Living In Blue

Living In Blue2019-10-10T12:40:43-04:00

Dive into Living In Blue!

Welcome to the blog of Liberty Title and Zing! Title! We’ve been in the title and settlement business for 40+ years and have gained a ton of knowledge in that time. From the basics of buying or selling a home to industry news and updates on new regulations, we cover any and all topic on real estate. Sign up to our email list to get regular updates in your inbox!!!

Michigan Mobile Homeowners Now Have An Easier Path For Selling Their Homes!

A recent bill now provides mobile homeowners a new opportunity to conclusively establish their mobile home as a fixture on a property, meaning a clear path to definitive homeownership. Enacted on March 15, 2022 and effective June 13, 2022, PA 33 of 2022 seeks to solve a long-standing problem facing the owners of mobile homes that have been physically attached to a piece of land.  Under The Mobile Home Commission Act (MCL §125.2301 et. seq.) a mobile home [...]

By |March 29th, 2022|Announcements, In The Press, Title Insurance News|

Help for First-Time Homebuyers! The new Michigan First-Time Homebuyers Savings Program, Explained.

Big news for first-time homebuyers in the great state of Michigan! This month, a new Michigan income tax break for individuals who are buying their first home was just signed into law. Even better, this same tax break applies to taxpayers assisting the first-time homebuyer (like a relative who is assisting with the purchases). The Michigan First-Time Homebuyers Savings Program creates special tax-exempt savings accounts for people to accrue funds to use on buying their first home. The [...]

By |February 16th, 2022|Announcements, In The Press, Title Insurance News|

The Cloudstar Attack: What Realtors Should Know

The recent ransomware attack on Cloudstar, a major cloud hosting platform used by thousands of title companies and mortgage lenders, should have the attention of all Michigan Realtors. This may be one of the most damaging cybercrimes in history as millions of consumers have had their personal and financial information stolen. Realtors have significant legal and ethical duties to safeguard their clients’ personal and financial information and these duties extend to responsibly sharing this [...]

By |August 5th, 2021|Announcements, In The Press|

Keeping You Healthy & Safe: What We’re Doing in Light of Coronavirus

To our valued customers, For the time being, Liberty/Zing Title will remain open and we will continue to search titles and close deals. While we recognize the seriousness of this global pandemic, we also understand the need to continue with real estate closings as scheduled, as they are an extremely important part of our economy. We all need to work together to keep things moving, while putting a greater emphasis on “flattening the curve” and taking serious measures [...]

By |March 17th, 2020|Announcements, In The Press|

Why Your Listing Should Not Agree to a Split Closing

“When representing a…Seller as an agent, REALTORS pledge themselves to protect and promote the interests of their client” NAR Code of Ethics, Article 1.” (emphasis added) I’ve always loved this quote from the National Association of Realtors™ Code of Ethics. Though I’m not a Realtor™ myself, I have worked in the title industry for over 40 years. This section of the Code of Ethics is a great reminder to me of the importance of the service we provide to [...]

By |September 10th, 2019|Announcements, In The Press|

Why Every Agent Should Refer Their Clients To An Independent Title Agency

Affiliated business arrangements and joint ventures are all too common in our industry. Specifically, it seems like every real estate broker — from small independent ma-and-pa shops, to nationally recognized franchisees, like Coldwell Banker or Century 21 — are partnering with a title agency in an effort to drive more money to the bottom line, or profit. If you’re unfamiliar with this business idea, it’s where two companies partner together and exchange benefits. The most common case is where [...]

By |July 26th, 2019|Announcements, In The Press|

Independent = Your Best Advocate: Our Interview with WJR’s Guy Gordon

Raising awareness about the scourge of cybercrime in the real estate industry has been our top priority in recent years (see here, here, and here). Our goal is to make sure consumers know that they will be targeted by cybercriminals throughout their real estate transaction, which is often one of the largest financial transactions a person will make. To further bring attention this critical issue, President Michele Richardson sat down with Guy Gordon on WJR to explain [...]

By |July 24th, 2019|Announcements, In The Press|

Our New Cybercrime Insurance Policy. A partnership that protects YOU!

  Buying, selling, or refinancing a home is one of the largest financial transactions a person will make in their lifetime. With the major transfer of funds between parties in these transactions, they are particularly susceptible to cybercrime. In today’s world, it’s a whole lot easier for criminals to steal money online than it is to rob a bank. According to the 2018 FBI’s Internet Crime Report, the FBI reports that they received an average of more [...]

By |July 1st, 2019|Announcements, In The Press|

Introducing SafeWire + Umbrella! The best protection against wire transfer fraud.

We hope you’ve heard of our new Umbrella program by now and all the great benefits it offers to keep you safe before, during, and after closing. (If you haven’t…be sure to check it out!) Our goal with Umbrella is to keep our customers safe. To best accomplish this, we are always looking for rock stars in the tech and cyber security space. And we certainly found one with our newest partner: SafeChain. SafeChain is the industry leader [...]

By |May 22nd, 2019|Announcements, In The Press|

Come Under Our Umbrella! Our new program to keep you secure before, during & after closing.

Over the past several years, we’ve noticed a storm brewing in the real estate and title insurance industry. More Affiliated Business Arrangements (AfBAs) have sprung up in the title space. An AfBA is an arrangement made between a title company and real estate agents or lenders that provides financial incentives for referring a consumer to their title company. Unfortunately, there has been a decrease in consumer awareness of these arrangements.  This has led to the perfect storm of [...]

By |May 6th, 2019|Announcements, In The Press|
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