Title insurance fees under fire

Possibly good news for consumers

The U.S. title-insurance industry faces increasing pressure from regulators to justify the fees charged to consumers for ensuring they have clear ownership of their homes.

For most people, title insurance is just another mysterious fee they must pay when they buy a home or refinance a mortgage. Unlike some of those fees, though, title charges aren’t negligible. They range from several hundred to several thousand dollars—and last year totaled more than $10 billion for the title industry. Lenders insist on the insurance to protect them against the possibility that a taxing authority, another creditor or a disgruntled heir may have a claim to the property, among other risks...

A bigger potential threat to title insurers comes from the Obama administration’s proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The new regulator would oversee a wide variety of financial products, including title insurance, which is now regulated mainly at the state level. That would open the door to more federal oversight.

SOURCE: WSJ

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index Fund Showing Bullish Technicals

For those of you day traders following real estate:

iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index Fund (PCX: IYR) closed yesterday at $29.31. So far IYR has hit a 52-week low of $20.98 and 52-week high of $71.76. IYR has been showing support around 25.43 and resistance in the 31.35 range. Technical indicators are Bullish.

For a hedged play on this stock, look at a Sep '09 23 covered call (BJN IW) for a net debit in the $20.41 area. That is also the break even stock price for this trade.

SOURCE: Market Intelligence Center