2015 Year in Review - Brian Tormey

What was your most notable project, deal, transaction or professional achievement in 2015? Among many notable client transactions in 2015, my most notable deal by far was the sale of TitleVest to First American Financial Corporation. With First American, we are currently working on several new products, service offerings and business ventures that we cannot wait to unveil in 2016. What real estate project, transaction, market trend or product had a significant impact on your industry in 2015? There have been many interesting compliance and regulatory-driven changes within the real estate/title industry in 2015, but the most significant for the industry as a whole had to have been the implementation of TRID. Not only did we dedicate ourselves to properly navigating the new rule as a national provider of title and settlement services, but as a N.Y. title company it was a unique opportunity to collaborate with our attorney and lender clients to get prepared before the full impact was felt. How will you be supercharging your productivity in 2016? With a slew of strategic business development efforts in progress and on the horizon for 2016, I could not possibly be anything but supercharged. We’ve experienced such success in 2015, and our project/technology development roster for 2016 is tightly packed. Stay tuned for some exciting TitleVest and First American unveilings in the new year! What emerging trends will drive investment and development in 2016? Although the residential luxury market has done very well in 2015, I believe the mid-market ($1-$5 million) is likely to see increased pressures as personal-use buyers look to make a move before interest rates climb too high. We already see some developers in motion on development plans to deliver these mid-market priced units into inventory in 2016 and 2017.  On the commercial front, it is harder to read the tea leaves presently, but my perception is that the freely flowing funds will shrink away somewhat leaving the investment bidding to developers capable of making more substantial equity investments in their projects.