Three of the top five title insurance underwriters reported their Q2 earnings this week. While First American reported net income of some $42M, LandAmerica reported losses of $50M+ and Stewart reported losses of $40M+. For Stewart and LandAmerica, they each have lost over $80M YTD!

Meanwhile, it was reported that the Mercury Companies from Colorado have terminated 6,000 employees and closed hundreds of their title company offices throughout the Western United States. You can imagine how many home buyers/sellers will not be closing on time, and hopefully all of Mercury’s title and escrow transactions will be transferred to a competent title underwriter.

My wife Kayelin is affected by Mercury’s closings as one of their United Title offices here in The Woodlands, TX was processing one on her larger transactions. The office shut down at 6:10pm two nights ago and there still is no clear indication where her transaction file will be transferred. What a mess!

I wonder if Realtors and consumers should select their title/closing company with the same scrutiny as selecting a national mortgage lender (instead of a small, local mortgage broker) in these challenging times? What do you think?