Consolidation or Worse?

The following appeared in Inman at the link provided below:

http://blog.inman.com/inmanblog/2008/01/siesmic-rumblin.html

Last month, California's Alliance Title threw clients (not to mention its own employees) for a loop by closing the doors of its offices without warning. Today, I've been checking out rumors that Mercury Companies Inc. -- the parent of Alliance and sister companies Financial Title and Investors Title -- may be preparing to pull out of the state altogether.

Here's what I've found: although the phones weren't working at Financial Title's corporate headquarters this morning, I eventually got a callback from a company executive who said Financial Title began winding down its operations in Southern California in October, and had wrapped the process up by Dec. 31.

Financial Title executive vice president Sandi Sigg told me the company's core market is Northern California, where "all of our offices remain open, and we are doing really well." Some Financial Title employees in southern California were hired by Alliance Title and Investors Title, Sigg said, and others went to work for Nations Title, taking accounts and clients with them. Nations Title took over some of Financial Title's offices, even keeping their phone numbers in some instances, she said.

At Investors Title, an employee at the company's San Bernardino office said the company is consolidating operations in Glendale. Division president and Los Angeles County manager Chris White's voicemail said he was in the office today, but he didn't return my call. The company's Web site says it's licensed to do business in six counties, but contact info for offices in San Diego and Ventura counties has been removed from the site.

My call to a spokeswoman for Mercury Companies was not returned (they didn't have anything to say in December, either, when Alliance Title shut down). Interestingly, the compay's Web site was also down today.

Meanwhile, Old Republic Title Company also appears to be closing or consolidating its SoCal offices in Glendale. When I called Old Republic offices today in Carlsbad, Chula Vista, Indian Wells, Lancaster, Ontario, Redlands, San Diego and Westlake Village, I either got a voice mail message saying the offices were closed and open files had been forwarded to the Glendale office, or, in a couple of instances, my calls were just forwarded directly to that office.

Multiple requests for comment to officials at Old Republic Title's regional headquarters in California and the company HQ in Minneapolis yielded no results.

If you were employed by any of these companies -- or employed their services -- I'd be interested in hearing about your experiences. Call me or shoot me an e-mail.

A title industry veteran who told me he'd managed county offices for both Alliance Title and Old Republic said Mercury and Old Repulic are employing the same strategy in Southern California: "Bring your wagons back into LA, and see if you can survive -- and if you can't, you turn out the lights."

The former manager said that while the downturn in the housing market has meant less business for all title insurers, both Alliance and Old Republic had profitability issues predating the current downturn.

UPDATE: An Inman News reader says Old Republic Title has disclosed to clients plans to close its office in Burlingame (that's south of San Francisco) in the next two weeks and consolidate in San Carlos. This reader expects other title companies in San Mateo County to make similar moves.

Also, Financial Title has closed its office in downtown Livermore (east of San Francisco). Call the old number there and you're forwarded to an office in Pleasanton, where a staffer told me, "all the Livermore girls" are now working.