New Year. New Issues

Reason to Celebrate; Tax Reform; Assembly is Coming! New Year. New Issues.

Dear Members,

2018 is going to be a great year! I can feel it. The real estate business is strong in Florida. There are so many opportunities for Fund Members to be successful this year. All of the pundits are warning us that it won’t last forever and there will be a correction at some point. So what? Fund Members will handle this and will be smart in how they react to the market and prepare business plans for 2018. And The Fund is here to help you with the challenges you face.

More reason to celebrate:

My Gator basketball team remains relevant in the Journey to the Tourney and the baseball team is ranked Number 1!

At The Fund, we are excited to have kicked off the year focusing on the following priorities that will benefit the Members:

Develop capacity for additional business from existing and new Members.Create additional relationships with external software vendors and other service providers to enhance Members’ closing processes.Be easier to work with in regard to Underwriting decisions and requirements.Develop education programs for Paralegals to increase the supply of qualified staff for our Members, as well as providing other online training opportunities.Ensure Members are best equipped to meet the future challenges of the Real Estate industry. Our initial focus in this area will be getting ready for Remote On-line Notarization in Florida and the transition (which is going to happen) to Electronic Closings (“E-closings”).

To make sure we are positioned to meet your needs, we have made some organizational changes in your Executive Management Team.

Jimmy Jones: Jimmy has acted in a dual role since 2009 – President and CEO. He will now have a single role as Chief Executive Officer and focused in the areas of strategic planning, market landscape, Member needs, and Old Republic Executive relations.Gwen Geier: Gwen has done it all during her 32 year tenure here at The Fund. She has been promoted to President and has the primary responsibility for making sure The Fund is positioned to fulfill our Vision and Mission in day to day operations.Melissa Murphy – I am going to continue to do my thing. In case you want to know, my title is Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel.

Legislative update

Stay tuned for my new Title Now podcast episode next week, it’s on this topic.

Tax reform

I am sure you are all trying to figure out how the recent changes affect you and your business. ALTA has some great resources on this topic and I encourage you to visit their website for more ( alta.org [https://www.alta.org/]). Kudos to ALTA for playing an important role in keeping the exemption from capital gains for primary residences. More on that later, too.

ASSEMBLY IS COMING!

Look for an email at the beginning of February to register and get the Early Bird Discount. The program is better than ever and I encourage you to attend to hear about the Florida economy, what the 2018 legislature did or didn’t do, how to re-purpose undesirable lands, dealing with Florida Department of Transportation…..and much much more!

Let me know how we can help you!

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

1/25/2018 10:00:00 AM