Real estate agents play a pivotal role in directing new business to title companies. Therefore, understanding and meeting their expectations is essential for any title agency looking to enhance its market presence. Corbett Donovan, a seasoned real estate professional based in Sarasota, Florida, has been instrumental in closing a wide range of real estate transactions since 1998. His experience ranges from multimillion-dollar property deals to navigating the complexities of short-sales and foreclosures. Additionally, Donovan extends his expertise to mentoring new real estate agents and advising homebuyers and sellers.

Donovan is acutely aware that his recommendations, particularly when directing clients to a title company or real estate law firm, significantly impact his reputation. He maintains high standards and expects the same from his partners in the real estate process. Below, Donovan shares seven key factors he considers when choosing a title company or law firm, insights that are invaluable for effective title agency marketing.

1. Timely Communication: For Donovan, the ability of a title company to communicate efficiently and consistently is paramount. He emphasizes the need for systems that ensure instant access to paperwork and updates. This includes cloud-based solutions for easy retrieval of documents and ongoing communication throughout the transaction with all parties involved.
2. Use of Technology and Effective Coordination: The integration of technology in the closing process is another critical aspect. Title companies that adeptly manage critical dates and provide comprehensive advice on title searches, inspections, and variances stand out. Effective coordination and communication regarding important deadlines are essential for a smooth closing process.
3. Personal Interaction: Despite the prevalence of digital communication, Donovan values the personal touch. He believes that direct phone conversations or face-to-face meetings can significantly enhance client relationships, a sentiment increasingly shared by clients who prefer a more ‘old school’ approach.
4. Going Above and Beyond: Sharing an anecdote, Donovan highlights the importance of exceptional service. He recalls an instance where a real estate attorney proactively resolved a complex issue involving a homeowner’s association, demonstrating a commitment to client service that goes beyond the norm.
5. Thorough and Timely Due Diligence: In Florida’s real estate landscape, Donovan stresses the importance of conducting municipal lien searches early in the transaction. He advocates for title companies that educate real estate agents and buyers about these aspects, thereby avoiding delays in closing.
6. Education for the Consumer Post-Closing: Donovan looks for title companies that continue to educate and engage with clients even after the transaction is complete. This ongoing relationship building is a critical component of effective title agency marketing, as it fosters long-term client loyalty.
7. A Memorable Closing Experience: Finally, Donovan emphasizes the importance of the closing experience. He believes that title companies should strive to make closings a memorable and positive event for clients, as these are rare and significant moments in a person’s life.

In conclusion, effective title agency marketing hinges on understanding and addressing the needs and expectations of real estate professionals like Donovan. By focusing on aspects such as timely communication, the use of technology, personal interaction, exceptional service, thorough due diligence, post-closing education, and creating memorable closing experiences, title companies can significantly enhance their appeal to real estate agents and, by extension, their clients. This approach not only helps in building a strong reputation but also ensures sustained growth and success in the competitive real estate market.

The post What real estate agents look for in a title company first appeared on titlecapture.com.

Wood’s recent ruling certifies two classes in 20 MLS (Multiple Listing Service) markets across the country. This certification means that home sellers who paid a commission between March 6, 2015 and December 31, 2020, to a brokerage affiliated with a corporate defendant listed on a covered MLS and jurisdiction can now ask for reimbursement for billions in commissions paid to buyer agents. The ruling also makes “current and future owners of residential real estate in the covered jurisdictions or are presently listing or will in the future list their home for sale on a Covered MLS” eligible for reimbursement.

The Implications on Commissions and Industry Practices

However, it is still being determined when a trial for the Moehrl case would begin. The smaller of the two lawsuits, known as the Sitzer/Burnett case, was scheduled to begin in February but has been postponed indefinitely at Anywhere’s request.

The plaintiffs in the Moehrl case claim that the NAR and the franchisors have conspired by mandating the NAR’s “buyer broker commission rule” when listing a property on an MLS. According to attorneys for Cohen Milstein, this conspiracy has imposed a cost on home sellers that buyers should bear in a competitive market. They further argue that most buyer brokers will not show homes to their clients if the seller offers a lower buyer broker commission, incentivizing sellers to offer high commissions to procure buyer brokers’ cooperation.

Industry Response and Future Preparations

In a statement, NAR spokesperson Mantill Williams expressed disappointment with the ruling. Williams argued that pro-competitive, pro-consumer local MLS broker marketplaces ensure equity, efficiency, transparency, and market-driven pricing options for home buyers and sellers. The NAR maintains that the practice of listing brokers paying buyer brokers’ compensation saves sellers time and money by having more buyer brokers participate in the local marketplace, thus creating a larger pool of buyers for sellers.

Although the Moehrl certification is a setback for the industry, even if a jury finds in favor of the plaintiffs, it may be some time before any significant changes go into effect for agents and brokerages. According to Steve Murray, senior advisor for RealTrends, the case will likely go through appeals. Unless an injunction requires immediate action, it will be a while before the ruling is final. Despite the potential impact of the lawsuit, a recent RealTrends survey found that only 3.45% of brokers surveyed felt that the outcome of commission lawsuits posed a challenge or concern. When asked what they are doing to prepare for a worst-case scenario, 60% of respondents answered, “Nothing.” Other popular responses included implementing buyer representation agreements, fully disclosing client options, and more training on the value proposition.

The post BREAKING! Monumental NAR lawsuit gains class action certification: The Beginning of the War on Real Estate Agents first appeared on titlecapture.com.

1. Website Design and Hosting – Wix

Given the free website setup and paid premium domain options offered by Wix, there’s absolutely no reason that an agent can’t have a high-quality website. Wix does more than provide a business overview or highlight past successes. It helps an agent promote available properties and outline potential future plans. Wix makes website building incredibly easy via an intuitive, organic interface.

2. Home Staging and Virtual Tours – iStaging & HomeRover

The days of agents physically showing homes are in the past with iStaging and HomeRover. An agent merely needs to record a home’s interior to create a complete picture and then upload it to display a tour on a business website, social media and elsewhere. A live tour option also exists. These amazing realtor tools even provide VR aficionados realistic walkthroughs of homes.

3. Marketing and Listings – Zillow

Zillow isn’t merely one of the most well-known platforms where realtors display listings to attract potential buyers. It’s also a lead-generation tool that helps agents connect to potential customers through multiple, effortless communication options. It’s has cutting-edge marketing tools as well. 

4. Fast Communications – EZ Texting

Instant messaging is a necessity in real estate. An agent needs to be able to communicate quickly links to listings and changes to a prospective buyer. They need to be able to handle scheduling and negotiations even while they’re sitting in traffic or long meetings. EZ texting offers them an fast, easy solution.

5. Community Connections – Parkbench

Realtors must connect with businesses and individuals in their communities to acquire new leads, build long-term relationships that generate repeat business and referrals. Parkbench allows an agent to promote their local neighborhood in a single space where they can highlight local news and events and area business partners. This type of hub is often appealing to consumers, and it makes the agent seem like an experienced local guide who cares about the community.

6. Leads Management – HubSpot

HubSpot CRM and Sales Hub offers free and paid options for agents to generate, store and cultivate leads via a wide range of tools, including phone, email and scheduling features. These tools also offer data analysis that helps agents customize marketing and sales efforts to make a greater impact on daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly results. A paid Real Geeks subscription directs traffic via ads on Google and Facebook to a realtor’s website and prompts visitors to leave contact details. It provides extensive organization and tracking tools as well.

7. Social Engagement – HootSuite and Lumen5

Agents generate leads and improve their reputations via interactions with their target audience on social media. HootSuite helps them upload, auto-post to popular social platforms and organize and track posts. Lumen5 makes it easier than ever for them to create, upload and post custom videos to these accounts.

8. One-Stop Business Tools – Propertybase

Lastly, PropertyBase is a paid, full-service platform that supplies realtor tools for every part of the business. It offers tools for administration, lead generation, document storage, website design, marketing campaigns and even data tracking and analysis. It’s a game changer that guarantees higher productivity and greater competitiveness, especially for individual agents and small firms seeking to compete against bigger agencies.

The post Top Realtor Tools to Improve Competitiveness in 2023 first appeared on titlecapture.com.

That was the belief of one escrow officer we recently spoke to. Her title company had cycled through multiple quoting apps, but their realtors and lenders still called every time they needed an estimate.

Why? When asked, she believed clients preferred the “personal interaction” when getting quotes. 

The myth that personal interaction is a priority to realtors and lenders runs rampant through the title industry. But that’s the thing about myths—they’re easily debunked by facts.

If you’re wary about adopting technology as part of your client experience, let’s bust this myth together with some data.

What do real estate agents want? Speed and accuracy. 

We polled over 1,000 real estate professionals on their top priorities when it comes to quoting.

The results showed that over 80% listed accuracy or speed as their top priority in generating an estimate. Less than 10% placed personal interaction in their top 3 priorities, and no one ranked personal interaction as most important.

This data (and our 8+ years of working in title quoting) confirms that the majority of clients do not care about personal interaction when generating estimates. So why are they calling instead of using your app or calculator?

The REAL reasons your clients aren’t using your quoting tool 

There are four main reasons your clients may be opting to call instead of using your app.

1. They don’t trust the numbers. If your app isn’t constantly updated with rate, fee, and tax changes, your clients won’t (and shouldn’t) trust its accuracy.

2. They’re confused by the estimate. If your app doesn’t break down every rate, fee, and tax, your clients won’t be able to explain to their buyers and sellers what they’re paying for.

3. Your tool is too difficult to use. If your app isn’t as intuitive as making a call, your realtors and lenders won’t use it. Too many pages or irrelevant questions? They’ll just pick up the phone instead.

4. They never understood it in the first place. If your tool confused your clients from the beginning or your onboarding process didn’t answer their questions, they may have abandoned it from the start.

If any of the above sound relevant to your current solution, then the problem isn’t the lack of personal interaction—it’s that your tool isn’t faster, more accurate, and easier than a phone call. 

The data behind better quoting tools

Whether you have a quoting tool realtors love or one they ignore, the data will speak for itself.

In the last 12 months, title company clients (realtors and lenders alike) have generated a total of 1.4 million quotes using TitleCapture—an average of 120,000 quotes per month. Each one of these estimates was generated entirely by the client, zero interaction with a title rep required.

It’s safe to say that we can put the “clients want personal interaction” myth to rest and focus on choosing a quoting app that’s optimized for a better quoting experience.

The Dangers of Believing the Myth of Personalized Quoting

What happens if you ignore the draw of better quoting tools and keep believing the myth that clients want their estimates with a side of personal interaction? You’re going to get beat out.

Newer title companies with a better understanding of how technology serves their clients’ needs will steal your realtors and lenders away… and no amount of donuts or your version of “great service” will compensate for the convenience your competitors offer.

The Bottom Line

While your personal client relationships are still important, they’re not a priority when it comes to quoting. To truly meet clients’ expectations, title companies need to adopt the best, most accurate estimate app. Settling for less is a waste of money.

If you have an app or online calculator but are still fielding constant calls for quotes, you owe it to yourself and your clients to look into faster, more accurate quoting tools. If not, you’ll be left in the dust by companies that do.

The post Realtors & lenders don’t prefer ‘personal interaction’ — you’re just leaving them no choice first appeared on titlecapture.com.

“Make us look good.” 

No, that doesn’t mean free makeup for all of your realtors. Although if it keeps them loyal…

It means your realtors need you to make them look good in front of their potential buyers and sellers with speed, accuracy, and extraordinary service. If you can help them look like the best person for the job, they’ll win that deal—and you’ll win their loyalty.  

Your first chance to help your realtors “look good” is the quoting process. So here are 3 quick tips to help you provide top-tier client service that keeps your realtors “looking good” when it comes to quoting. 

Tip 1: Keep your listing agents on top of their numbers game

An inaccurate quote from your title company could be the reason your realtor loses a listing—and the reason you lose that client forever. You can’t afford that.

Here’s a simple example. A seller would think they only have one mortgage payoff therefore one single reconveyance fee. Not so fast. If that seller has a line of credit with a zero balance, then the seller needs a payoff letter and an additional reconveyance fee for that as well. 

The listing agent would have no idea about this, and not including these fees in the seller net sheet is definitely risky. It could make them look inaccurate and sloppy in front of their seller, potentially causing them to lose that deal. 

And this is just one example, not to mention back taxes owed, nuisance liens, and so on. All of these are found while you research the property before generating the seller net sheet for your agent. 

We encourage you to DO THIS WORK and be indispensable for your agent.

Tip 2: Offer to help the buyer side as well

Ever heard of the “Rule of Reciprocation?” It states that whenever you give someone a gift, they feel more inclined to reciprocate. 

Fewer and fewer title reps are generating buyer estimates for their agents, but the ones that do are usually the best reps working for the best and fastest growing title companies. 

When you offer to generate a buyer sheet, you may not only win the escrow, but you’re scoring serious customer service points.

And remember, you know more about the property and transactions than your agents do. Be that beacon of light for them and make those buyer estimates absolutely precise, not just when it comes to closing fees, but also lender fees, impounds, and tax prorations. 

Tip 3: Pick the right technology

Whatever you’re using to generate quotes needs to make your realtors look sleek, smart, and professional. If you’re still relying on Excel spreadsheets, you’re not doing your clients any favors.

If you’re looking for the right quoting technology, look out for the following:

• Speed: Don’t leave your realtors (and their potential sellers) waiting on a quote. Faster service impresses everyone. 
• Ease of use: This relates to speed. If technology is too difficult to use, your title reps will be slowed down (or not use it at all)
• Compliance: The quotes produced need to be accurate and compliant with TRID, RESPA, etc—you can’t worry about your taxes or the accuracy of the title insurance policy amounts
• Looks: Make them look good…literally. Your quotes need to be both beautiful and branded (so your realtors remember who is making them look so sleek) 
• Accessibility: Your reps need to be able to access your quoting tool from ANY device (but remember, App store-based apps will be updated far less frequently than web-based apps, meaning your accuracy could be in jeopardy) 

If you implement these three tips, you’ll be helping your real estate agents look good and building the loyal relationships that lead to repeat business. 

The post The #1 Thing Real Estate Agents Want From Their Title Company first appeared on titlecapture.com.

This was a question asked by one of our clients recently, a title company in Virginia focused on growth. They had hired a young, talented Marketing Director to help attract more real estate agents. They were confident in her ability to help them grow — after all, she knew everything about SEO, social media marketing, email marketing, and WordPress. After six months, they had a redesigned website, a social media strategy, and had spent a few tens of thousands of dollars on Google Ads…and they were pretty much in the same spot as before they hired her.

Which brings us back to Doug, the title company owner, asking a question that none of his staff could answer:  Do we even need marketing?

He kind of had a point. Why should a title company keep spending money on something that doesn’t work? Right?

Obviously, the answer to his question was “yes.” The problem, however, is in how a title company thinks about “marketing”. Title companies need to adopt a completely different approach to marketing than most products or services out there.

Title Company Marketing — A New School of Thought

Most product or service marketing reps spend their time and money attracting and converting prospects into leads or clients. Title company marketing, however, should focus more on servicing and building the brand for existing clients. Why is that?

Because growing a title company is a pure referral-driven effort. A real estate agent or lender will only pull the trigger and send you their first closing (and become your de-facto client) if they really trust you, and no amount of ad spend on social media, testimonials, case studies, or smart content on your site is going to boost that trust in the same way as when another real estate agent or lender is telling that prospect of yours “Oh yeah. I work with this title company. They’re awesome”.

The stakes are simply too high, and without that referral validation, your prospects will always be on the fence. They simply don’t want to risk the livelihood of their buyer or seller if there’s nobody they know and trust who will vouch for your title company.

So, your most important question, if you want to drive more growth to your title company is simply “How do I drive more referrals?” That’s it.

You now shift your focus from the outside world, with all the potential real estate agents and lenders you don’t currently work with, to your most important asset: your existing clients, to whom your quality of service is everything.

Start listening to what they really need. Start putting up rules and structure so that you make sure your reps are reaching our constantly to each and every one of them so that your title company is always top of mind.

Now you realize that in order for these people to drive a referral, they have to LOVE you. And if you want to create that romantic relationship, you need to know their pain points, make sure communication is excellent, make sure you’re giving them functional value – the tools that may make their life easier (such as TitleCapture’s branded app), teach them, train them, mentor them, go above and beyond to keep the buyers and sellers in the know, at every stage of the closing process. And once in a while … sure, take your top producers to dinner!

When you focus on providing the BEST service to your existing real estate agents and lenders, one of two things will happen:

Either…

Whenever one of their colleagues will look for a new title company to work with, your existing clients will be the first ones to recommend yours and VOUCH for it, no holds barred.

Or…

Your existing clients will be such fans of your title company, that they will actively go out and try to convert everyone they work with into a client of your title company. Because they LOVE you and they simply need to share it.

I beg of you. Change your focus. The quality of your service towards your existing clients is the absolute single best driver of growth for your title company.

The post Title Companies: Stop Marketing and Focus on This Instead first appeared on titlecapture.com.

According to SHRM, the turnover rate in the services sector is around 30%. That is huge. It means that one on three title reps may leave and, because of the very personal one-to-one relationship between your reps and your agents, it means you risk losing 30% of your client base in one go, at any given time. That may be a devastating blow to your title company’s bottom line.

The good news is this is all preventable. The bad news is most advice on how to prevent turnover is either very basic and generic, or it’s wrong and missing the point.

When you do an online search for preventing employee turnover you will get tips such as:
– Hire the right people
– Fire the ones who don’t fit
– Keeping compensation current and reward employees financially
– Keep employees happy
– Have clean performance reviews
– Cultivate respect at the workplace
and so on.

And while this is definitely good advice, people will leave your company even if you’ve taken all of the above measures.

So why is it that they leave?

Well, it’s tricky and requires you to put on a different kind of hat. It’s pretty much the same reason why people stay affiliated with political parties, religious groups and large brands.

It’s called identity and it’s pretty much what we as humans are always in search for.

As long as our financial needs are met and we have food on the table and a roof above our heads, we, as humans, switch to fulfilling our more “spiritual” needs. One of the most important spiritual need is the need to discover or confirm our identity. In other words, we need to discover and then constantly re-confirm who we are.

It’s the reason why people who want to feel innovative and different stay with Apple. Do you really think that the reason why “Apple people” keep buying the latest iteration of the iPhone is the better camera or the OLED screen? I don’t think so. While these are rational reasons we use to justify the decision to ourselves and our friends, the real reason we buy the latest phone is that we need to re-confirm our identity.

We need to acquire these “tokens” every year so we can subconsciously tell ourselves that we are still the “creative”, “innovative”, “rebellious” person we were when we first saw Steve Jobs on stage wearing his hallmark turtleneck presenting the iPod. We fell in love with that identity and decided that’s who we wanted to be.

90% of our decisions are emotional, not rational, and that includes the decision regarding our workplace, our spouse, the home we live in, the car we drive and so on.

Your employees will wake up in the morning and ask themselves “Why am I even going to work today? Why am I working for this company?”.

There can only be one answer to this: “Because this company best represents who I am and what I believe in.” Any other answer and you’re in trouble.

So, what do you need to do in order for that answer to naturally pop up? You need to develop a brand, a clear identity and a belief system that they can identify with. If you deliver that to your employees and clients, they will want to be part of that collective culture indefinitely.

Building a brand is as much a science as it is an art and there are professionals who can help you with this but let me just give you an idea of what it entails.

The first step is you need to decide what your title company stands for. You need to figure out what is that one idea or set of beliefs that best characterizes you and your title company. Are you all about being smart and innovative? Are you all about celebrating top-producers and grandiose visions? Are you all about providing as much care and personal assistance?

You need to figure this out and most of the times this is deeply rooted in the actual owners’ or founders’ values. Chances you already have a vaguely defined identity or culture around that and all you have to do is bring it forward.

Can you close your eyes and picture your title company as if it was an individual? Could you imagine it had a name? What would he or she wear? What would he or she talk about? What attitude would he or she have towards the outside world?

This exercise is important because once you figured out what your core belief system or identity is all about, you need to get to work and make sure all your “touch points” are in line with that identity.

What do I mean by that?

Well, all the interactions both your employees and your clients have with your title company are touch points and they have to constantly reinforce that idea your company stands behind. It’s through repetition that they will start to become part of this collective culture and brand.

To best illustrate this, let’s assume your title company is all about celebrating top-producers. What you need to do is make sure your visuals (including your logo, collaterals, website, etc) sport strong, reliable, contrasting colors paired with solid, geometric shapes.

You will need to enforce competition, so an open space is not a great idea. You may also need to come up with grand-sounding job titles. Posters on the walls featuring motivational quotes from sports personalities are a must.

Celebrate your title reps and their agents on your social media accounts by posting weekly success stories. Host monthly events where you invite speakers that can talk about growth, success and achievement. Take them to large events revolving around the same topics.

Cultivating a sense of “us versus them”, where you pick a competing title company will drive this culture even further. Signing up for the latest and greatest technology that they don’t have is also something you may want to consider.

There are so many other “touch points” that can reflect your core belief, but I think you get the point for now.

The key thing however is consistency. You need to build and cultivate your brand day in and day out. Year after year, always sticking to the same set of beliefs and not shifting. The worst thing you can do is talk about one thing today and then switch 180 degrees the next day. This is a surefire way of not only confusing your employees but also lose their confidence.

And without trust, there’s no love.

But where’s there’s love, there’s loyalty.

The post What if your best title reps leave? Will they take your agents with them? first appeared on titlecapture.com.