By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Despite the tough housing market, Sun Title in Grand Rapids added two jobs in September, launched a new full-service division, and will end the year with double-digit profitability—better than 2007.
Thomas Cronkright, a partner in the business with Lawrence Duthler, credits the success to the company’s business model and the decision to waive or reduce closing costs for residential and commercial transactions.
“We have just our one office at 1410 Plainfield Ave. and our five Mobile Closing Units, which we use to cover a 50-mile radius around Grand Rapids,” Cronkright says.
The Mobile Closing Units are vans equipped with the technology and supplies the staff needs for marketing and to close transactions without ever having to return to the office — the vans go to the client, instead. Sun Title has applied for a business method patent and a utility patent.
Last year, the company determined a need for a full service department because transactions are complicated due to title issues related to foreclosures. Cronkright says nearly every transaction is now involved with foreclosure in some way because those are the properties people are buying today. The new department will clear off foreclosure issues to move the title forward.
Two weeks ago, Sun Title launched a plan to charge only $99 in closing costs, plus the title insurance regulated by the state, for every residential closing. That means no escrow fees, no wire fees, no document review fees, and that can save buyers $80 to $150 dollars. For every commercial sale over $500,000, the company waives the closing fee, saving $700 to $1,000 in costs.
“In commercial right now, every dollar counts,” Cronkright adds. “Sellers aren’t getting what they want and buyers want the deal of the century, so we thought we’d extend our hand to help.”
Source: Thomas Cronkright, Sun Title
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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