The Fund MEMBER & AGENT SERVICES ATTORNEYS TITLE INSURANCE FUND, INC. P.O. BOX , ORLANDO, FLORIDA

Transcription

1 MEMBER & AGENT SERVICES The Fund ATTORNEYS TITLE INSURANCE FUND, INC. P.O. BOX , ORLANDO, FLORIDA The Fund is a registered trademark of

2 THE ONLY TITLE INSURANCE UNDERWRITER AND INFORMATION PROVIDER IN FLORIDA DEDICATED TO YOUR SUCCESS For more than half a century,, has been Florida s most distinctive title insurance and information provider. We were created in 1948 by attorneys for attorneys, and were the first Bar-Related title insurance underwriter in the United States. Stated most simply, The Fund exists to serve real estate attorneys and their practices. Due to the success of our approach we are today by far Florida s leading title insurance underwriter and information provider The Fund has served as the model for similar companies in many other states that also act as advocates for attorneys. Our mission statement captures our basic goals, which are as relevant in today s rapidly changing title industry as they were over 50 years ago: The Fund is in business to preserve and facilitate the real estate practices of its members in their protection of the public. The Fund accomplishes its mission and earns the loyal support of its members by providing its members quality, competitive, and innovative products, services, and education, maintaining The Fund s long-term financial stability and encouraging professional growth and personal development of its employees. As a prospective Fund member agent, you need to realize you will not see a mission statement from a national title insurance underwriter that expresses anything even remotely similar. The primary reason is that, because The Fund was formed to support attorneys real estate practices, we issue policies only through our member agents. We do no direct business, so we re never in the position of competing with you or any other real estate attorney. It s clear that today s underwriting business is becoming more national in scope, so to serve our members better, The Fund has established relationships with United General Title Insurance Company and Connecticut Attorneys Title Insurance Company. These strong alliances allow us and you to offer national title insurance coverage for your clients. Overall, joining The Fund will give you a respected advocate committed to keeping you involved in real estate practice, and will put you in the company of nearly 6,000 colleagues throughout the state. FUND MEMBERSHIP WILL INCREASE YOUR RESOURCES, MAXIMIZE YOUR STAFF, AND EXPAND YOUR HORIZONS While always keeping our original mission firmly in mind, The Fund makes certain that members gain advantages which help them in every aspect of their real estate practices. We have vastly increased our ability to provide an increasing number and variety of services, including continuing education and practice management courses, a number of information delivery systems that will help you take full advantage of the e-business revolution, and the most valuable array of real estate law publications you ll find anywhere. In fact, we are so confident in our ability to meet our members expectations that we ve instituted the title industry s first and only Quality & Service Guarantee. This Guarantee began with title information and has been extended to cover areas such as educational seminars and The Fund s Annual Assembly (our statewide educational conference for members).

3 Title Information Quality and Service Guarantee ATIDS documents in seconds, and then transfer them straight to your personal computer. You can also view multiple documents simultaneously, access the same documents on multiple PCs, work with other applications while downloading ProPel documents, and import external documents from other word processing applications. All of these features mean a faster, more efficient work environment for you and a quicker turnaround for your clients. WE WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH A RELIABLE PRODUCT, DELIVERED WHEN PROMISED. WE WILL CORRECT ANY ERROR THAT RENDERS A CERTIFIED PRODUCT UNRELIABLE AND RETURN IT TO YOU WITHIN EIGHT BUSINESS HOURS OF THE TIME YOU NOTIFY US OF THE ERROR, AND WE WILL NOT CHARGE YOU FOR THE PRODUCT. WE WILL NOT CHARGE YOU FOR THE PRODUCT IF WE DO NOT MEET OUR PROMISED DELIVERY TIME, EXCEPT IN THE EVENT OF A DISASTER. OTHER E-BUSINESS ADVANTAGES THE FUND BRINGS TO YOUR PRACTICE MEMBERS HAVE SPECIAL ADVANTAGES THROUGH ATIDS, FLORIDA S LARGEST AND MOST ADVANCED REPOSITORY OF TITLE INFORMATION Today more than ever, accessing reliable title information at competitive pricing is critical, and The Fund provides you with the fastest, most accurate source of public records information available in Florida. Our Automated Title Information Data System, or ATIDS, is the state s most comprehensive repository of title information, with over 100 million records available on-line from nearly 40 of Florida s most active counties. ATIDS drastically reduces the time and effort in searching title and accessing other vital information, making everyone in your office more efficient. To keep ATIDS absolutely up-to-date technologically, The Fund is also converting 20 years of documents from film to digital images. Furthermore, to make certain member searches can take full advantage of this imaging, we have developed ProPel a complete document management and imaging application. Designed to keep you competitive in today s quickly changing marketplace, ProPel gives you the capability to receive, organize, manage, and electronically store imaged documents from The Fund in an environment similar to Microsoft Windows Explorer. Instead of printing out hard copies of everything from deeds to mortgages to plats, ProPel enables you to view imaged A great deal of member information is available on our web site: You ll find the latest developments in real estate law title industry news access to important articles details on Fund products and services schedules of upcoming professional seminars and much more all at your fingertips 24 hours a day. In addition, within this web site, you ll find FundNet, an exclusive, passwordprotected resource for Fund members only. With a FundNet account, members can access technical support via an on-line Help Desk product updates and information product manuals and documentation and additional publications like Title Notes and back issues of The Fund Concept, The Fund s well-respected monthly member newsletter. FundNet is also an electronic library that contains all Fund training manuals and educational reference materials, which are discussed on the following page.

4 The Fund YOUR MEMBERSHIP INCLUDES HIGHLY RESPECTED FUND PUBLICATIONS AND INVITATIONS TO OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS Many Fund members would count our publications as being among the most important benefits of membership. Fund Title Notes, for example, is regarded as the bible of Florida title issues. Widely known and respected as the premier publication on Florida title standards, it is frequently cited by state courts and is relied on by real estate professionals statewide. A monthly publication, The Fund Concept, keeps our members abreast of recent developments in Florida real estate law. Prepared by The Fund s Legal staff, the newsletter features special issues, real property case reviews, in-depth discussions of underwriting issues, as well as trends in real estate practice. Other publications include the F.A.R./Bar Contract Preparation Manual, which is produced jointly by The Fund, The Florida Bar, and the Florida Association of Realtors ; and the Standard Commitment Clauses Handbook, which gives guidelines for acceptable language for preparing commitment and policy clauses. The Fund s seminar program is consistently recognized as the highest quality, most reasonably priced source of CLE credits in Florida and it is covered by our Quality & Service Guarantee. Seminars are held throughout the year at convenient locations around the state. At our Annual Fund Assembly (a two-and-a-half-day educational event which is also covered by our Guarantee), you can earn up to 16 CLE credits, the most allowed in such a concentrated period. There is also our annual Fund Affiliate Assembly for paralegals and legal staff, which is a great opportunity for networking and keeping up with the latest title issues. AS A FUND MEMBER, YOU LL HAVE A VARIETY OF OTHER SERVICES, DEPARTMENTS, AND PRODUCTS AT YOUR DISPOSAL Many members feel the most valuable Fund service is free access to our highly experienced Legal department. It features a full staff of underwriting attorneys available to respond to your questions over the telephone, and there are also expert staff members to help you at our 15 branch offices around the state. Our Lender Relations department acts as a liaison with the lending industry. Our Escrow Operations department provides escrow and disbursement services; in addition, our 1031 Exchange Program offers a vehicle to members representing clients who want to take advantage of tax-deferred real estate exchanges under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. Our Major Transactions Program is designed to give members an edge in the competitive arena of large commercial real estate transactions. We ve even developed our own comprehensive closing software package DoubleTime. It is Windows -based and lets you enter basic data once, after which that data automatically flows into the appropriate documents. Plus, with its esolutions feature, you can further streamline your operations: send your title insurance forms to The Fund electronically, request electronic serial numbers for your Commitments and Policies, and check up on outstanding policies with the Policies in Progress report these are just some of the features DoubleTime allows you to perform with only a few mouse clicks. Through strategic relationships, The Fund also supports practice management education and training for lawyers. In today s highly competitive marketplace, our members need the skills and resources that will better equip them to obtain new clients, learn new practice skills, operate more efficiently, and achieve a better balance between their professional and personal lives. NOW MORE THAN EVER, YOU NEED TO BE ANINTEGRAL PART OF THE ONLY TITLE INSURANCE UNDERWRITER DEDICATED TO YOUR SUCCESS It is not news to you that the title insurance industry, and the practice of real estate law in general, is undergoing profound and lasting changes. National

5 underwriters, financial institutions, realty companies, and others are fostering affiliated business arrangements the ultimate effect of which could be diminishing or even eliminating lawyer involvement in real estate transactions. As you have just read, The Fund is the only underwriter and information provider in Florida whose goal is to preserve and facilitate the real estate practices of our member agents. Unlike other title insurance underwriters, we will never compete with you. Instead, we will serve your needs and support your practice in many valuable ways, and equally as important, The Fund will be your powerful advocate at every turn. By joining thousands of your colleagues as a Fund member, you ll make it possible for all of us to be stronger than ever. We can continue to pull together for the protection of the public, as well as for the success of each member s real estate practice. QUALIFICATIONS FOR JOINING THE FUND For regular membership, you must be a member in good standing of The Florida Bar, and you must also be engaged in the private practice of law. There is a $25 membership fee, and an annual service support fee of $500 for established members, or $200 for lawyers who have become licensed by The Florida Bar within the previous two years. The annual service support fee is refunded as soon as your title premiums for the year equal or exceed this amount and your account is then current. We also ask that you supply us with two letters of recommendation from current Fund members outside your firm. After a credit and background check, your application will be submitted for approval to the Executive Management Team. As a new member, you ll be required to attend a half-day course called Fund Basic Procedures, which teaches you how to work with The Fund and take advantage of all our support services. Your copies of Fund Title Notes, rate book, policies, and other information will be delivered to you after approval of your application. the same benefits as regular membership, except that Associate Members do not receive and cannot issue title insurance policies. FOR YOUR STAFF, WE OFFER AFFILIATE MEMBERSHIP Affiliate Membership is offered to paralegals, legal secretaries, and legal assistants, provided 1) they have been employed by a Fund member firm for at least two years; 2) they are recommended by a supervising Fund member; and 3) they can meet at least one of the following criteria: They are a Certified Legal Assistant; they have graduated from an ABA-approved program; they have at least two years of experience in real estate practice with one or more Fund member firms; they have attended at least four Fund seminars, or one Affiliate Assembly, or they have completed the Affiliate Assembly Tape Series. Affiliate Membership brings the same benefits as full membership, including all the publications and seminar invitations. For all types of membership applications, call and ask for the Member & Agent Services department. LENDER RELATIONS: 6545 Corporate Centre Blvd. Orlando, FL (407) or ESCROW OPERATIONS: 1770 Northwest 64th St. Suite 600 Ft. Lauderdale, FL (954) or REINSURANCE: 6545 Corporate Centre Blvd. Orlando, FL (407) or PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION: 8359 NW 53rd St. Miami, FL (305) or ATIDS: For information on ATIDS, please contact the branch office in your area. MAJOR TRANSACTIONS: For information on Major Transactions, please contact the branch office in your area. ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE, TOO We offer Associate Membership for Florida attorneys who do not conduct closings or need to issue title insurance policies, but who are involved with real estate legal issues from time to time and want to stay current. It brings

6 BRANCH OFFICES ALACHUA BRANCH 4923 NW 43rd Street Suite A Gainesville, FL (352) (800) Fax: (352) BROWARD BRANCH 1770 NW 64th Street Suite 600 Ft. Lauderdale, FL (954) (800) Fax: (954) CENTRAL FLORIDA BRANCH 6220 Hazeltine National Drive Suite 110 Orlando, FL (407) (800) Fax: (407) COLLIER BRANCH 2355 Stanford Court Naples, FL (239) (877) Fax: (239) MIAMI - DADE BRANCH 8395 NW 53rd Street Miami, FL (305) (800) Fax: (305) DUVAL BRANCH 3733 University Boulevard, West Suite 308 Jacksonville, FL (904) (800) Fax: (904) ESCAMBIA BRANCH 212 West Intendencia Street Pensacola, FL (850) (800) Fax: (850) LEON BRANCH 1965 Capital Circle, NE Tallahassee, FL (850) (800) Fax: (850) PALM BEACH BRANCH 340 Columbia Drive Suite 106 West Palm Beach, FL (561) (800) Fax: (561) POLK BRANCH 1723 Bartow Road Suite 100 Lakeland, FL (863) (800) Fax: (863) SARASOTA/MANATEE BRANCH 6497 Parkland Drive Suite F Sarasota, FL (941) (800) Fax: (941) SOUTHWEST FLORIDA BRANCH 4310 Metro Parkway Suite 250 Ft. Myers, FL (239) (800) Fax: (239) TAMPA BAY BRANCH 5908-N Hampton Oaks Parkway Tampa, FL (813) (800) Fax: (813) TREASURE COAST BRANCH 590 NW Peacock Boulevard Suite 12 Port St. Lucie, FL (772) (800) Fax: (772) VOLUSIA BRANCH 2701 South Ridgewood Avenue Waterside Plaza Suite A-3 South Daytona, FL (386) (800) Fax: (386) Now you know.