The Thomas Ralabate Story

Growing up with both parents involved in the real estate industry made a career choice easier for attorney Thomas Ralabate, president of Florida-based DF Title, LLC, doing business as Golden Dog Title & Trust.

The company is a subsidiary of the publicly traded homebuilder, Dream Finders Homes LLC.

After many years in private practice as a lawyer, Thomas decided it was time for a change in his career. His decision to return to school to earn an MBA played a large part in Thomas choosing to move from private practice to a business-focused position.

“Being a lawyer in private practice was a grind,” Thomas says about his career crossroads. “I was just tired of the billable hour. During that time, I got to know a couple of the guys (at Dream Finders Homes) and they were looking to start their own title insurance agency.”

Thomas hoped to move into an established business and use the skills that he had developed during the years of private practice.

“The idea of starting a brand-new title agency business was initially unappealing, so I turned the job offer down, though, this opportunity and the company’s entrepreneurial spirit was pretty interesting to me and hanging around in the back of my mind,” he says. “Remember, in 2014, our industry was going through a big transition from the 2008 financial crises, like the TRID regulation that most people were already confused about, and other industry changes, that could really impact a small new title agency.”

Thomas doubted his decision soon after declining the offer.

“(Dream Finders Homes Chairman and CEO Patrick Zalupski) was persistent and came back to me months later and asked if I would reconsider, so I thought about it,” he says. “We agreed I would put a business plan for the title agency together and see if it would make the revenue that was expected. I was either going to join the company and start this [title] business or at least give them a written business plan to start up for the title company.”

Thomas joined the Dream Finders 10 years ago and has been leading the company’s expanding multi-state title agency ever since.

Golden Dog Title currently operates in several states, with its corporate office located in Jacksonville, Fla. Other states in the company’s service area include Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Leaders are currently working on expanding into Tennessee and Texas thanks to recent acquisitions.

When asked about the unique company name, Thomas laughed and told the story of an unlikely source providing an out-of-the-ordinary idea to name the company Golden Dog Title & Trust.

“At the law firm I would work on the weekends. My daughters would often want to tag along and see what being a lawyer was all about,” he says. “They used to say, ‘All you do is shuffle papers’.”

One of Thomas’ daughters would often play with her stuffed animals and look out the window.

“When I moved to Dream Finders we rented a small temporary space,” he recalls. “It was an office in a business park and had one window looking at the parking lot. I brought my young daughter to the new office, and she was immediately turned off because there was no view with water and boats all around. She asked, ‘What are you doing at this new company’, and I responded that people would come and buy a house and get the key to their new home, like a family with a mom and dad, kids and a dog. Her eyes lit up, when I said ‘a dog’ because she loved dogs and her stuffed animals”.

She asked if everyone could get a new dog when they get a new house.

“The dog stuck in her mind,” Thomas says. “She wanted everyone to get a dog. But after explaining a real dog was out of the question, she wanted to use a stuffed animal. She suggested that we give the family a stuffed dog and put the new house key on a collar around its neck. I thought, ‘What an interesting idea.’ That was really the inception of calling the company Golden Dog Title.

“While an unusual name for a title agency, it worked. Often, a dog is part of a family, an important companion and unwaveringly loyal. People love it, and it’s different. A decade later, my daughter takes credit for naming the company, a testament to the enduring impact of a simple idea.”

Prior to starting Golden Dog Title, Thomas worked with two law firms, a regional bank and a national title insurance underwriter.

“I have been practicing law for over 20 years and I have had the good fortune of primarily being focused on real estate, banking and title insurance,” he says. “The last couple of decades have seen some twists and turns in the real-estate market and our industry. Nonetheless, I have always felt quite blessed to be busy and productive in real estate throughout my practice. Some points of my career were dedicated solely to commercial real estate and other times were focused primarily on residential transactions; some may say this is rare experience, knowing both distinctive worlds so intimately.”

This combination of experience has proven valuable Golden Dog Title, Thomas says.

“Our company’s landscape is a reflection of this experience. We focus on residential home closings, but also have a distinguished legal team that focuses on land development and other commercial transactions,” he says. “We have great leadership and experience in these distinctive worlds of real estate. My clients have always been homeowners, businesses, banks, and title insurance underwriters. While we focus on homebuilder work, we have clients that are unrelated to Dream Finders Homes. We have a retail division that is dedicated to traditional clients that you would see at an unaffiliated title agency.

“We are an extension of our clients’ businesses. We realize that our performance has a direct correlation to them, their business, and their reputation. Our focus is to complement what they have already worked to accomplish in the transaction and get it across the goal line. A sort of reliable companion.”

When asked what’s changed most about the title insurance and real estate industry over the past 25 years, Thomas cites regulatory changes after the financial crises of 2008 and, today, the rapid advancements of technology.

“Running a business today as compared to 10 or 15 years ago is very different, from the way the work is processed, to technology, to escrow management, right down to signing the documents, it’s all changed,” he says. “The Great Recession and the COVID pandemic have done a lot to transform our industry. The industry as a whole is slow to change and it takes time for buyers, sellers, lenders, realtors, title companies and attorneys to adjust to a change in the rules. But this industry manages. It’s a demonstration of the sort of people that are dedicated to this type of work.

“I think technology will continue to play a much bigger role in the traditional real estate purchase and sale closing. As laws change and institutional lenders begin to accept electronic documents and remote online closings, there will be even more of a shift and may forever change how we close on a home.”

Away from work, Thomas enjoys time with his wife of nearly 30 years, Jill, and their two children.

“We were both born in Western New York and met in high school,” he says. “I played sports at St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute, and Jill attended the all-girl counterpart high school, and she cheered for St. Joe’s teams. We were most certainly not high school sweethearts, despite going to the prom together. The ‘sweetheart’ part came along later.

“Our two daughters are now young ladies, one in college and the other headed there soon. With our families all living in the Northeast and Midwest, we love to spend time together. We love sightseeing and travelling, from visiting family to seeing Mickey at Disney World. At home, we love sports (running, fishing, baseball, football, softball, hockey, golf), arts and crafts and spending time outside.”

Thomas was asked to define success and says to him, its true definition goes beyond earnings, reports and transaction volume.

“My philosophy, or definition, for success depends on what I am doing; however, irrespective of what my goals are, there are two fundamental things required before anyone can achieve success,” he says. “First and foremost, you must build a foundation; second, make a commitment to yourself and the others around you. I co-coached the St. Joseph’s Catholic School’s girls’ softball team, where my daughter played, and routinely talked to these girls about what success may be to them. Is it winning every game? Maybe, but without a foundation of hard work and developing skil, and trust, commitment, and support of your teammates, you won’t ever see the magic happen.

“This applies to everything, whether you are building a business, a family, a friendship or a girls’ softball team. Create a foundation with skill and character; then establish a commitment to each other, and it is magical. It will raise the performance and productivity for you and everyone else on your high-performing team. This winning combination is the ultimate success.”