By Sandra Zunino

Real estate purchases are among the most complicated and important investment transactions one can make. That is why it is critical to use a title company with a good reputation and an abundance of experience.

Venture Title in Easton is dedicated to providing the utmost customer service to their clients. The title company’s job is to assemble all the information involved with the property from many sources including the buyer’s and seller’s mortgage companies, land records and court records, find any potential problems and make sure any judgments or liens against the property is clear before settlement.

The title company also prepares the plethora of documents that must be signed at settlement, handles all the monetary distributions and issues a title insurance policy for the buyer and the lender.

Venture Title Company handles both commercial and residential real estate transactions for the entire Eastern Shore, largely concentrating on Kent, Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Caroline and Dorchester counties. Mary Taylor, President of Venture Title Company recommends using a title company local to the property, because every county has minor differences that can affect the real estate purchase.

Because no two settlements are exactly alike, she also recommends using someone with a vast degree of experience. “You need experience with handling very different transactions on a daily basis,” says Mary. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and on a weekly basis, I will run into something new.”

Celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, Venture Title has more than 75 years of combined experience in the industry. Additionally, they have two national title companies as underwriters, Chicago Title Insurance Company and Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation, who also provide guidance when necessary. Venture Title is also supported by two local attorneys with extensive experience in real estate matters.

Because the industry is so dynamic, it is critical for title officers to stay constantly updated on any changes. For this reason, the staff at Venture Title regularly attends seminars and continued education classes.

Additionally, Venture Title’s employees are dedicated to helping out the community, volunteering time and work for the local Habitat for Humanity organization. Venture Title Company also handles the settlements for Habitat for Humanity.

Mary, along with Sallie Griswold and Harriet Fleenor founded Venture Title as an employee-owned company. This means that after employees have worked at Venture Title for three years, they share in a pool of privately owned stock and can benefit when dividends are declared.

“We all worked at another title company and decided to go out on our own,” explains Mary. “From the beginning, we wanted to utilize the concept of an employee-owned company.”

“The motivation was to give all the employees a real stake in our company,” she adds. “Everyone has an invested interest in every settlement, which has helped ensure the company’s overall success.”

At Venture Title Company, customer service is the number one priority. “We pride ourselves in customer service,” says Mary. “We know that real estate transactions can be very stressful for clients and we try to make them as seamless as possible.”