Judd Hoffman has been hired as chief executive officer for Proper Title LLC, an Illinois-based title insurance agency that’s backed by top independent real estate brokerage @properties. And they’re in expansion mode.
Hoffman was formerly “chief transformation officer” for States Title and president of its affiliate, North American Title Company. There, he oversaw States Title use of predictive analytics and technology on its title and escrow platform
He also spent eight years at First American Title Corporation, where he was president of its direct division.
Prior to his work in the title industry, Hoffman founded and led several companies in the communications and medical products industries.
“The organic growth that Proper Title has been able to achieve in one of the most competitive markets in the country is proof that this company does it differently and better, and this is what attracted me to this opportunity,” Hoffman said.
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Proper Title is backed by Chicago-based brokerage @Properties, which currently operates in nine states and launched a franchise program at the end of last year to accelerate national expansion. Now, with Hoffman as CEO, Proper Title is planning to scale its efforts nationally.
“We have built a great foundation in Illinois, and now with Judd at the helm, we’re excited to introduce Proper Title to a national audience,” said Mike Golden, co-founder of Proper Title and @Properties.
The company promoted Kathy Kwak, a 14-year industry expert as an attorney and underwriting counsel, to executive vice president and brought on Zjacobe Snyder as senior escrow officer in July.
The news comes just weeks after @properties announced its first franchise location – the Detroit brokerage shop formerly known as Alexander Real Estate. Snapping up Alexander is part of a “national expansion plan,” said Chris Lim, president of growth at @Properties, with the Windy City brokerage eying a “half-dozen” franchise announcements in the coming year.
In the latest RealTrends 500 brokerage rankings, @properties ranked ninth in transaction sides, with 33,259 in 2020. Its sales volume was $16.4 billion, good for eighth in the national brokerage rankings.
