United Title of Texas closes doors in Texas

United Title of Texas shuts down statewide
Six Houston-area locations affected; scheduled closings today in jeopardy
By NANCY SARNOFF Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
July 30, 2008, 11:48AM
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United Title of Texas has closed all its offices around the state, including six in the Houston area, because of financial troubles related to its Colorado-based parent company.
"They closed these companies as I understand because they have a line of credit for which they failed to meet covenants of," said Jim Hilburn, who had been chairman and CEO of the Austin based title company since October 2006.
United Title is a subsidiary of Mercury Cos., which owns title agencies in California, Colorado, Texas, Oregon, Nevada and Arizona.
Hilburn was told late yesterday afternoon that the company was ceasing operations in Texas.
About 60 employees in the Houston area and 190 statewide were affected.
The local offices are in Clear Lake, Pearland, Cinco Ranch, Cypresswood, The Woodlands and on Richmond Avenue. United Title also has offices in Tyler, Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio.
The company's title files will be turned over to First American, one of Mercury's largest underwriters, said Hilburn, who was waiting for First American officials to arrive at his office Wednesday morning to discuss the transition.
"We have a lot of closings that are supposed to occur," he said. "If people miss closing dates, they can lose their loans. The ones today could be in jeopardy."
Hilburn said Mercury, a family-owned company that's been around since 1946, began expanding rapidly during the recent housing boom.
The company operates a network of more than 500 branches and has some 6,000 employees, according to its web site.
But Hilburn said those ranks had shrunk significantly as the company was scaling back operations and eliminating jobs.
"They were expanding tremendously in multiple states," he said. "That takes a lot of money."
nancy.sarnoff@chron.com