Source: Housing Wire —
While other “big four” title insurers discussed the “transitional period” in the housing market during their first quarter 2022 earnings calls with investors, Old Republic International Corp.’s president and CEO, Craig Smiddy decided to take a bolder stance.
“I think the way we are looking at refinancing activity right now, is that it is dried up and we don’t expect that to rebound,” Smiddy said on the call. “We don’t think refinancing activity is going to be any kind of significant contributor this year.”
Although Smiddy acknowledged that refinance volumes had certainly given Old Republic a boost over the past couple of years, he believes that refinance transactions were not what the firm is built on.
“Refis were never really our bread and butter,” he said. “They’ve been great the last couple of years, bit if you go back to 2019 and before, those weren’t thing that we depended strongly on because of who our agents are.”
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