Dan: Today, we are talking with Mark Eibner, principal of Meridian Title and Escrow. Mark, thanks.

Mark Eibner: Pleasure to be here Dan.

Dan: Yeah. Well, let's talk a little bit about the title business because I am sure your average consumer doesn't know an awful lot about it and I also want to talk about ABAs, affiliated business agreements and so forth. First, let's talk with ABA. What is it?

Mark Eibner: Well, an affiliated business agreement is just another unique way of doing business where actually the owners or the shareholders are in fact people that are doing business as real estate brokers or mortgage brokers. So, it is really no different than a traditional title company experiencing the fact that you are either a corporation or an LLC. It's just that in this particular case your closely held participants are owners in the company.

Dan: All right. Let me give people an example. I am a realtor, I could own a portion of the title company, correct?

Mark Eibner: Correct.

Dan: That's how that would work?

Mark Eibner: Umhum.

Dan: But I have a buyer or a seller, I am representing one of the two and I direct them to business in my title company; is there a problem with that?

Mark Eibner: No problem with that at all. In fact it is done quite frequently and in fact in most parts of the country, ABAs are used on a regular basis. I think where people run into problems is let's just take ABA or AfBA title companies where the single entity company owns it like ABC Real Estate Company and they actually force or persuade their brokers to use their title company when in fact their brokers are not really owners in the organization. I think that's how most people see ABAs, not a traditional... in an ABA like ours, all the shareholders are actually real estate brokers or mortgage brokers.

Dan: What does the Colorado Real Estate Commission think? Do they say something to the effect of you need to disclose to a seller or buyer that you are directing them to use this title company and I own a share in it?

Mark Eibner: Well, actually that's regulated by our friends at RESPA.

Dan: Okay.

Mark Eibner: And absolutely you have to in fact inform buyer's and sellers on every transaction that you in fact are part of an ABA, you could make a profit, may not make a profit, but you have to give disclosure, yes.

Dan: And you can say to Mr. Buyer or Seller, the reason why I am sending you here is because given our model and structure, we can provide lower rates, lower fees, lower cost and if you don't want to use that, this title company, you are free to go pick whatever title company you want, correct?

Mark Eibner: Yeah, absolutely. I have all my clients sign what we call good faith title estimate, which can be obtained through mytitleins.com and it simply basically lists each for the transaction [music] mortgage is, what the payoffs are etc., how old the existing title's policy was, what the cost is going to be for the buyer, what the cost is going to be for the seller, and lo and behold nine times out of ten Meridian Title and Escrow is usually at least between first, second or third lowest on a cost structure.

Dan: All right. Well, because you have owners who are realtors and other people, mortgage lenders and so forth as part ownership, does that model lend itself to having lower rates in fees for people?

Mark Eibner: Well, I think it absolutely just simply because in most cases you are not really paying title reps, you are not paying all the marketing fees, all the advertising, all the myriads of let's just say marketing schemes that traditional companies, title companies use, just to get you to use their title company. Instead all that marketing money is put aside and in fact you are in fact the best rep for the title company itself and if there are dividends paid to the shareholders, quarterly in our case, then that's usually a result of the fact that we were not having to compensate the traditional marketing and the traditional marketing reps.

Dan: Mark, good information. Thanks. Appreciate it.

Mark Eibner: You bet. Thank you.

Dan: Today, we are talking with Mark Eibner from Meridian Title and Escrow and Mark is one of the principals of the company. Welcome to the show.

Mark Eibner: Thanks Dan.

Dan: Glad to have you here.

Mark Eibner: You bet.

Dan: You know as a realtor, when we are talking about title, you know I have to admit I am thinking, "Okay, title insurance rates, could they vary that much?" but I guess they do.

Mark Eibner: Oh, absolutely. I think the rates that are posted up... I think the real issue is that most agents, most consumers really don't have the time or even the expertise to go online up to the Department of Insurance, check out all the posted rates, check out all the posted fees, you will find if you do that all x amount of[Phonetic] counties in the state of Colorado have different rates from county to county. It's just not the seven state or seven county [Inaudible]. So, there is a huge variable in the published rates that are up in the Department of Insurance site.

Dan: Now, in the past, the rates used to vary widely, but now they are getting much tighter and more competitive, why?

Mark Eibner: I think things are just getting tighter simply because of sites like say mytitleins.com. It's a site that has been on for a couple of years now and it is really putting a little transparency out there for the consumers and actually for the real estate brokers and I think real estate brokers are actually becoming a little more in tune with actually looking out for their clients, being an advocate for their client versus perhaps in the past being an advocate for the guy that gave them free brochures.

Dan: Yeah. Let me see if I understand this right in that there is an agency that governs the rates and then an independent title company takes that rate and then they can add a little fees and things like that and that's what comes up with the disparity in rates?

Mark Eibner: Well, there is no agency in our state here, there is no one that regulates rates.

Dan: Okay.

Mark Eibner: In fact, an underwriter, a national underwriter, could publish for any county any rate they wish and that goes for escrow fees too, anything would go out there effectively when a company files new rates or there is a 30 day period where the consumer could object or question, I would like to see how many times in the last 20 years that any consumer has ever been online and looked at the published rates of a national underwriter and complained to the Department of Insurance. It just doesn't happen.

Dan: So, the difference comes in the fees?

Mark Eibner: Correct, the fees. See, in states like Texas where they have promulgated rates, that is a state where all the rates are regulated by [music] so, once a year, they do get together, they look at losses, claims, underwriting fees, everything, the state decides for x amount of thousand, this is what every title insurer is going to charge. In our state, that is not the case. It's kind of free and wide open and rates can vary, in fact, we re-file even on a monthly basis if that's what you wish to do.

Dan: All right and in the past, it was always thought that the seller picked the title company and that the buyer, poor buyer, didn't have a decision in the process, but as a realtor representing a buyer, you could actually advocate on behalf of your client and write into the contract, "Okay, we are going to offer x, y, and z, but we would like to pick the title company."

Mark Eibner: Yeah, absolutely, if you actually read the contract now, it states that the buyer has a right to choose the title, because we have got two sides to the policy, we have got kind of the seller's side and the buyer's side for what they are paying if they are getting a mortgage. The problem is when the buyer goes and maybe makes a choice of title insurance with another carrier, then they... then their listing agents, underwriter that they are using is you are not going to get the benefit of the simultaneous issue of the rates. So, it's going to in that case actually end up costing the buyer more, that's what... in real life, that's perhaps what the real estate commission ignores is yeah, the seller can buy their title insurance, the buyer can buy their title insurance, but in general the buyer is going to end up paying more money because he is not getting that simultaneous issue rate as the seller has.

Dan: All right. Last question, why do business with Meridian Title and Escrow?

Mark Eibner: Well, I think Meridian Title and Escrow is... it's one of the... it's a newer model ABAs or actually you would be surprised, they have been around for what? 17-20 years now; in a lot of states, very prominent because the model itself leads to transparency. In other words, more than likely the broker that you are dealing with is an owner, more than likely perhaps even the mortgage broker you are dealing with is an owner. They have the transparency and really the ability to choose in our case with Meridian Title and Escrow three different underwriters. So, instead of being married to one particular underwriter, that has a limited reissue rate, okay, you can go and make your selection on each transaction and if you need to have an underwriter that has a 10 year reissue rate, then you go with the underwriter that has it, that's typically what we do, we go with the underwriter that offers the lowest rate to the consumer on that particular transaction.

Dan: And saves you money?

Mark Eibner: Saves... you bet, saves your seller money, it saves the buyer money. I highly recommend using the site, mytitleins.com. It actually will give a side-by-side good faith title estimate for the buyer and for the seller. You would actually be shocked at how many times buyers are paying as much if not more than the seller in a transaction.

Dan: Mark, thanks. Good information. Appreciate it.

Mark Eibner: You bet. [Voice Cross Over].

BrokerIPTV: Today, we are talking with Leslie Rusher from Metro List and the topic is MLS statistics, how are you?

Leslie Rusher: Good, how are you?

Interviewer: Thanks for being with us.

Leslie Rusher: Thank you for having me.

Interviewer: You know I am watching various broadcast outlets and they are talking about the housing market and what's happening and has it risen and fallen and average median price and all that, we getting that information from you right?

Leslie Rusher: Yes, absolutely. We publish monthly reports that gives statistics both on you know the macro level and also too for specific MLS areas. These reports are exclusive to our members and we don't... so we don't distribute them to the public, so that's something our members can add a little bit of value. They really just... they give the numbers and then that allows our members to put in their own interpretation and their own... add their own day-to-day expertise.

Interviewer: Now, I am not a great number's cruncher getting down into the deep in the data; is it difficult?

Leslie Rusher: No, no, it's really not. You have the pre-formatted reports that you can look at and then kind of make your own assumptions from there. Really the whole point of these pre-formatted reports is to set up our customers to be the experts for their clients.

Interviewer: All right. What type of reports are available to me?

Leslie Rusher: What type of reports? Well, we have reports that give monthly statistics for average prices, median prices, the total days on market information, also let's see... we have a more detailed breakdown of residential and condo that gives that same sort of days on market, prices, sort of...

Interviewer: Well, what's happening in that particular area, you know you can search an MLS area, Denver North, Denver East that type of thing?

Leslie Rusher: Absolutely.

Interviewer: And then just find out what's happening in there.

Leslie Rusher: Absolutely.

Interviewer: There is a condo report, a residential report; what if a broker needs more in-depth information?

Leslie Rusher: Well, our Prime Access Power Search has advanced statistical capability' if you can go in and define your own specific search criteria and then that allows you to customize what statistics you are able to pull.

Interviewer: Or you could always do what I do which is halfway through I just call the ML... My MLS number help desk and say I am trying to find out this information about this area, can you help me and they do.

Leslie Rusher: And they do, they are very good about that.

Interviewer: That's what their job is.

Leslie Rusher: That is, that's what their job is.

Interviewer: Okay.

Leslie Rusher: And also you know we want to add that we have added two new reports to the pre-formatted report section. The first one is called monthly indicators, which is just a really nice visual graphic representation of monthly numbers as compared to the prior month and three months of trend data to show... obviously to show trends and it also gives you know average and median sold prices and days on market and for active, under a contract, and sold, so it's pretty robust and the last new report is called local market updates and that is information broken down into counties and MSA, which is the Metropolitan Statistical Area as defined by the US census bureau, so really it's just the same information broken down into slightly larger geographic areas.

Interviewer: And if people didn't want to call the help desk like me they could actually go to a class and actually learn how to dig deep and do this well.

Leslie Rusher: Absolutely. We are holding classes at our office all the time. We are starting to do webinars, even so you don't even have to come in, you can just check out our website for the webinar schedule and starting August 3rd Dan we are moving to a new location.

Interviewer: Okay.

Leslie Rusher: At 6455 South Yosemite, so after August 3rd, the classes will be held there.

Interviewer: Okay. Great. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks for coming by.

Leslie Rusher: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

BrokerIPTV: Today, we are talking with Leslie Rusher from Metro List and the topic today is Prime Access. Leslie, welcome to the show, appreciate you being here.

Leslie Rusher: Hi, thanks for having me.

Interviewer: So, there has been another release with Prime Access. We have been talking to people from Metro List for a while now and a new release comes out, we would like to find out what's going on, this time it's about public records, is that right?

Leslie Rusher: Of course, yes.

Interviewer: So, tell me how that works?

Leslie Rusher: Okay. Well, public records encompasses deed and tax information from 18 counties.

Interviewer: Okay.

Leslie Rusher: And we have simplified it a little bit from My MLS; with one single search engine, our customers are able to search and find whatever they need and as with all other Prime Access searches, there is only required field. So, our customers are able to find what they are looking for with maybe even limited information.

Interviewer: Because in the past, in My MLS, you would click PDC and it would take you to an entirely different screen and then you would have to try to get back to My MLS, is that right?

Leslie Rusher: Yes.

Interviewer: This does not happen now in Prime Access?

Leslie Rusher: Well, it's a separate tab, but it's all part of Prime Access, yes.

Interviewer: Okay. So, we just click the tab, put in the information, and it stays right there.

Leslie Rusher: Absolutely.

Interviewer: All right. Benefits?

Leslie Rusher: Benefits, well, you know it's one single source to come to instead of having to research multiple county or public websites. We take the time to format all the counties to look the same, so it's easier to find the information that you are looking for and you know easier to understand what you are looking at.

Interviewer: Right.

Leslie Rusher: And with the deed information, it's updated once a week. So, it really is the most current ownership information.

Interviewer: Yeah, well, you don't have to sell me because I am a big fan of Prime Access.

Leslie Rusher: Well, good.

Interviewer: I use it exclusively and that helps me out a lot because in the past I used to have to go back to My MLS and look up deed information and county information and I really don't like going through the county websites; I would just as soon have it all in one place.

Leslie Rusher: Absolutely.

Interviewer: Let's talk about some other advantages of Prime Access while we are here.

Leslie Rusher: Yes, definitely. Well, as with other Prime Access searches, you have PDF and HTML format reports that are really easy to print or e-mail right out of this system and you know you can run statistics on your results with... as with other Prime Access searches.

Interviewer: And I am a big fan of the mapping feature right now.

Leslie Rusher: Yes, yes, we have definitely incorporated our map and so you can define your geographic region on your map and go from there.

Interviewer: Well, here is what I like about the mapping feature is that before I used to have to know the subdivision name and now I don't have to. Now, I can just type in the address of the property and say show me everything within two miles of this.

Leslie Rusher: Absolutely, absolutely, that's one of the biggest benefits of our new map is that it's not relied on listing data.

Interviewer: Right.

Leslie Rusher: So, it doesn't matter what the subdivision is actually called or how the listing agent spelled it, is it one word, is it two.

Interviewer: Right, I can just say show me everything within half a mile, a mile, two miles, five miles, and so forth.

Leslie Rusher: Up to five miles.

Interviewer: Are there a lot of people who are using the mapping feature, they like it now?

Leslie Rusher: Yes, that's one of the... probably one of the biggest draws to Prime Access is their new map, people seem to love it.

Interviewer: All right. How about data? I mean how about what different types of data can we get in listing presentations and things of that nature?

Leslie Rusher: Well, you can definitely use our public records information to prepare yourself with property information for a listing presentation. That's one of the biggest reasons people use it and then once you get the listing agreement, then you have all the information already that you need to input it into the MLS because our listing input auto populates as you know off of the PIN number that you get from public records.

Interviewer: Like that.

Leslie Rusher: So, it makes data entry fast, easy, and way more accurate.

Interviewer: I like auto populate.

Leslie Rusher: Absolutely.

Leslie Rusher: Because if I don't have to retype it or look it up that's good for me.

Leslie Rusher: Absolutely.

Interviewer: All right. Well, I am excited about it. Thanks so much for being with us, I like the new changes.

Leslie Rusher: Well, excellent, thanks for having me.

Interviewer: Keep up the good work.

Leslie Rusher: We will.

BrokerIPTV: Today, we are talking with Katheryn D'Amico from Colorado Home Warranty and Katheryn welcome to the show.

Katheryn D'Amico: Thanks for having me.

Interviewer: I want to talk about home warranties. Recently, there was some information in the news that home warranties are good, but you might have to watch out for some of the fine print; tell us what happened or what happens in these scenarios?

Katheryn D'Amico: Yes there was an article in the Denver Post. Apparently, this company that provided the home warranty was offered through Wachovia Bank.

Interviewer: Okay.

Katheryn D'Amico: It's kind of like an after market type of home warranty and we actually looked up this company on the Internet, couldn't even find them on the Internet; so, not really sure where they are from, what they are all about. So, you know you are going to have some problems there. Colorado Home Warranty is a locally owned and operated company, very personal with our clients. So, there is a big difference there. You know there is a face with the home warranty; when you call our office you get a live person to talk to, it's not a call center that you are calling into, so very personal.

Interviewer: Well, the other difference is you are talking about some companies that aren't in the business of home warranty, they are kind of jumping on the band wagon, seeing if they can get a little after market revenue and they have got fine print rules and regs that if you are not aware of, you could get caught in.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly, yeah. You know there is no fine print in Colorado Home Warranty's policy.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Katheryn D'Amico: It's all in black and white right there.

Interviewer: It's upfront.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly, in our brochure, on our website, you are going to know what you are covered for, what you are not covered for. There is always going to be exclusions, there are limits of liability for any home warranty company, but it's all in black and white right there upfront with Colorado Home Warranty.

Interviewer: All right. So, maybe the take home message here is beware about who you are doing business with...

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: When it comes to warranties; is the company local, do they even specialize in this and watch out for their fine print.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: All right. One of the questions that comes up on warranty is that decision to either repair or replace and I have had it being it[Phonetic] myself you know the refrigerator is x amount old, I don't know if I should just... you know it's broken, should I repair it or should I replace it; how do you come to that decision?

Katheryn D'Amico: That is up to the home warranty company. It's up to us whether we repair or replace, but it's definitely for the benefit of the buyer or the owner.

Interviewer: Right.

Katheryn D'Amico: So, if it's going to cost you know $380 to replace a 25-year-old refrigerator or to repair it, it is better to put that money towards replacing.

Interviewer: Okay.

Katheryn D'Amico: So...

Interviewer: And of course there are some exclusions on... on that decision to replace or not, for instance if the homeowner hasn't done what?

Katheryn D'Amico: If you don't do the regular, regular scheduled maintenance that the manufacturer recommends, very simply like changing the filter in the furnace or the air-conditioner, you know just things that anybody should do, you need to do those things in order to keep it in good working order so that when it comes time, if something goes wrong, we will... we will repair it [music].

Interviewer: And the technicians you send out are reporting that information back to you?

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: And that's how you arrive at the decision?

Katheryn D'Amico: Yes.

Interviewer: All right. Real quick benefit of working with a local company in the warranty business like Colorado Home Warranty?

Katheryn D'Amico: Well, that's huge because like we said before there is a face and there is a local... local office, you know where we are located. There is me, everyone has my cellphone number; if they need to reach me, I am you know... I am available any time of the day, weekends you know, what not. So, we are definitely out there to please our customer. So, it's very personal. A nationally owned company, a lot of them you call into a call center and it's very black and white, this is what's covered, this is not what's not covered; with us, it's kind of gray you know. Well, you know you have given us so much business, you know we want to... we want to please you. So, we can kind of you know work with people in that way.

Interviewer: Thanks so much.

Katheryn D'Amico: That's a lot different.

Interviewer: Great information.

Katheryn D'Amico: Thank you for having me.

Interviewer: Thanks for being here.