How to Automate Your Title Agency with AI & Tech | Ep 34

In a world where change is the only constant, Mo Shamil 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. Welcome to the Title Agents podcast. If you're passionate about growing your title business and staying ahead of industry trends, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel or follow us on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode.

Today, we're joined by Ben Bell, a leader in the title industry with deep family roots, including connections to Lantech, one of the original title production platforms. Now as the owner of multiple agencies in Florida and other markets, he's helping agencies navigate technology, automation, and the future of title. Ben, you come from a family with deep history in the title industry. Can you share how that background influenced your career path? Sure.

So, my grandfather actually started Bell Title up in Michigan back in the 1970s, which is still a pretty big title agency today. I talked to Mark Crosser the other day, they have about 20 offices in Michigan. But anyway, so my grandfather started that title company. My dad used to do the HUDs by hand, you know, kind of helping him out when he was a kid. And then he went to Michigan State and studied, you know, software and robotics and whatnot, kind of put the two and two together and started Lantech, the closing software.

So he started that back in, geez, I think late 70s, early 80s. I got into it, I finished college in 2009, so in 2010, I got in. Where did you go to college? I went to Ole Miss originally and then finished at Florida Atlantic. And then, so I jumped in, I was doing sales and, you know, training title agents throughout the country.

So that was kind of my way into the industry, which was an interesting way to go, got to see how different states did different things and whatnot. And then when he passed away in 15, we ended up selling the company a few years later and launched my own title agency. So I guess it's in our blood and the Bell family to be in the title industry in some realm. So can you tell us what insights you gained from growing up in a title company environment? Yeah, you know, it was interesting to see just how people do, you know, how they do the title industry in different areas.

You know, Texas does it one way and Florida does it one way and the attorney states do it another way. And, you know, we had a lot of customers that were, you know, just an attorney and his wife. And then we had other clients that were, you know, doing thousand deals a month, you know, big firms up in your area. So it was interesting to see how people did things differently and, you know, small, big, different areas of the country. So definitely some insights, you know, having those different experiences.

So what are some of the biggest ways the title industry has evolved since those early days? Yeah, I mean, from the early days, I remember my dad telling me that his whole goal, you know, used to take you two hours to do a HUD by hand. And so when he started LandTech, I think you got it down to doing it in about 30 minutes on an old DOS program. And, you know, just the other day I saw an email from Qualia, you know, an AI tool that they could balance the CD for you. So I mean, if you go from those early days till now, I mean, geez, there's a that's a whole different world and it's going to get better and better, I think, but we'll see.

Yeah. So how do you see technology reshaping the title industry compared to when LandTech was first introduced? Yeah, I mean, when it was first introduced, it was just basically going from hand to having a computer spit it out and, you know, now you have integration and, you know, you got e-closings, you know, which hopefully that comes to light. But, you know, just technology as it as it goes along changes all businesses. You know, you used to have to go to the courthouse and do the search yourself.

And now you're getting a commitment and in 24, 48 hours that flows right into your software. So it's definitely come a long way from the stories I've heard. So being in the being in the industry now. Yes. So, you know, you and I are big on technology.

And so we both talked to a lot of agency owners. What do you think the biggest barriers for tech adoption in the talent industry today? And how can they be overcome? You know, I think in general, people are kind of afraid of change. So I think you need, you know, a leader in the office that will that will kind of implement the new technology, someone that'll, you know, I call them gatekeepers, kind of get the gatekeepers to, you know, utilize this new integration, this new technology, you know, go to your different trade shows, go to, you know, network with other title agents, see what they're doing.

You know, it's it's just people are afraid of change. I think you need someone to kind of push the envelope in the office to get them to use the new stuff. So so so still a lot of companies still use legacy systems. What's your approach or your advice or to balance in modernization with the operational stability, as you know, when you try something new and that fear and stuff breaks and people make give up and go back to the old ways? Yeah, agreed.

You can't be afraid to change. You know, you have to like I said before, you have to kind of pay attention to the tools that are out there. You have to, you know, maybe do some trial runs with them. You know, you have you have to see what works for you. But if you stay stagnant, you're going to get passed up.

So, you know, there's a lot of new technology that's coming out. You know, every year you go to a trade show or or you read the out articles or title report. There's so much out there. So you just have to you have to pay attention and be on top of it and don't be afraid to implement it. So I love your tagline, Close with Bell, and you have multiple brands.

Can you just make what makes your agency stand out in the competitive markets in Florida and other markets too? Sure, so I'm at Close with Bell, Bell Land Title. You know, we we have a few different angles we think help us. You know, technology is obviously one. We have the we have the tools to to make everything flow efficiently internally.

And secondly, we we realize that, you know, we're in the service business. So we're only as good as our last deal. And, you know, communication is key. We have to communicate with with all the parties to the transaction. So, you know, we like to overpay for the best processors in Florida.

You know, we tried another angle we have is, you know, we try to merge in smaller title agents or or agents that may be aging out on a 50-50 split, which has really helped us grow in Florida. And, you know, obviously I have a little bit of an angle there from having the contacts with, you know, older clients from land tech and, you know, just being in the industry for so long. So, you know, it's it's technology, communication and, you know, a lot of a lot of title companies just go after just the realtor and the mortgage broker. There's a there's another angle to get the other title agents to merge in with you, which not a lot of title agents in Florida I see doing that angle, which is has been successful for us. What trends are you seeing in Florida title industry that agency owners should be paying attention to?

Yeah, it's a good question. You know, Florida, as you know, is a lot of affiliated business. I mean, a lot of affiliated business of every real estate broker. Everyone wants to kind of have a piece of the game. So I think you really have to make sure you have a good rest of the attorney and that you're, you know, crossing every T and dotting every I, making sure you're reading the rules from Florida Department of Financial Services, because, you know, it's a really to be successful in Florida, you're going to have to have some affiliated business arrangements.

You got to make sure you're doing those things the right way. How do you share a high quality customer experience and what role does technology play in that and how you do things with your company? Yeah, I mean, communication, obviously, the biggest role for the customer experience. So we make sure that, you know, the processors are making their calls and doing their text. But technology plays a big part in that because, you know, there's auto updates to what's going on in the file.

You know, there's portals they can log into. So technology plays a huge role in the communication, which I think is the the biggest part of the customer experience. You're you're a strong advocate for automation and operational efficiency. How do you implement automation in your business? Yeah, so we found, you know, having departments is as really made it efficient for us.

We have a team that, you know, opens the file, orders the title search, and that'll flow to a junior processor who, you know, sends the welcome letters, orders, lane searches, surveys, orders, payoffs, things like that. And then it'll go to a more of a senior processor, you know, that that does the hard work, the balancing of the CD, creating the closing documents, you know, scheduling the closing. And then we have a full funding department that handles all of the wires, dual factor authentication, fraud prevention, and a post-closing department that'll do, you know, the recording and the final policy. So having it departmentalized, I think, has has really made it flow well, and obviously integration is big. things like that.

And then it'll go to a more of a senior processor, you know, that does the hard work, the balancing of the CD, creating the closing documents, you know, scheduling the closing. And then we have a full funding department that handles all of the wires, dual factor authentication, broad prevention, and then a post-closing department that'll do, you know, the recording and the final policy. So having it departmentalized, I think has really made it flow well. And obviously integration's big, you know, you have to be integrated with your underwriter for the searches, you know, simplify for the e-reporting. Just having every integration you possibly can really makes things flow well, and most of that's available.

Yeah, and for those of you in different parts of the country that may not use the word processor, that's the same as escrow officer, closer, paralegal, there's so many terminologies, but the same exact- Yeah, more of the, more to link up. I think it's more East Coast processor. Yeah, East Coast. Jordan, East Coast. Yeah.

So some startup companies are starting to leverage offshore talent to improve efficiency, and you're one of them, obviously. Have you adopted this approach, and what has been your experience? Yeah, so we use a great company called Sapphire Virtual that you might know something about. And what's great about them is they offer virtual assistants that basically are the role of the junior processor. And they're offshore, but they speak and type perfect English.

They're already trained in the title space, so they're able to jump in and start opening orders, ordering searches, sending welcome letters, getting payoffs. They help with clearing title, and it's pairing them with a good senior processor has really been a really efficient tool for us and a cost savings, and it really helps your bottom line when you look at what you can get a virtual assistant for versus hiring someone for that same role in the States. But I think the key is pairing them with someone really good here, and I think that really helps your workflow and helps your bottom line big time. Yeah, you and I see eye to eye when it comes to dedication offshore. It really baffles me, like you're paying somebody extremely high salary, like a processor, escrow officer, or even sometimes the agency owner to do like a data entry or chasing payoffs or like little tasks anybody can do.

Exactly, kind of busy work. Our philosophy is that our senior people, highly skilled people, they have to focus on highly skilled tasks and communicate is the number one thing in our industry, like literally the biggest competitor here is communication, it's by the- All the time, yep, absolutely. We're very aligned on our thought process, it seems like. So what advice would you give to agency owners who struggle with delegation and scaling their teams effectively? Those kind of micromanagers and want to control everything.

Yeah, I mean, I would just say, just don't be afraid to try it because there's tons of technology and cost-effective solutions out there. You don't have to be working 20 hours a day and think that you're the only one that can do it. There's a lot of skilled people and there's a lot of skilled people that have developed technology to help you. And if you kind of run the numbers, you'll realize that it's all about the bottom line in the end as a business owner. So you have to jump in there, you have to network with other agents, you have to go to trade shows, walk around the vendor areas, see what they're offering, and just don't be afraid to do it.

You can't be kind of a gatekeeper, I call it, and do everything yourself. Yeah. So if you could change one thing about the teller industry today, what would it be? For me, I still, the e-signatures, I wish they would get to where the lenders would allow it. I mean, to do a 200-page lender package signing is still pretty painful with wet ink.

And it's come a long way. In Florida, we have the RONs, which works, a remote online notary, works really well for the seller docs and whatnot. But we need to get the lenders on board to do a full e-closing. And I think that would streamline the process and help them. Amen, brother, I've been pushing for that for years.

For years, yeah. I mean, I just, yeah, and a couple of lenders, I think Guaranteed Rates and Rockets already have full kind of digital closing. Yeah. But hopefully the rest will follow, I mean. I agree.

It makes it so inefficient. You can do a few of the docs e-sign, but if you have to do the others wet ink, it kind of cheats the purpose. Where do you see the title industry in the next five to 10 years, especially with AI automation and eventually blockchain? I do believe blockchain is gonna have an effect at some point, but I don't know how. Yeah, I agree with that.

I mean, next five, 10 years, e-closings, obviously I hope that comes. I was reading something the other day where one of the underwriters was talking about AI doing automated underwriting to kind of assess the risk. And the title defect. So I could see that coming into play. That's somewhat scary in a way, but AI is powerful and only get better and better.

Yeah, blockchain for the records. You've already heard some local areas talk about doing that. So you always think technology, hey, it can't get any better than this, but it can. So it'll be interesting to see, but I think automated underwriting, blockchain for the records, e-closings, I think those are some of the mind blowing things that you'll see over the next five to 10 years. Awesome.

What's your favorite quote? My favorite quote's always one that my dad said, it takes no talent to show up on time. Wow. I never heard that before, but it's very deep. Simple, but deep.

Simple, but deep. Exactly. Do you have a favorite book? Yeah, so you sent me the question before and I was thinking about that. My favorite book's a book called A Land Remembered and they make you read it in Florida when you go to high school here.

And it's a book about the history of Florida. It starts kind of pre-Civil War when no one was really in Florida, way up in the panhandle. And it goes through three generations of a family that kind of goes from moving to Tampa to Orlando and eventually down into Palm Beach and Miami. And it's just, everyone's a transplant in Florida. So not many people think about the history and whatnot of Florida.

So that always intrigued me, kind of how the state started from all this swampland to what it is today. The magnificent, one of my favorite states is Florida, as you know. Yeah, absolutely. If you ever get a chance, check that book out because it's very interesting about how Florida became what it did. Awesome, on a fun note, how's your golf game?

You know, pretty good right now. Not bad, because we've had such good weather here in Florida so I've been getting to play a little bit more. So how about yours? I'm getting more strokes, right? That's what you say.

Yeah, Andy Capp's a little ill right now. Are you guys able to play right now or? It was today, February 6th. It's literally 28 degrees outside and sleet and rain. So no, a lot of indoor golf.

We need to get down here and we can play then. I can't wait. Any final words for our audience, Ben? No, I appreciate you having me on. And if anybody has any questions or wants to talk title, I'm always game.

And I appreciate you having me and this was fun and look forward to chatting with you more. Awesome, well, Ben, this has been an incredible conversation. Thank you for sharing insights on technology, automation, and the future of the title industry. For our listeners, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave us a review, hopefully a five. And if you want to connect with Ben or learn more about Close with Bell and his companies, we'll have a link in the show notes.

Thank you for tuning in to the title agent's podcast. We'll see you next time. Thank you so much, Mo. Have a great day. And that's a wrap on today's journey with Mo Shamil from the title agent's podcast.

Reminding you that mastering the art of innovation is key in the title industry's fast-paced world. If you're finding it tough to keep up with the changes and challenges, remember you're not alone. Our calendar is open for you. Find the link in the show notes and let's connect. Make sure to hit subscribe to not miss out on strategies that elevate and insights that empower.

Together, we'll navigate the future of the industry. I look forward to our next meeting in the upcoming episode. Keep pushing, keep innovating, and see you in the next episode.