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New Licensed Title Agent, Jolene Martyn

September 7, 2022 Land Title of America Land Title Talk, Real Estate, Title Insurance

Land Title of America, Inc. is proud to announce that team member, Jolene Martyn, has become a licensed title agent. In this capacity, she joins ranks with Stephen Collins, Lisa Byers, and Karen Richmond at Land Title to write title insurance policies with their underwriters: Fidelity National Title, Westcor Land Title, First American Title, and AmTrust Title. Thus Jolene expands service to customers, and enhances her own professional stature. Go Jolene!

LandTitleofAmerica-licensed-agent-blog-post-MartynJ2-pic

“Jolene Martyn comes from a place where hard work means something, and she’s headed to where experience pays off in lasting value,” says Land Title owner Stephen Collins, “and benefitting the customers the whole way.”

The best part of home ownership is not paying rent into someone else’s pocket, according to Jolene. However, the entire closing process, from signing the contract to getting the deed, can be a bit mysterious to many buyers and sellers. That’s where a good title agent comes in.

The role of a title agent is to perform accurate closings based on the contract and with the title commitment requirements, and make it look seamless to the customer. “If you are detail-oriented, like to research, and can solve puzzles, it’s a great job for you,” says Jolene. She compares her job to a puzzle where you have to put all the pieces together, while actively watching out for fraud (a great reason to use a title company!).

Does she have a specialty? Yes she does: mobile homes and mobile home transfers. While Jolene is licensed to write title for any type of property, these are her particular specialty niche market.

With her new professional status, her role as a closer is strengthened, to the deep benefit of her customers. She now has direct communication with the underwriters. She can see more information, and has access to more information and tools. For example, a recent customer needed to sign with a mark (instead of a standard signature), and Jolene was able to directly download the appropriate forms to make that possible. Thus she can streamline the closing process, making the transaction easier and faster to complete for customers.

As an insider to the title industry, Jolene’s advice to buyers and sellers is twofold: 1) Do NOT close without a survey, and 2) ALWAYS use a title company, because you have no idea what’s in the chain of title. And that goes for investors as well as residential customers.

An area native, Jolene’s first introduction to real estate title started in 2003, and she has been with Land Title since 2017. She credits her years of experience with helping her pass the licensure test. The study guide is nearly two inches thick, but her familiarity with the Marketable Records Title Act (MRTA) and riparian rights, as well as numerous other technical topics gave her the qualifying experience to pass the test, and add immeasurable value to every file she touches. You may contact Jolene Martyn at Land Title at (904) 797-9600 or by email at [email protected]. Go Jolene!

Land Title Sponsors Powerlifter Delia Hernandez

July 12, 2022 Land Title of America Land Title Talk

Land Title of America, Inc. is proud sponsor of Powerlifter Delia Hernandez, and congratulates her on her First Place Win at the Jenn Competition in Lakeland, May 2022. Way to go Delia!

Delia’s Reminder: “I came from somewhere too.”

Delia Hernandez grew up in Athens, Texas. As a high school senior, she competed in a regional powerlifting meet, and qualified to represent her school at the state level.

Then she went on to serve in the US Navy, but when she left the military, she was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. “Some days I used to walk like grandma,” she says of the debilitating disease. With medication she was able to train again, but she had to start from the ground up in movement and form.

Delia’s Motto: “There’s always a way.”

Delia has a degree in sports medicine, and has been a personal trainer for six years. Her career began with general population, recovering from injury, dealing with chronic physical challenges, and improving overall fitness. Over the last few years, and up to recently, she has transitioned to training mostly women of all fitness levels who want to feel stronger and are curious about the sport of powerlifting. In May 2021, she started her own business, Empowered Lifting. It took off by word of mouth, which is how she met a sponsor representative from Land Title. In January 2022, Delia began training with her coach, Daniel Tinerajo (based in Ormond Beach, Florida). Five months later she was standing on top of the podium at the Jenn Competition.

Delia’s Goal: Create a community of women who feel strong and empowered.

The future is brighter with competition, both in her personal life and her business.

With more competition under her belt, Delia is more confident to train others in strength training, especially women. Already she has introduced a handful of girls to powerlifting and competition. She enjoys the camaraderie of the sport, where one can feel the energy, and see the strength of a person push through with the right instruction, instruction that keeps a person safe. She wants to promote that progression in herself, and in other women like her.

Delia’s Secret of Success: Drive and the determination to push for more.

For Delia, the lifts at the Jenn Competition felt surprisingly easy. She is ready for the next challenge. Right now, that means four days a week in the gym. She is excited about the layout of the program she has with her coach, and looking to the next meet, scheduled for October this year. One of her biggest obstacles is to take days off, give her body that chance to rest, recover, and build strength. Her fuel is carbohydrates before the gym, protein after, and she wakes up each morning with an appetite for more success.

You can follow Delia on Instagram @delias_world_ and her client spotlights @empowered.lifting

Delia Hernandez Jenn Competition Top Results, May 2022

Squat 130 kg / 287 lbs

Bench 70 kg / 154 lbs

Deadlift 155 kg / 342 lbs

A New Personal Record by 30 pounds!

Land Title of America, Inc. is a real estate closing and title company in St. Augustine, Florida. At Land Title, we celebrate our community, and we are proud to support Delia and her showcase of strength. For information about local sponsorship through Land Title, contact Stephen Collins at (904) 797-9600.

Queenie’s Alter Ego

June 29, 2022 Land Title of America Title Insurance

ALTER EGO PROFILE – QUEENIE LEWIS

LandTitleofAmerica-QueenieLewis-AlterEgo — Queenie Lews at the Beach

Outside the office, Queenie Lewis prefers a beach backdrop. You may find her at church and helping others, or doing arts and crafts and making gift baskets, or visiting with family. But away from those activities, the beach is her happy place, where she can sit and listen to the water, and be refreshed.

Email [email protected]

Florida Land Title Association

February 7, 2022 Land Title of America Land Title Talk

We are proud of our affiliation with the FLTA and thought it was important to tell you of our membership. Florida Land Title Association’s (FLTA) mission is to support the land title profession for the protection of property rights and the integrity and security of real estate transactions.

Advocate. Connect. Educate.

When you work with us, you are enjoying the benefits of the FLTA and all its affiliates. We thought you should know.

HISTORY SURPRISE?

February 13, 2020 Land Title of America Title Insurance

Guess who’s a loyal British colony during the American Revolution? FLORIDA! All that messy business at Valley Forge, the Boston Tea Party, the Declaration of Independence—all that happened while Florida was Great Brittan’s 14^th American colony.

Isn’t that a fun fact?

Via the Treaty of Paris, Florida is peacefully ceded from Spain to Great Britain from 1763 to 1784, and then the second Treaty of Paris peacefully cedes Florida back to Spain. So during the hard winter at Valley Forge, British soldiers could come on leave straight to sunny Florida. Here in St. Augustine, Samuel Adams and John Hancock were burned in effigy in the Plaza, and three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were imprisoned in the Castillo de San Marcos: Thomas Heyward, Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge.

These little historical gems can make for superb conversational gambits, like at a party or trying to impress a date, but other times, what you don’t know about the past can really bite you…right in the wallet.

Let’s say you inherit real estate. It’s been in the family for years, passed down from one generation to the next, and now to you, the only living heir. The property is paid for—no mortgages or liens against it. It’s a nice little house, well-kept, and full of fond family memories. So you move right in and feel right at home.

And THEN there’s a knock at the door: it’s the Seminole Indian Tribe. Just as you are about to serve lemonade, they inform you that your house is sitting atop the sacred burial ground of their ancestors. Isn’t that a fun fact? They don’t want your lemonade—they want you out.

Best thing to do here is whip out your Owners Title Insurance Policy. Even if Uncle Ed had Title Insurance on the house and never had a claim, when you acquire the property, you need a Title Insurance policy that covers your interest. (Uncle Ed’s title insurance covered his interest, and he isn’t very interesting now because Uncle Ed is dead.)

Title Insurance is a policy that protects the real estate owner from financial loss due to a challenge against his or her real estate ownership.

You could lose your house if they have a legitimate claim, or the Seminoles could be five hundred feet off and should be knocking at your neighbor’s door—either way your Owners Title Insurance Policy pays for the legal defense of your property ownership. Title Insurance pays to vigorously defend your ownership rights—they don’t want to pay out on a title claim if they don’t have to, but they will if they need to. Thus you are doubly covered with Title Insurance—your legal defense of ownership is paid and if that fails, the policy is paid out.

Yes, you could still lose your house, but with Title Insurance, the policy amount will be paid out to you, and you don’t walk away empty-handed. Isn’t that’s a fun financial fact?

Land Title of America