Proper Title, LLC, a full-service title insurance agency serving the residential and commercial real estate industries, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Proper Title launched in 2013 with two offices in Chicago’s north suburbs – Northbrook and Libertyville. Since then, the title insurance agency has expanded to 14 closing offices spanning locations throughout metropolitan Chicago and Northwest Indiana.

In 2015, Proper Title founded Proper Giving, a nonprofit organization funded with a percentage collected from every residential and commercial transaction. To date, Proper Giving has donated $420,000 to local charities, with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago being the largest beneficiary. In addition, Proper Title employees volunteer at Lurie Children’s throughout the year and support the hospital’s annual Move for Kids walk. Proper Title also emails its attorney clients requesting they nominate their favorite not-for-profit charity for a quarterly charity nomination. Proper Title’s board of directors reviews the nominees and sends a $2,500 donation to the selected charity.

The decade-old title agency has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Startup Employers, has won the Fidelity Excellence in Action award for nine consecutive years and has twice been named to Crain’s Chicago Business’ “Best Places to Work” list. Other accolades include being named a top workplace by the Chicago Tribune in 2022, winning the REjournals’ Title Company of the Year award in 2022, and earning the WFG National Title Insurance Company Wow Award in 2021 and 2022.

“Proper Title’s evolution is unmistakably a result of our experienced, knowledgeable team building strong relationships and making customer service the top priority,” said Kathy Kwak, chief operating officer, Proper Title. “I’m looking forward to see where our continued standard of excellence will take us over the next 10 years and beyond.”

Established when the housing market was beginning to rebound from the Great Recession, Proper Title identified a growing demand among attorneys, brokers and lenders for concierge-level delivery of title insurance and escrow services. This customer-centric approach led to rapid expansion. By its fifth year, Proper Title had emerged as the fastest-growing title agency in the Midwest. In 2018, the agency added offices in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood and in west suburban Oak Brook, Ill. Offices in south suburban Orland Park and northwest suburban Park Ridge were added in 2020, and closing locations in Naperville, Ill., Schererville, Ind., and Valparaiso, Ind., opened in 2021.

“As someone who has been with Proper Title since day one, it has been exciting to see how we have risen to be one of the largest title insurance agencies in Illinois in just 10 years,” said David Zawadzki, vice president of business development for Proper Title. “I am grateful to our excellent team of professionals who have gone above and beyond in customer service and to our clients who have trusted us with their real estate closings.”

Residential title services

As the title insurance industry faced a rise in security threats over the past decade, Proper Title proactively implemented procedures and technology to ensure safe and smooth closings. For example, to protect clients from the increasing amount of wire fraud, Proper Title held training sessions with its staff and clients on tactics fraudsters use and how to avoid falling prey to them. Proper Title also partnered with ClosingLock, a secure and easy-to-use platform that protects clients from wire transfer fraud by exchanging secure wiring instructions, as well as providing instant payoff wire verification.

In 2020, new challenges to closing in-person arose during the COVID-19 pandemic – but Proper Title quickly pioneered a unique solution: curbside closings. Proper Title team members would wait outside homebuyers’ cars and watch them sign closing documents from their car, allowing all parties to safely and securely close real estate purchases and take advantage of refinance opportunities at historically low interest rates.

Commercial title services

On the commercial side, Proper Title has grown a nationwide portfolio of successfully closed properties that include commercial office, retail and industrial space, new-construction projects, multifamily buildings, deconversions, student housing, land, farmland and laboratories. In addition to title and escrow services, Proper Title’s commercial team completes 1031 exchanges.

In 2022, Proper Title’s commercial real estate closings were up 20% over 2021.

“As a boutique title insurance agency affiliated with multiple underwriters, we can bring significant savings to developers by shopping title policies to provide the best solution for our customers,” said Kim O’Donnell, vice president of business development for Proper Title. “We’ve hired some of the industry’s top talent to join our commercial title services team to service our growth in commercial closings.”

Other forward-thinking initiatives the firm took on during its first 10 years included hosting a series of popular Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars and courses – first hosted in person and then moving to social media platforms – to help real estate attorneys stay abreast of industry best practices. Proper Title’s CLE courses cover a variety of topics, from the latest on deeds, surveys and liens to marketing tips and closing procedures.

And as part of its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, Proper Title launched the Proper Title DEI Committee in 2021. The initiative invites all Proper Title employees to share their individual stories to foster a welcoming environment where colleagues can learn and grow from one another.

About Proper Title, LLC:

Chicago-based Proper Title, LLC, is a full-service title insurance agency serving the residential and commercial real estate industries. Since its founding in 2013, Proper Title has substantially grown its transaction volume in just a few years with its commitment to servicing the needs of its clients and was named Fidelity National Finance Family of Companies #1 Issuing Agent in Illinois for 2020. The firm has earned the “Rising Star / Excellence in Action” award by FNF for the past six years in a row and was awarded Crain’s Chicago Business “Best Places to Work” in 2019 and 2020. Proper Title was also named one of Forbes America’s Best Startup Employers of 2021. For more information, visit propertitle.com.