What PLACE's buy of Radian's RE subs means for lenders

Radian Group sold its real estate services business to PLACE, described by its co-founder and CEO, Ben Kinney, as a "comprehensive homeownership ecosystem." 

In a separate transaction, PLACE also entered into an agreement to purchase Radian's title agency and underwriting lines.

Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

PLACE currently owns a small title business for residential resale transactions. "Radian Title Services moves PLACE deeper into the title and settlement business, and opens us up to serving large lenders and single-family rental investors," Kinney said.

Radian's transaction timeline

In September, Radian put up for sale all of its non-mortgage insurance businesses, which also included a conduit, as part of a strategic shift in conjunction with the now-completed purchase of Inigo, a Lloyd's specialty insurer.

But the parent company opted in March to, instead, shut down the non-agency securitizer, with a Radian spokesperson saying at the time the decision was made "in the best interests of our organization, our employees and our customers."

These two sales to PLACE complete those divestitures.

"These actions mark an important milestone for Radian and reflect continued execution of the strategic plan we announced following our comprehensive strategic review in 2025, which resulted in our acquisition of Inigo," said Radian's outgoing CEO Rick Thornberry in a press release. 

"We are proud of the talented teams behind our real estate services and title businesses and the meaningful impact they have created for customers."

Thornberry is set to retire on Aug. 13, with Mike Weinbach, who started as CEO-elect on June 1, stepping into the position on a full-time basis. Radian is set to release second-quarter results on Aug. 5 after market close; the conference call will be the following morning.

"Radian's transformation continues to gain momentum," Weinbach said in the release. "We believe our leading mortgage insurance franchise and specialty insurance business create a strong foundation for disciplined capital allocation and long-term value creation, while expanding our access to large, diversified global markets."

Radian, which at the time already had a title agency business, added underwriter Entitle Direct in March 2018. The business was subsequently rebranded to reflect its new ownership.

The sale leaves Essent Group as the only mortgage insurer who also underwrites title. It agreed to purchase Finance of America's Agents National Title and the settlement services unit Boston National Title in February 2023.

Each of the acquired businesses fits one of PLACE's four core pillars, Kinney said:

• Software products it can sell to industry professionals;
•  A platform which bundles technology with services for home service professionals;
• Robust consumer offerings like mortgage and title
• Institutional services for large investors and financial service companies.
  

When it comes to Radian Real Estate Services, the purchase further expands his company's default and diligence services, Kinney added.
As for rebranding all of the businesses involved, PLACE is "evaluating the next steps…but we have nothing to announce at this time," Kinney said.

In other title insurance/settlement service news

Stewart Title has acquired yet another agency, this time Lawyers Signature Settlements of Frederick, Maryland. LSS provides residential and commercial services in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"As the title insurance industry evolves there are more outside threats, such as wire fraud, and having the financial strength and backing of Stewart will be important to our long-term success," Katrina Hallein, owner and president of LSS, said in a press release.

SettlementOne is partnering with Secure Insight, a closing-table vendor management and wire fraud prevention company. This deal puts the latter's Closing Guard as a product offering on the SettlementOne software platform.

It offers an instant settlement agent risk assessment together with verified wire instructions.

"We are excited that our industry-leading technology solution for verifying agent risk and wire account information will be accessible to SettlementOne's lender clients," said Secure Insight President Andrew Liput in a press release. "We have long recognized the importance of closing-table risk, including risk of wire fraud and stand behind our 15-year history of providing effective and affordable solutions for lenders nationwide."

The integration of Title365 into Covius Settlement Services has been completed. Blend Labs sold Title365 to Covius Services in June 2025. Four years' prior, Blend had bought a 90.1% stake in Tittle365, picking up the remainder in February 2025.

"Bringing our two title operations together under Covius Settlement Services reflects the strength and scale of what we can now offer our clients, including a full range of origination, home equity and default title solutions," said Joe Chappell, executive vice president, in a press release.