How to start a title company in Florida

Florida in one paragraph

Florida is a promulgated-rate state: the Office of Insurance Regulation sets the title insurance premium by rule, so every agency charges the same premium for the same policy and competes on service. Closings are conducted by title agencies (and by attorneys), the agency issues policies as the appointed agent of one or more underwriters, and the Department of Financial Services licenses both the individual title agent and the title agency. Escrow is regulated by statute and audited. Documentary stamp taxes on the deed and the note and the intangible tax on the mortgage are collected at closing. If you have read our general guide to how to start a title company, this page is the Florida-specific layer on top of it.

Step 1: the title agent license

Before there is an agency there has to be a licensed title agent, because the agency must be managed by one. Florida requires the individual to complete the state-approved title agent pre-licensing course, pass the state examination, submit fingerprints for a background check, and apply to the Department of Financial Services for the title agent license. Plan on the course and exam taking several weeks and the DFS review a few more.

If you or a partner already hold a Florida title agent license, this step is done. If you are coming from another state, Florida does not simply reciprocate title licenses, so budget for the course and the exam. Continuing education is required to keep the license, and DFS tracks it.

Step 2: the entity and the title agency license

Form the entity — most Florida agencies are LLCs — register it with the Division of Corporations, get the EIN, and open the operating bank account. Then apply to DFS for the title agency license, which is separate from the agent license and is what allows the business to write title insurance.

The agency application is where Florida’s financial responsibility requirements come in. Under Florida Statute 626.8418 the agency must carry a fidelity bond of at least $50,000, a surety bond of at least $35,000, and errors and omissions insurance of at least $250,000 per claim with a deductible of no more than $10,000. Underwriters frequently require E&O well above the statutory floor; $1,000,000 per claim is the common ask. Get quotes early, because the E&O market for a brand-new agency with no loss history is thin and slow. Our guide to title company startup costs puts numbers to all of this.

Step 3: the underwriter appointment

A Florida title agency cannot issue a policy until an underwriter has appointed it. The major national underwriters and several regional ones all write in Florida, and each has its own application: financials, the principal’s experience, the E&O certificate, the bonds, the escrow controls, and an interview. A first underwriter typically wants to see a plausible book of business — the Realtors, lenders and attorneys who will send files — before it appoints a startup.

Get one appointment to open; add a second within the first year so you are not captive. The underwriter also supplies the rate manual, the forms, the closing protection letter process and the annual audit requirements you will live by.

Step 4: escrow, the account and the controls

Florida regulates the escrow account by statute. Funds must be held in a separate trust account at a Florida-authorized institution, reconciled monthly, and never commingled with operating funds. Underwriters require three-way reconciliations, positive pay, dual control on disbursements, and wire verification procedures, and they audit for them. Set the controls up before the first file, not after.

Wire fraud is the existential risk. Build the procedure — verbal verification of every wiring instruction on a known number, no wiring instructions ever sent by email, no changes accepted by email — and build the website so it never publishes wiring instructions. See preventing wire fraud through your title website.

Step 5: software, plant access and the first counties

You will need production software (Qualia, SoftPro, RamQuest and others are common in Florida), a search vendor or plant access for the counties you will close in, and a document-management and e-recording setup; most Florida counties e-record. Pick the counties deliberately: Florida agencies win files locally, county by county, and the website you launch with should have a page for each one.

Florida’s closing math has specifics your calculators must get right from day one: the promulgated premium schedule, the reissue credit, documentary stamps on the deed at $0.70 per $100 (different in Miami-Dade), documentary stamps on the note, the intangible tax on the mortgage, and the county recording fees. Our Florida title company website page covers what we build into a Florida site.

Step 6: the website, before the first file

A new Florida agency has no referral history. What it has is a website, and that website is the first thing every Realtor, loan officer and attorney you approach will look at. If it shows a Florida-configured title calculator, a seller net sheet with doc stamps and intangible tax done right, a FAR/BAR contract deadline calculator, an order form and a page for each county you close in, you look like an agency that has been open for years. If it is a template with a phone number, you look like a startup.

Build it before you open, so the approval emails from the underwriter and the first outreach to Realtors point somewhere that earns the file. Title company website design covers what we build; the pricing page has the three plans, none of which require a contract, which matters when you are watching every dollar in year one.