members can access in the County & Municipal File Library under MEMBER RESOURCES > DOCUMENTS & FILE LIBRARIES.

https://youtu.be/7QvHD34tulE

The NYSLTA has been in communication with payoff servicer, Mr. Cooper, to resolve a number of ongoing problems that agents have been having.

In a recent and productive meeting, Mr.Cooper executives were asked for and we received a document in which the borrower authorizes the agent to receive information on the loan to resolve complications with payoff amounts.

You can download this Third Party Authorization form on this page.