| Turning mom-and-pop into statewide power
J im Pender’s list of accomplishments is quite impressive. He’s twice chaired the Sanitary Sewer Commission in Little Rock, Ark., was one of the state’s commissioners to the National Commission on Uniform State Laws for 12 years, and twice served as a special justice to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
 If you think Jim would consider one of those achievements his top accomplishment, you’d be wrong.
“I’m really proud of the company I’ve been able to build in the last 20 years,” Jim said. “Raising your family and having a successful marriage are always tops on everybody’s list. But being able to do that while building a business, I have a smile on my face when I come to work in the morning because I enjoy what I do.”
Jim founded First National Title Company in 1997. Since then, the company has expanded to 14 locations across Arkansas, with 135 employees. First National is the largest independent land title company in Arkansas and one of the largest title companies in the state.
First National recently opened a title indexing center in Harrison, Ark., where employees are trained to become title examiners. From this indexing center, First National has begun maintaining its title plants bringing those types of jobs back to the U.S. – opposite the national trend of sending those jobs to other countries.
“I’ve made my share of mistakes. One of the things I’ve done with myself … I’ve tried to be humble and learn from the people who have been in this industry for a long time. That’s been instrumental in building a company,” Jim stressed.
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“I have a smile on my face when I come to work in the morning because I enjoy what I do.”
Jim Pender
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At 60, Jim can remember when there was a mom-and-pop title company in every county seat throughout Arkansas. But, like the national trend, many of those operations have gone the way of the dinosaur.
“Some of those have gone out of business. And now some counties in Arkansas have no title companies. I’ve developed a business model where I feel like I can take advantage of that situation. It’s not really dissimilar from the rest of the nation.”
Jim’s successful business model mostly has been acquiring title companies that either are getting out of the business or don’t want to spend money to become compliant with all the new regulations affecting the industry.
He said the typical, small title insurance company probably won’t exist in 10 years.
“Every time I acquire a title company it seems like I get five phone calls from other title companies asking ‘Will you come look at us?’ I think I’ve become everybody’s retirement plan. I’ve become the Mikey of the industry,” he joked. “Call Pender, he’ll eat anything.”
Jim’s time in the business hasn’t only been about growing his company. An attorney who practices law through his law firm, Pender Law Firm, P. A., Jim has served as president of the Arkansas Land Title Association, and has made many trips to Washington D.C. to consult with the American Land Title Association on trade positions.
He’s traveled throughout Arkansas educating people in the industry about rate structures, including bringing in speakers to lecture on filed rates, ratings bureau rates, rates set by statute and variations of each of these models. Arkansas is one of a very few states that has no legal rate structure.
“I’ve been trying to educate myself and others in the title industry about what’s out there, what would be good for Arkansas. We’ve looked at a lot of neighboring states,” Jim said. “If Arkansas is forced into having some type of rate system, we want to educate [everyone] on what would be good for Arkansas, not only for the title industry but for consumers.”
Although Jim said he’d like to get more involved with ALTA, he suspects most of his time going forward will continue to be devoted to growing First National and spending time with his family, which includes his wife of 29 years, Leslie, and older children Garrett and Brooks.
“We usually take a trip somewhere – or sometimes two trips a year. I still try to get in a little fishing,” he said. “Last year in Cabo, I caught a 156-pound marlin that my son and one of his friends helped me reel in. I was glad they were there. It took us an hour and a half to get him in.”
He fondly recalls the 13 years he and his wife spent traveling throughout the country watching their children play on travel soccer teams. “I’ve seen a lot of the country, from Las Vegas to Orlando,” he said.
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