Stewart Title, a provider of title insurance and related services, knows a thing or two about customer convenience. They have, after all, been in the business for nearly 120 years. The company got its start in 1893 in Galveston, Texas, and has since grown from a national company to an international one, operating from Mexico to Canada to Australia and Europe. Now in their 4th generation, a significant portion of the company is still family-owned.
While many things within the company have changed over the last century, Stewart Morris Jr., president and co-CEO of Stewart Information Services Corporation and president of Stewart Title Company, says that there is one thing that will never change: their focus on serving the customer. According to Morris, the company’s dedication to providing their customers with a solid knowledge of the real estate transaction has endured over time, but what has changed is the company’s focus on technology, its incorporation into the real estate process, and the added convenience it provides the customer.
“Today’s consumers want to be better informed about their home purchase or sale,” states Morris. Over the last few years, Stewart Title has come up with several technologies that allow their REALTOR® customers and their clients to be better informed and to educate themselves on what the transaction process entails.
The company has come up with four real estate technology services that offer convenience to the real estate professional and their clients—giving them access to their real estate transaction at a time and place convenient to them.
The first of these technologies that a REALTOR® would encounter when doing business with Stewart Title is their online quote and ordering system, which allows the customer to price and order services with ease through the use of an app or local Stewart Title office website.
“Another touch point with our customers includes looking at their file and checking the status of their transaction,” says Morris, referring to Stewart Online™, which allows the user to check the status of their transaction throughout the entire process. A sister service is the company’s app, My Files™, which enables clients to access all of their files and information through their mobile device.
Another convenient technology that Stewart Title provides is their Weekly Summary Report™. This feature, according to Morris, is especially helpful for real estate professionals who are often handling multiple transactions at once and not often in their office to look at a computer.
Morris points out that a fifth, and non-technology way that the company offers convenience to their clients is through personal contact. “The real estate business is still a relationship business, and our associates are always on hand to visit with our clients, answer their questions and help with the next transaction,” says Morris. “We are certainly not replacing personal contact with technology; we are just providing a few more ways to communicate with us and help make our REALTOR® customers’ job a little easier.”
Morris notes that of all things the company believes, it’s investing in their customer. “We feel it’s important to evolve and progress and enhance the real estate transaction process to make it more convenient and accessible. If we are continuously improving and enhancing, then we are investing in the future of our customer experience.”
For more information, please visit www.stewart.com/convenience.