California Title Rep Surrenders License Over Alleged Agent Perks

A former First American Title Company advertising consultant in Southern California has agreed to give up his license to authorities and settle for a lifetime ban after regulators accused him of offering unlawful perks to actual property brokers as an inducement for enterprise.
Eugene “Gene” Paul Bleecker will give up his license to the California Department of Insurance on April 1, 2022, with out admitting to the allegations within the accusation. First American in July agreed to pay a $1 million superb and $185,000 in prices with out admiting legal responsibility or wrongdoing.
In an April 5 accusation, the division stated Bleecker was a founding father of an actual property networking group in northern Los Angeles County referred to as the Advisory Group Real Estate Network. Services that the group supplied to about 600 members allegedly included inducements resembling video advertising and drone footage of listings with placement on social media websites, bus caravans to advertise listings, and gross sales teaching.
According to the accusation, Bleecker, a First American advertising consultant from 2012 to January 2020, was so profitable at bringing in enterprise that First American carried out little oversight of his actions.
Under California Insurance Code Section 12404, an illegal inducement happens when a Realtor or lender receives, or is put able to obtain, direct or oblique issues of worth in trade for steering enterprise to a title firm. Such inducements “inflate title insurance coverage premium charges for all shoppers,” regulators stated.
A federal regulation, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, or RESPA, additionally prohibits kickbacks for enterprise, and requires that any enterprise relationships between mortgage lenders and settlement service suppliers be clearly disclosed to shoppers.
“This motion in opposition to some of the well-known title advertising representatives within the business ought to function a warning to anybody partaking in practices that violate California legal guidelines and might drive up costs for shoppers,” stated Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, in a press release. “My Department is dedicated to vigorously investigating allegations of unlawful inducements for referral of title enterprise that undermine honest competitors.”
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Email Matt Carter

https://www.inman.com/2021/12/29/title-rep-surrenders-license-over-alleged-real-estate-agent-perks/

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