The mortgage market has been crippled by rising interest rates, which have heightened affordability concerns for potential homeowners and made the business of lending exceptionally challenging. But encouraging steps are being taken to fix the situation, and attorneys are at the forefront of this change.
It began in April, when Fannie Mae took a crucial step toward solving the affordability problem by announcing that the agency would accept attorney title opinion letters as an alternative to title insurance in certain situations. Several months prior to the guideline change Voxtur Analytics Corp. launched its Voxtur AOL® platform that would enable attorneys to easily pick up on the opportunity.
Why is this so revolutionary? For starters, substituting a title insurance policy for an attorney opinion letter (AOL) creates real savings for the consumer. An AOL can cost 20% to 70% less than a title insurance policy.
Secondly, Fannie Mae’s willingness to embrace a creative solution to precipitate change represents a paradigm shift, one that could spur more innovation. This is the kind of change that is needed to close the affordability gap blocking some Americans from building generational wealth through homeownership.
And finally, it’s disrupting the status quo in an industry that has been unwilling to change and failed to act in the best interests of the consumer for far too long.
This change has been the driving mission for Voxtur Analytics Corp. We are committed to building a more transparent and accessible real estate ecosystem by embracing innovation for the benefit of the consumer.
Voxtur’s AOL exemplifies this mission. Lenders and borrowers can rely on a streamlined and scalable data analysis backed by the strength and reliability of a legal opinion. The result is a fully compliant title opinion supported by transactional liability insurance that covers the full value of the loan for the life of the loan.
Of course, using legal opinions to confirm title is not new. In fact, attorney’s opinions of title were used long before title insurance was invented. What’s old is new again. Voxtur has developed a system that makes AOLs scalable, affordable, and widely available.
With the Voxtur AOL program, attorneys can reclaim the business that was lost long ago to title insurance, helping consumers in the process. The need for a more affordable alternative should be paramount as the affordability crisis worsens.
Law firms that meet eligibility requirements can apply to become licensed providers of Voxtur AOL, expanding their offerings to include a product with demand that is certain to increase as more lenders seize on the built-in cost savings.
Voxtur has identified a gap in the system, recognizing a means to leverage technology to improve an archaic process. With committed, reliable attorneys on hand to bring their professional assessment to the table, Voxtur is effectuating change in the real estate market, one that will benefit consumers and lenders alike by reducing costs and enhancing efficiencies across the board.
Attorneys interested in learning more about the Voxtur AOL solution can visit www.voxtur.com/aol/.
This article was written by Jim Albertelli and originally appeared in the ABA Journal