Oct. 12, 2009 (PR Newswire) --

SANTA ANA, Calif., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF) family of companies and America's largest provider of advanced property and ownership information, analytics and services, today introduced a free service that provides homeowners with valuable information on their home and surrounding community.

The service, called ePropertyWatch (patent pending), provides homeowners with regular email updates on the value of their property; recent sales, price trends and foreclosure activity in their neighborhood; and public record filings against their property. All homeowners whose homes are included in the database coverage are eligible for the service.* Homeowners can register for this free service at www.epropertywatch.com.

Monitoring of public record filings against properties is increasingly needed to guard against a new and dangerous type of identity fraud called "house stealing." In a house-stealing scam, con artists target a specific property and assume the identity of that owner by creating fake identification documents. They then purchase real estate forms easily obtained from office supply stores and, through forgery and misrepresentation, file these deeds with the proper public authorities, thereby transferring properties fraudulently. So, even though an owner may be living in a property and making their monthly mortgage payments, somebody else may have assumed ownership on paper and refinanced or even sold the home. Although the homeowner would ultimately be protected, this type of fraud can damage the owner's credit and create significant legal issues.

First American CoreLogic created ePropertyWatch as a free service to allow homeowners to manage the value of their homes and protect themselves against fraud. The company, which has more than 600,000 customers, monitors more than 65 million properties in 1,100 counties, as well as approximately 4.5 million real estate transactions per month. Its customers include government agencies, lenders and mortgage brokers, real estate agents, appraisers, title insurance companies and investment firms.

"We want to do everything we can to help homeowners protect their investment in their home," said George Livermore, chief executive officer, First American CoreLogic. "In this difficult real estate market, homeowners have become keenly aware of the need to monitor the value of their home, watch for real estate trends that affect their community and protect themselves against fraud.