Fireworks, Priorities and Updates: What’s Cooking at The Fund

This week's blog post includes: Happy Birthday, USA! TITL, Cyber fraud update, DoubleTime 8.3 release

Dear Members,

Happy Birthday, USA! July 4 has always been special to me personally…..because it was my father’s birthday! It always struck me as so cool that my daddy’s birthday was on the day that everyone cooked out in the backyard and we went to Florida field to watch the fireworks. As I got older, I learned to appreciate the larger significance of the holiday but I still start the day with fond memories of my dad. Have a safe and joyous July 4, celebrating that we live in the greatest country on the planet.

TITL - I am already focused on the 2020 Legislative Session. There are several bills already in the works and I have a meeting with Legislative Leaders in mid-July to talk with them about our priorities. I need to be able to back up my “asks” with support for their political campaigns. Translation: I need to deliver some checks! This means I need YOUR help. Please, please make a contribution to TITL, our Political Committee. It is so important that I show legislators that real estate attorneys are serious about protecting the integrity of our public records, protecting the security and reliability of Florida real estate transactions and maintaining our role in protecting the public. I will be sending a letter out to ALL of you, asking for your help. You can also give online through this link. Please help me do my job in Tallahassee to represent you. Thank you so much!
 

DoubleTime 8.3 is available. It is important that you keep DoubleTime current and up to date until you transition to E-Closing DT. The newest release is available for you to download. Use this link to access the release. Some of the features of this new release:

  • Standard Commitment Clauses – You will see the Standard Commitment Clauses changes, additions, and deletions.
  • ORNTIC Signatory Change - The new Old Republic signature block to show Carolyn Monroe as the President on all of the Policy Jackets, the Commitment Jacket (CF6R), and required Endorsements.
  • 1099 Compliance – The 2019 changes to the 1099-S have been incorporated with this release.
  • TLS 1.2 Security Compliance - All internet services in DoubleTime are TLS 1.2 compliant. TLS protects and ensures the integrity and security of connections. An upgrade is required for Proplogix integrations to function.
  • Nuance PDF - added to DoubleTime to select when viewing PDF documents.
     

Cyber fraud update. This continues to be the biggest threat to your business and the fraudsters are only getting smarter and more strategic as they learn more about the closing process: the players, the timing, the best deals to go after. So I urge you to stay up to date on how you and your team can protect yourselves and your clients. Here is a link to the most recent webinar from CertifID. You can either watch/listen or read the full transcript. Some of the main points:

  • Fraudsters have figured out that it is good to go after cash transactions. Generally the amount wired by a buyer is a larger amount than what is wired in a financed transaction.
  • Fraudsters have figured out how to identify deals with large earnest money deposits, e.g., $2500 now and $47,500 after inspection done and accepted.

https://certifid.com/fraud-trends-statistics-and-prevention/

 

Yikes. Some heavy stuff. I am ready for football season to start……..

Let me know how we can help you.

 
 

Melissa Jay Murphy
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer,
General Counsel and Secretary

07/03/2019 09:00 AM