From rewards and recognition to new appointments and initiatives,
get the buzz on the industry's latest news in this weekly update.
Ocwen Financial Corporation [1], a financial services holding company based in West Palm Beach, Florida, has announced that the company was named a Fannie Mae [2] Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards (STAR) Performer for 2017. The STAR Program recognition is reserved for top performing servicers within one or more of three STAR Performer categories: general servicing, solution delivery, and timeline management. For the 2017 STAR Program year, Ocwen received a STAR Performer for general servicing, solution delivery, and timeline management.
“We are extremely proud to receive the STAR award from Fannie Mae across all three categories,” said Scott Anderson, EVP and Chief Servicing Officer of Ocwen. “This recognition is another proof point of our team members’ high standards, accountability, and commitment to service excellence as well as the company’s focus on continuous improvement in our systems and processes.”
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Think Realty Radio, a national radio show airing daily on Wall Street Radio, has secured a partnership agreement with California-based Auction.com [3], an online real estate marketplace focused exclusively on the sale of residential bank-owned and foreclosure properties. Auction.com sponsors the Think Realty Radio show on Thursdays.
“We are excited to connect with Think Realty’s national audience of investors and help them find properties that fit their individual and personal investment criteria,” said Colleen Lambros, CMO from Auction.com. “We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Think Realty.”
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California-based First American Financial Corporation [4], a global provider of title insurance settlement services and risk solutions for real estate transactions, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018. Total revenue for Q1 2018 was $1.3 billion, a decline of 1 percent relative to Q1 2017. Net income in the current quarter was $76.2 million, compared with net income of $58.3 million in Q1 2017. Net realized investment losses in the current quarter were $5.7 million, compared with net realized losses of $0.1 million last year.
“The year is off to a strong start, with the company achieving a pretax title margin of 8.6 percent in the first quarter,” said Dennis J. Gilmore, CEO at First American Financial Corporation. “Revenue growth in our purchase and commercial businesses largely offset the impact of the downward trend in refinance transactions. We benefited from our continued focus on operating efficiency and from higher investment income driven by the rise in short-term interest rates."
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LERETA [5], a leading national real estate tax and flood service provider, announced that William Theisinger has joined the executive team as CTO. Theisinger has an established career building and leading solutions programs and will play a pivotal role in bringing technology to the forefront for LERETA and its customers. Theisinger has 20 years of experience leveraging technology and delivering solutions to businesses across numerous verticals. In his role at LERETA, Theisinger is focused on creating business platforms that allow for greater efficiencies both internally and for the company’s customers.
“Developing advanced technology is in my DNA,” Theisinger said. “LERETA has given me the opportunity to create unique offerings, and I am looking forward to the team creating revolutionary solutions for our clients.”
Prior to LERETA, Theisinger worked at YP.com (The Real Yellow Pages) for five years, building big data platforms and the infrastructure to support them. He segued into owning his own business, Snipvue, that is focused on the evolution of technology opportunities in the genetics space. Theisinger also worked at tech incubator, IdeaLab in Pasadena, Calif. and GoTo.com, which was eventually bought by Yahoo!.
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ServiceLink [6], the Pittsburgh-based national provider of transaction services for the mortgage and finance industries, has hired Sean Galaise as a national sales executive of default services. Galaise comes to ServiceLink with more than 15 years of experience managing sales and operations within the lending and loan servicing mortgage default industry.
Galaise has worked with several companies such as EMC Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, Caliber Home Loans and The Five Star Institute. Galaise brings ServiceLink particular strength in the field services sales area, as he has spent the last three years representing a nationwide asset management and field service provider. He will also focus on ServiceLink’s auction sales strategy leveraging his experience managing auction activity and high-risk assets for EMC/Bear Stearns, JP Morgan Chase, and Caliber Home Loans.