Episode Summary

Sabrina Bier, Director of Digital Media and Education at Proper Title in Chicago, reveals how she uses AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to automate daily content creation while maintaining the human touch that builds relationships. She discusses Chicago’s unique attorney-driven closing process, common knowledge gaps among real estate agents about title insurance, seller impersonation fraud red flags, and practical strategies for making technical title topics engaging online. Sabrina emphasizes consistency over virality and shares how to time-block content creation alongside daily operations. She also breaks down the difference between condos and co-ops in Chicago.

About Sabrina Bier

Sabrina Bier is Director of Digital Media and Education at Proper Title. Featured on Episode 94 of the Title Agents Podcast with Mo Choumil, CEO of Alltech National Title.

Key Takeaways

• In a world where change is the only constant, Mo Shumil stands at the forefront, guiding title professionals to not just grow their businesses, but to master the art of innovation.
• With every episode, you’re handed the keys to unlock unparalleled growth and stay ahead of the curve.
• Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Title Agents podcast.
• I am your host, Mo Shumil, CEO of Alltech National Title.
• Today I have the pleasure of having Sabrina Beer from Proper Title in Chicago, where she serves as director of digital media and education.
• She helps create practical education for agents, attorneys, and other real estate professionals.
• So as we always start the show, we’d love to hear your story, where you grew up, how you get into this business, all that fun stuff about you that people don’t know.

Episode Chapters

Time	Topic
00:00	Segment 1
05:00	Segment 2
10:00	Segment 3
15:00	Segment 4
20:00	Segment 5
25:00	Segment 6
30:00	Segment 7
35:00	Segment 8

Full Transcript

In a world where change is the only constant, Mo Shumil stands at the forefront, guiding title professionals to not just grow their businesses, but to master the art of innovation. With every episode, you’re handed the keys to unlock unparalleled growth and stay ahead of the curve. Get ready for a transformative journey. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Title Agents podcast. I am your host, Mo Shumil, CEO of Alltech National Title. Today I have the pleasure of having Sabrina Beer from Proper Title in Chicago, where she serves as director of digital media and education. She helps create practical education for agents, attorneys, and other real estate professionals. Welcome to the show, Sabrina. Thanks, Mo. Thanks for having me. So as we always start the show, we’d love to hear your story, where you grew up, how you get into this business, all that fun stuff about you that people don’t know. Well, I think I’m no different than anyone else in title. I just kind of fell into it. You mean you did not go to school for title insurance? I did not. I went to school for mathematics, which is kind of weird. So I grew up in Houston, Texas, originally from New York, but my growing up years were in Houston. And then my alma mater is in Miami or South Florida, Florida Atlantic University. And then I graduated from college and as a first generation college grad, and my parents had both moved to the Chicagoland area. And I was waiting tables and bartending in South Beach, and they were like, absolutely not. So I came up here and it was the summer and I fell in love with the city of Chicago. And I’ve been here ever since. I’m not going to tell you how many years, because it’s been at least two decades. So I started working for a statistical software company, which is really interesting, Mo. They were doing like AI, what we know as AI now, way before it was ever defined. It was web mining, text mining, data mining. So it’s really cool because now my world has made a complete circle because I’ve been doing a lot of AI stuff. In 2005, I started dabbling in real estate. I got licensed realtor and I started dabbling. The market was hot like fire and I was doing it part time. And I decided to quit my software job and go full time as a realtor. And that was 2006. And I started building that business. And then 2007, the housing market crashed, I mean, burned and crashed. And I was like, oh, no, I’m in the middle of the ocean with a life preserver. Like, what do I do? And I started using that analytical side of me and started specializing in short sales and foreclosures. And I built a very successful real estate career as a real estate broker. I had a team. I was a top producer in the top 3% of Chicago real estate brokers from 2009 till 2013. And I had then some personal health issues. I had some health issues and the stress of just kind of that realtor vibe, always on the go and always on. And I think was getting to me and I felt like I owed it to myself to have kind of like a Monday through Friday, nine to five. And then I got this job at Proper Title. And I have been there ever since. It’s been 10 years now. And my health has been in remission. So there is something to that. Something to say about having weekends off. Yeah, something. I don’t know if I really have them off because I feel like my mind keeps going. I think it’s personality trait more than like what we do, but, you know, it’s great. So what’s one fun fact or surprising fact about Chicago real estate that most people don’t know? Like in the title industry? Yeah. So I think the biggest thing is that we use real estate attorneys in our transactions all the time. And that is very different than every other part of the nation. I think there’s like four other areas and it’s only in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs in the Collier County. It’s not even downstate Illinois. So it’s definitely, from a title insurance perspective, it’s definitely an extra step that a lot of other title agents and title companies in different parts of the nation don’t understand. It’s definitely very unique where actually the attorneys direct transactions to the title companies versus the realtor. That’s right. Yeah. And so we are also, we also have Proper Title also has offices in Northwest Indiana, which we like to call like a suburb of Chicago. But they function like a lot of the rest of the nation where the real estate broker orders title. So your role is focused on digital media and education. What’s your day like? Like day-to-day? Oh my gosh, every day is completely different. So my main job is really to kind of be the liaison in between the real estate brokers and then title and real estate attorneys. So we kind of clump all of this together. And to kind of build opportunities for real estate brokers to, in the Chicagoland area, to build relationships with attorneys and in the Northwest Indiana area to build a relationship with our title company. And so I truly strongly believe and always have believed that education is a huge component of that. And so a lot of what I do is build up educational programs for whether it be for our staff or for attorney-led broker trainings or proper title-led broker trainings or proper title-led attorney continuing education. So I spend all day thinking about ways to do that in person or digitally, including strategy for social media, strategy for just any kind of digital media in general. So what knowledge gaps do you see most often in newer real estate agents when it comes to title and closings? You know, it’s interesting and I am not embarrassed to say, although I should. I mean, I was like, I told you, a top producing realtor and I had no idea what title insurance was. And I mean, that’s crazy, right? But that’s what I’m trying to change. I think a lot of real estate brokers don’t really understand what title insurance does, why you need it, why it’s so important, and what happens on the back end. Like I knew the escrow side, right? I knew the closing table side. I knew where I picked up my check. But I didn’t really understand all the types of liens and judgments, et cetera, that come along with purchasing a property that needs to be cleared. I didn’t understand that. And I think a lot of brokers don’t. So I feel like it’s my part to really try to make sure that they understand that. And what do experienced agents still get wrong, even after years in the business, from your experience? Yeah, I think a lot of times they don’t know what they don’t know, right? So all of us in the title insurance industry, I mean, I feel like we learn something new every single day, right? So if this is our niche and we’re learning new stuff every day and can only imagine what the real estate brokers are learning every day, some of the big things I think is they don’t really understand who owns the property sometimes, especially if it’s something like where a parent passed away and the kids are trying to sell the property or anything like that. But they don’t really understand that. They don’t understand like easements and encroachments and survey disputes. There’s just so many pieces of title that they don’t really understand. So my approach has always been like, here’s my cell phone number. You don’t need me until you need me. You don’t know you need me until you need me, right? So just put my name in there, put title insurance, put proper title. And that way, when a title thing comes up, you can just call me. And I might not know the answer, but I know the people that know the answer. You’re one call away, one person away from getting the answer. Exactly. So how does a better title education actually translate into smoother transactions in real estate? Yeah, I think getting ahead of stuff, right? So the more you know, even if it’s like you don’t know it, but like I said, you know who to call, even if you don’t know the answer, but also to hear as people are talking kind of like red flags, if you will, or …