The Bismarck, N.D.-based The Title Team continues growing its Minnesota footprint, as it acquired three title companies in the past six months. Financial terms were not disclosed.
At the beginning of March, The Title Team acquired Alexandria Title Co. in Alexandria, Minn. Jody Schimek, who founded the company 35 years ago, will stay on and continue managing the four-person office, The Title Team President and CEO Nick Hacker told The Title Report.
“This was an office that could benefit from some additional support from a bigger team. And I think our track record shows we can bring that to the table,” Hacker said. “It’s been a really tough two years on most businesses in our industry, and we’ve navigated a way to provide them support.”
Alexandria is Hacker’s hometown, which gives him an unexpected connection to the new office.
“What’s really interesting is Jody’s daughter and I, Kate, went to high school together, and Kate works in the business as a closer,” he said.
The Alexandria team is currently training on new software, aiming to be up to speed with The Title Team procedures in time for the summer.
In late February, The Title Team acquired McLeod County Abstract and Title Services in Hutchinson, Minn., which is about an hour west of the Minneapolis metro area. McLeod’s team of six, led by Stefanie Ewert, are all staying on.
Like the Alexandria office, the McLeod team is currently training on new software.
Hutchinson is a different type of market than Alexandria but not unfamiliar to The Title Team, Hacker said.
“It’s home to a large agricultural market,” he said. “Those markets are churning really well right now as we see different things happening with commodity prices.”
In November, The Title Team acquired Noble Escrow & Title, which has two offices, one in Baxter, Minn., and one in Pequot Lakes. Their team of eight, which has been led by Krista Fogarty for almost 20 years, all joined The Title Team.
Noble’s markets, both located in the lakes area, are also doing particularly well due to the popularity of remote work, Hacker said.
“People are moving. They’re able to work from home more frequently, and sometimes permanently,” he said. “What we’re finding is some of these markets have some good in-migration occurring. And we think they are good markets for the builder segment of the industry, because we do see that as being very prevalent in the year ahead.”
All three of the acquisitions were also attractive to The Title Team because of the companies’ standing in their communities, Hacker added.
“These are long-standing companies that have very strong reputations. And their teams are very seasoned veterans, so they fit well with what we’re doing in the Upper Midwest, especially across North Dakota and Minnesota,” he said. “And their culture really melds well with ours. Culture is everything to us. When you find a strong company that not only puts customers first, but also ensures that they are taking care of their team, we know they are a good fit for The Title Team. We know that it is the team members who are taken care of who deliver the exceptional customer service that we strive to provide.”
The Title Team now has 37 offices. Because of its size, it can offer services and support that a smaller office would have a hard time doing on its own, Hacker said.
“It’s hard to get to scale when you're a smaller office. For example, we do remote online notary closings, with a specialized team trained to do them. That’s a good example of a service that we can bring to these offices of this size, where we already have seasoned team members that can step in and do their RON signings,” he explained.
The Title Team was formerly known as North Dakota Guaranty & Title Co. When it rebranded, it was managing nine different brands that consolidated under the new name. Some of the newly acquired offices may operate as co-brands, depending on the longevity of its name and the importance of the name in the market, Hacker said. That is still to be determined.