Summer Updates: Advocacy Efforts, FinCEN Rule Challenges, New Estoppel Form and an Honoree

Hello Members!

OK.  It’s officially summer. My daughter bought this contraption for their backyard to distract their boys from their addiction to screens (they don’t have a pool.) https://www.thefund.com/TheFund/media/Images/0625-gc-blog-01.png. How can a kid resist? I give up on my small yard until the fall and just hope that there will be enough rain to sustain the plants that are already there because it is too hot to get out there and mess with it. How do you manage the heat? 

Anyway, on to the real stuff.

TITL — Our Political Committee. The money contributed to TITL is used to support our advocacy efforts on your behalf. It goes without saying that I ALWAYS need your money to support those people in office and those people running for office that believe in OUR mission, that believe in what you do, that will support good public policy that allows you to continue to have a seat at the table, a role in real estate transactions, and a role in providing the very best protection for the investment in Florida real estate — title insurance. I don't have a specific threat to wave over your head in the form of a proposed bill. Because the threat is coming in the regulatory arena.

• New requirements on title agents, which bleed into what you have to do through your law firms.
• It is coming through a rate review.
• It is coming in programs that allow lenders to WAIVE title insurance.
• It is coming with UNREGULATED title insurance products that the regulators won’t step in to stop.

Shannon Widman and I need to educate our legislators about this situation because they ultimately control the regulators. And they ALL need to know that The Fund is a player, that The Fund is a credible source of real and accurate information about the industry and about YOU and what you do every day. Every election cycle is important. Next year is an election year. So please give to TITL. Here is a link to the page on our website where you can give either through a credit card or check. https://www.thefund.com/titl. Thank you so much!

IMPORTANCE OF REAL ESTATE AGENTS. At Fund Assembly, NAR’s economist, Dr. Jessica Lautz, reported that in over 90% of transactions nationwide, both buyers and sellers use real estate agents. Over 90%! Your relationship with that industry in your community remains of paramount importance. One of the strengths of our Real Estate Councils is the relationship that we have built over the years with the local boards of realtors in the various areas of the state. Rene Rutan, our Manager of RECs and Realtor Relations, has done an incredible job building this relationship. I strongly encourage you to leverage these resources, her knowledge and the tools we have built to create those same relationships for you. Reach out to Rene if you have any questions at rrutan@thefund.com or visit flarecs.com to learn more.

FinCEN RULE FACES CHALLENGES. Don’t get too excited. The rule still goes into effect December 1, 2025 and there has been no concrete change to this date or to the substantive provisions of the rule. But three lawsuits have been filed challenging the rule on similar grounds, primarily constitutionally based. Two are in Texas and one is here in Florida. They all ask for injunctive relief or TROs, which I have observed are fleeting at best. My hope is that the regulators and/or their superiors will read the pleadings, consider the arguments made by the Plaintiffs and take immediate action to, at a minimum, pause the effective date until the Department of Treasury and FinCEN can take another look, with the assurance to the industry that any new effective date will provide sufficient notice for us to be ready. If you want copies of any of the complaints that have been filed, you can contact either me at mmurphy@thefund.com or Michael Rothman at mrothman@thefund.com. 

BROKER COMPENSATION FORMS. We had a great turnout for the Saturday Workshop at Fund Assembly. If you participated, you might recall that the first half of the Workshop focused on broker compensation resources our industry faces after the NAR Settlement. Members contributed ideas at the Workshop to make their own Broker Compensation Estoppel Form, and as promised, we are sharing that document here so you may adopt it in whole or in part for your own use. https://www.thefund.com/resources/nar-settlement/sample-estoppel-form Should you have any questions regarding the form or broker compensation rules in general, visit https://www.thefund.com/resources/nar-settlement or email Shannon Widman, Deputy General Counsel, at swidman@thefund.com.

COLLEEN SACHS HONORED!  At the recent Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section Convention, Chair John Moran presented Underwriting Manager Colleen Sachs with the William S. Belcher Lifetime Professionalism Award for 2024-2025. This is a huge honor for Colleen! The award is presented to an RPPTL Executive Council member in recognition of their lifetime contributions to the Section, the Executive Council, Florida attorneys and the public in promoting the highest standards of ethics and professionalism. For those of us who know and work with Colleen, she epitomizes all of those qualities. We are very proud of Colleen and all Fund Members should be proud that she is the type of person that represents you.

Geez, this ended up being a lot! But that’s all for this week.

Let me know how we can help you.

 
 
 

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