Licensing, insurance, software, escrow controls and the runway before your first closing. What to budget for, and where new agencies underestimate.
Title is licensed state by state, and the cost of opening differs accordingly — filing fees, bond requirements, minimum capital and whether you need a physical office all vary. The ranges below are planning figures to build a budget around, not quotes. Confirm each one with your state regulator and your underwriter.
Title Engine works with agencies in all 50 states, and the gap between the cheapest and most expensive state to open in is wide enough that it is worth checking before you commit.
Filing fees, operating agreement, registered agent. Typically the smallest line on the list and the one people over-think.
Agency licence, individual licences, fingerprinting and background checks, plus renewals. Multiply by every state you intend to operate in.
Required by essentially every underwriter agreement. For a new agency at a $1,000,000 limit, budget roughly $4,000 to $12,000 a year depending on state, limits, deductible and claims history. Read the retroactive date on any renewal or replacement policy carefully.
Covers theft of escrow funds by your own staff, and is frequently required by the underwriter rather than the state. Priced off the limit you carry.
Separate from errors and omissions, and usually excluded from it. Wire fraud is the loss most likely to actually hit a title agency, so treat this as core rather than optional.
Your order-to-policy system, priced per user or per file, plus integration and training. Ask what your underwriters require for policy remittance before you choose.
Account setup, positive pay, and either software or an outside accountant for monthly three-way reconciliation. Do not economise here.
Either salaried examiners or per-file abstractor costs. This is your largest variable cost and the one that most affects per-file margin.
The biggest line by far. Licences and appointments take months, and payroll starts before revenue does. Budget runway, not just setup.
A site with calculators, net sheets and online ordering, plus local SEO. Our plans run $49–$399 a month, which makes it one of the few fixed costs on this list you can size precisely in advance.
There is no single figure, because licensing, bonding and capital requirements differ by state. Build the budget from the categories above and confirm each with your state regulator and underwriter. The largest line is almost always runway — payroll before your first closing.
Staff and the runway to your first closed file. Licences and underwriter appointments take months, and you are paying people throughout.
For a new agency at a $1,000,000 limit, roughly $4,000 to $12,000 a year is a reasonable planning range, driven by state, deductible, sublimits and claims history.
It depends on the state. Some require a physical place of business; others allow remote operation, particularly where remote online notarisation is permitted.
Very little on the compliance side. Marketing spend and headcount can scale with volume, but licensing, insurance, escrow controls and reconciliation are all day-one costs.
The full step-by-step guide.
Where the revenue comes from.
Plans from $49–$399/mo.
White-glove build for your agency.
Title and closing cost tools.
Online order and intake forms.
We'll reach out shortly to set up your demo.