Why Traditional Title Companies Kill Real Estate Deals — And How Modern Investors Avoid It

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Show Summary

In this conversation, Megan Harris, founder and CEO of Empora Title, discusses the evolution of title services in the real estate industry, emphasizing the importance of digital transformation and investor-focused solutions. She shares her journey in the title business, the challenges faced in the industry, and how technology is reshaping the closing process. The discussion highlights the significance of transparency, the innovative live HUD feature, and the future of digital closings for real estate investors.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • Empora Website
    • Megan Harris’s Email Address: [email protected]
    • TYPE ‘Investorfuel2026’ in the EMAIL and you will get access to the next secret weapon to grow this year

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Megan Harris (00:00)
  Yeah, I love that you asked that Dylan because our goal is to make it so no matter who you’re working with Empora feels exactly the same. Your closing should be super easy and no matter who you work with, it should feel the same every time. So how it works is investor signs a contract. They go to our site. They upload the contract. We kick off all of the title work immediately and we actually give them an instant red flags report that tells them whether or not they have

  gotten all the people correctly on the contract, whether they have big title issues at play, just so they can know as soon as possible whether or not there’s a deal killer on that contract.

  Dylan Silver (02:14)
  Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Megan Harris is the founder and CEO of Empora Title. Empora is a digital first closing and title service for real estate investors. Megan, thanks for taking the time today.

  Megan Harris (02:30)
  Dylan, thanks so much for taking the Monday 8 a.m. slot. Really happy to meet with you all.

  Dylan Silver (02:35)
  Hey, it’s great to have you on here and digital first title, right? Making things ⁓ easier and simplifying the process for folks. I was listening to a podcast you were on before hopping on here with you and ⁓ it seems like for a long time people were maybe not open to the digital first process but of course there was a lot of demand for it, right?

  Megan Harris (03:00)
  Yeah, absolutely. So my background, I started in this business about a decade ago and I was actually building wire fraud prevention software for title companies. And long story short, I spent about five years meeting with them and seeing their processes and really seeing the role that title companies play in the closing process. Everybody knows that they handle an important step, but nobody really knows how it actually works. And so…

  I saw an opportunity to make it better and decided to start my own about five years ago now.

  Dylan Silver (03:34)
  When we talk about starting a title company, I know it’s different in whatever you are. you’re based out of Ohio. Was Empora based out of Ohio initially?

  Megan Harris (03:45)
  Yeah, we’re headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio community has been absolutely great supporting our first few years of growth, especially as we’ve gone through ⁓ different growing pains and Ohio is already a great market for investors. So we’re headquartered here and frankly, we’re going to continue to grow here as well.

  Dylan Silver (04:03)
  When we talk about launching a title company, there’s a ton of competition in title, right? So you’re in a big city like Columbus. How do you get started in that first couple months, in that first year? How do you get up to the on-ramp, right?

  Megan Harris (04:21)
  Yeah. So yeah, it’s a great story. So I was working at another tech company here in Columbus and had a lot of support in the early days getting Empora off the ground. And like many people, I got tapped into the investor community through a mastermind. So, you know, went to Costa Rica with about 35 real estate investors who have all since grown really successful businesses here in Columbus and really started leaning into creating partnerships with those folks.

  And it really took off from there. So one of the things that we’ve figured out that I don’t think any other title company really has the privilege of is how to get connected to new investors on almost every single closing.

  So because we focused 100 % on investors, our whole platform is tailored to people who are wanting to spend less time on title and closing and more time closing deals.

  Dylan Silver (06:03)
  Yeah, I mean, when we talk about ⁓ ways that these transactions can be facilitated, it is still somewhat of an antiquated process. It also feels like every place that you go to may have a slightly different. You also are not sure what type of communication you’re going to have. Walk me through what makes them for a different.

  Megan Harris (06:23)
  Yeah. So the first thing is that we are investor focused and that is the group that we tailor a hundred percent of our time and energy to. We have figured out how to train and grow a bench of escrow officers for national scale. So we are really focused on building local service at national scale. And there’s really no other title company that has a plan for

  ⁓ you know growing and retaining and really motivating top talent so You go to the title conferences. It’s there’s a huge problem in the industry right now where people are Retiring or leaving or finding other professions and you know, there’s not a ton of people going into title So from a talent perspective, that’s something that we’re we’re really focused on figuring out and we’re really aiming to build the top employer brand for closing professionals

  ⁓ After that, ⁓ go ahead.

  Dylan Silver (07:18)
  What’s the

  reason for that? it because margins can be slim and there is a lot of competition, That ⁓ people are in many cases overworked and they’re feeling like, well, I don’t have any opportunity to grow here and so I’ve been putting in all this time and this effort and I don’t see it translating. Is that why people are either looking for another opportunity or going to a different industry entirely?

  Megan Harris (07:48)
  Yeah, know, title companies, there’s a lot of really smart people who work inside title companies who’ve built their careers, learning everything that they’ve learned. But, you know, building a scalable operation that teaches other people that knowledge and really focuses on growth is a completely different mindset as a business owner. So that’s not something that a lot of the local companies necessarily have the time and resources to figure out. So

  You know, technology has certainly helped us with that quite a bit. And we strongly believe that technology, especially with everything happening in AI, is the secret weapon for investors of the next decade.

  Dylan Silver (08:29)
  Walk me through if we can the process. If I have a deal and I’m reaching out to Empora title, is there a standardized process like an intake from cradle to grave? Each deal is gonna be different of course, but walk me through the process.

  Megan Harris (08:46)
  Yeah, I love that you asked that Dylan because our goal is to make it so no matter who you’re working with Empora feels exactly the same. Your closing should be super easy and no matter who you work with, it should feel the same every time. So how it works is investor signs a contract. They go to our site. They upload the contract. We kick off all of the title work immediately and we actually give them an instant red flags report that tells them whether or not they have

  gotten all the people correctly on the contract, whether they have big title issues at play, just so they can know as soon as possible whether or not there’s a deal killer on that contract.

  And then they can go back to our site, they get assigned a dedicated point of contact who becomes an expert on their business and their deal that they can reach out to at any time. We call the sellers within two hours of getting the contract every single time and establish rapport with them.

  And then end buyers actually submit their earnest money via our site as well. So no more having to go to the bank to send wires. I know it’s a little bit different in Texas with your option money agreements that you all have down there, but for the most part, that’s how it works.

  And then leading up to closing, are able to, like you mentioned before, ⁓ close digitally and really lean into that piece. That’s something that has really become a national common theme for the past few years.

  ⁓ and probably the most exciting thing, Dylan, the piece that we released in 2025 that I am just personally so excited about is our live HUD feature. So we have spent, you know, about $30 million of technology investment capital to automate this process. And the result is, ⁓ investors can go to our site and get live numbers at any given time. As soon as they upload the contract and every day throughout the process, they know exactly where they stand.

  So no more having to reach out over email and ask for HUDs, ask for updates, wonder where things are. It’s all right there at their fingertips. So titles never in the way.

  Dylan Silver (11:29)
  Okay, that’s amazing. by the way, kudos to you for being able to overcome so many of those hurdles. Because even if it was doing one of those litium things, it would have been a huge service, right? You talked about like being able to upload docs and be assigned to someone and you see it there versus having to reach out every time and you you may be bounced around between multiple different people. So I like that it’s clear, but then also being able to offer like,

  logistical advantages, a digital HUD, right, that you have at your fingertips, that is such a huge advantage. And I know this because of having been in this space and working with, you know, flippers who are buying, you know, distressed assets, you oftentimes don’t get the HUD until like right before closing. And so that can throw everything off because now you’re talking about like super granular, what’s this line on the HUD and it’s multiple days before closing and…

  you’re thinking to yourself, well, this is gonna blow up the whole deal. Why is it so hard for Title in general, I’m not saying you specifically, but the industry, why is it so hard for Title companies to get a HUD breakdown prior to closing?

  Megan Harris (12:42)
  Yeah, it’s a great question. I’d say the first thing is they don’t have the technology and the systems that allow them to do it quickly. ⁓ So, you we’ve built our whole infrastructure to make it as easy as possible. So if a transaction coordinator puts in a purchase price when they upload the contract, that goes all the way through. It goes on to all their documents. It goes directly on the HUD. That’s obviously the easiest number to reference, but they don’t have the systems for it. And

  ⁓ To title companies credit, building a repeatable service model that really says, okay, this is our approach to customer service. This is who we serve and this is how we’re going to make it happen is a tough thing to do. technology is going to be the thing that really enables it for everyone. And it’s definitely, like I said, the secret weapon for the next decade.

  Dylan Silver (13:34)
  Without giving away all the gold, and I know this is probably a tricky area because it’s so complicated, what goes into creating a HUD breakdown? Are people pulling from like, hey, here’s a tax that we need to have in here, here’s local fees that we need to incorporate here? Of course, it’s gonna be different by every area. In some cases, our title officers having to reach out and get someone on the phone to identify

  the various ⁓ issues that could be coming up or fees that are associated, what goes into a hot break?

  Megan Harris (14:11)
  Yeah, well, I’m sure you know about this. I’m sure this will resonate with you as an agent, but, ⁓ you know, if you think about a HUD, it’s really just an agreement between two or more people. And there are about 30 other people who need paid. So sometimes I think about us as we’re the debt collectors of real estate. We make sure that everybody gets paid at closing and everybody is walking away whole.

  So really a HUD is just a ledger where every single person is getting their piece of the pie, whether it’s a bank that’s getting paid off, a law firm who’s handling a sticky situation. Obviously the agents are a really common thing, even in investor world. ⁓ The agreements in the contracts themselves, which are not necessarily standardized from one market to the next. ⁓ those are really the biggest pieces.

  Dylan Silver (15:43)
  wanna ask you about the retail side. I know you’re focused on investors and I’ve worked with investors for two years prior to becoming a realtor focused on retail, but for the first time buyers, they’ll look at a price of a home and they’ll say, okay, well, that’s probably the price of the home, right? But they oftentimes are not taking into account closing costs, right? And so they need a HUD breakdown.

  Two, does anything to your knowledge exist like this for retail buyers where they can see a HUD breakdown prior to closing? Or is it for them like, hey, a couple days before closing, you’ll get the HUD breakdown?

  Megan Harris (16:21)
  Yeah, you know, they can do it with us if they want. Right now. ⁓

  Dylan Silver (16:27)
  I ⁓ have to reach out to you for this because when people talk about one of the frustrations that is commonly voiced, some of it is the lending process and I understand that. Another of it is these costs that are obfuscated that you don’t necessarily see, that you feel like are then tossed on you at the end and it can be very frustrating. They’ve even implemented, I know in Texas specifically,

  like this three day period where you have to review the HUD, believe, because it is, you you don’t wanna get this thrown at you at closing or like the day before closing. So it’s good that they’re doing things like that. But to be able to have an idea of what it looks like, you know, with some certainty before that, potentially weeks before that is a huge deal.

  Megan Harris (17:17)
  Yeah, 100%. It really just keeps everybody aligned and it makes sure that there’s no surprises at the closing table. ⁓ You know, we have KPIs for every aspect of our process. We’re really, really happy when people show up to closing and leave with no surprises and say it was just a smooth, easy experience for them. ⁓ that obviously, I’m sure you know, as an agent, that just makes the whole process ⁓ more enjoyable for everyone, if that’s the case.

  Dylan Silver (17:45)
  Yeah, I think the more we have of that, the better. And then also too, I do think that because everyone is always on their phone, right? We’re gonna be leaning more into this idea of buying homes, maybe not 100 % digitally in 2026, but to some degree, people are gonna be going through the whole process on their phone, right? So they’re gonna be reaching out to the realtor. The realtor is…

  typically gonna refer them to a lender, but that process can be a little bit wonky. It may feel a little disjointed. So I could see people coming in and innovating that. But then the process of closing feels like another massive hurdle to overcome. So I feel like folks and realtors and investors who are able to really lean into digital, that you’re gonna set yourself a whole level above everybody else. So if I’m reaching out to a buyer and say, yeah, we’re gonna be

  closing digitally, we have imported title over here. That’s gonna be a huge difference maker versus someone else whose process is not going to be, ⁓ A, as good on the transparency and communication side, but also as simple, right?

  Megan Harris (18:57)
  Yeah, for sure. know, we see, frankly, one of the things that has been really interesting to us is everybody knows that there are ⁓ a lot of people in real estate who aren’t necessarily using technology in their day-to-day yet. Dylan, 70 % of every single seller, 70 % of all sellers that we’ve ever worked with log into our system to get information.

  So seven out of 10. whenever I point that stat out, investors are often surprised because they think like, most sellers are not tech savvy. I’m like, you have a couple of, you have a few people you work with every week who hate it. And oh, by the way, the rest of them actually are used to it. And to your point, most consumers expect it. So when I talk to agents and investors that we work with most commonly, they’re really focused on building brands that are forward thinking or high growth.

  And I have yet to find a single investor or agent who is ⁓ growing quickly and really building a market leading business without leaning on a more modern brand.

  Dylan Silver (20:05)
  Yeah, I mean, it’s critical right now, especially with the way things are going. At this point, if you’re not leaning into it, you’re maybe shooting yourself in the foot to some degree because things are gonna, you know, pace by you quickly, especially with the way things are going. We are coming up on time here though, Megan. Where can folks go to reach out to your team? How can folks learn more about important titles?

  Megan Harris (20:27)
  Yes, we would love to connect with the Investor Fuel community. And we actually have, in addition to our live HUD offering that we just put out in 2025, we also have another release coming up soon that is even bigger and even more game changing. And we would like to invite the Investor Fuel community to participate in it before anyone else. So they can actually reach out to me directly at [email protected]. You got the email of CEO right here, everyone. That’s how you know it’s real.

  And if you put InvestorFuel2026, we will get you access to your next secret weapon to grow this year.

  Dylan Silver (21:04)
  Megan, thank you so much for your time today. Thanks for coming on.

  Megan Harris (21:07)
  Thank you, Dylan. I hope you have a great rest of your day.