Franklin Title Agency, LLC

OPENING OUR NEW BRANCH IN DOWNTOWN NORTHVILLE MARCH 2008! I am looking to hire a experienced (with a book of business) Title Sales Rep / Account Executive preferrably from the Northville / Novi / Plymouth area for my new office I am opening in February in Downtown Northville! ___________________________________________________________Y OU ARE INVITED To ROYAL OAK for a Laid Back, Fun, Upbeat & Educational (non-sales) Seminar on Michigan Real Estate & Financing in Today's Michigan market focusing on what's really happening in Michigan right now dealing with the Real Estate Market & Mortgages from the Experts. There will be a panel of 6 - 8 (Realtor, Loan Officer, Title Insurance, Home Owners Insurance, Home Appraiser, Credit Repair, Foreclosure Expert, & Home Inspector) educating you on what's REALLY going on today in Michigan vs. hearing the info from your neighbor, co-worker, or the guy in line at the grocery store. ____________________________________________________________ There will be refreshments provided along with hand outs and enough info to make YOU the Expert! Location: Washington Building 2nd floor above D'Amato's at 222 Sherman in Downtown Royal Oak, Monday, APRIL 7th from 6:30-8:30pm ____________________________________________________________ $20.00 at the door: (50% of the proceeds go to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan) ____________________________________________________________ For more information contact me ASAP. Sponsored by: Keith Stonehouse - Franklin Title AgencyHOME OF THE $150.00 REFINANCES and CLOSINGS ANYWHERE-ANYTIME!GO TO WWW.FRANKLINTITLEAGENCY.COMWe are an innovative company striving to streamline the closing and escrow process. Our highly trained, informative, and friendly staff is on hand to work for you. Our company can save you time and money throughout the title process by eliminating the need for unnecessary phone and fax calls. Imagine working without the frustration of leaving voice mail calls and waiting for a response.This can be accomplished by using our interactive website to handle all of your title ordering, scheduling, and closing needs. This site offers you the ability to completely track the processing of your title orders with us. All of your information will be kept confidential and is password protected for your security.Once you place an order using this site, all future information will be provided to you on your own account page, FREE of charge. Using this page, you will be able to print your commitments, schedule your closings, review HUD-1 Settlement statements, and communicate with our office. You will be notified via email whenever information is posted to your site.Again, welcome to a new way of doing business. We look forward becoming partners in closing your loans. Title firm uses name identity, Web to grow Seminars, fundraisers, online networking and e-mail help the agency expand to second office. Maureen McDonald / Special to The Detroit News ROCHESTER HILLS -- Nearly every Monday, Keith Stonehouse, co-owner of Franklin Title Agency, pours himself a coffee from the office pot by 8:30 a.m., dials up Frank Sinatra on his iPod and cruises his Motor City network for a weekly listing of networking events and charitable fundraisers.Within an hour Stonehouse, 28, will identify functions from a networking class at the Sterling Heights, Utica, Shelby Chamber of Commerce to a seminar on raising money at the Birmingham Community House. He sends the list out to more than 1,000 e-mail recipients, embellished with his advertising message."Five years ago business came to you. Today you must lock down leads wherever possible," Stonehouse said, noting name identity helps because people can select their own title agent for any real estate or mortgage closing. He'll travel to Flint, Farmington, Lansing or Rochester Hills to close a deal.While financial numbers are held close to the vest, the firm -- aided by majority owner Susan Pierucci and taking several people from title companies that downsized, expanded to 13 employees. It is opening a second office in Northville this spring. Growth comes from name recognition and referrals.Stonehouse tosses martini parties through Tempus Networking, a charitable group. He runs networking events at Mongolian Barbecue in downtown Royal Oak, organizes steak and burger fundraisers for the Boys and Girls Clubs and encourages blood donations for the American Red Cross after seminars on sales success.Aiming at young condo buyers and the active online scene, Stonehouse installed four pages for his agency on MySpace.com, added introductory pages on ActiveRain.com, NetworkPods.com, WannaNetwork.com/Stonehouse and LinkedIn.com."People know I'm out there plugging, that's what drives me," Stonehouse said.The agency's interactive software facilitates same-day turnover times on title orders. He found a competitive edge by offering real estate agents free, one-year paid home warranties on home purchases and set a flat $150 rate to customers for title work on refinancing a home.This month he began assembling a group of loan officers, mortgage brokers, real estate brokers and investors to conduct seminars in 10 Michigan cities in 2008 called The Reality of Realty Tour."We're picking up guys that flip one to 100 houses a month. I'm looking to get the title insurance on the deals."Networking online is the hottest trend in the business, according to Ka Luo, director of corporate communications for the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Linked In. The service has more than 102,000 members in Metro Detroit, 18 million nationally."So many people are scared. They don't know how to go out and get business. We do positive things and we promote our businesses," Stonehouse said. ____________________________________________________________ www.wcrt.org Join us Tuesday December 4th at 6:30 for our next WCRT Detroit Event, Success by Association. __________________________________________________________ The WCRT Detroit Presents:Keith Stonehouse - Vice President of Franklin Title Agency __________________________________________________________ Coming from Franklin Title Agency, the Founder of Tempus Business Networking, and The Reality of Realty Seminar Tour Keith Stonehouse brings a wealth of experience and great insight into our market and real estate in general. What is our market like now and how can we capitalize on it? What has changed recently with closings? Keith will be coming to answer these questions and more. He will be speaking to us on what he has encountered in the Real Estate world here in Michigan in dealing with Mortgage and Real Estate Transactions. Encountering of course from the title and closing end of the transaction over the last 8 years. Utilizing his experience in title work and closings over the past 8 years, he will be speaking to us on the nature of our business today vs 2 years ago and what we have to look forward to. We will be diving into everything from foreclosures to subprime, from fha to cash deals in yesterdays market vs. today! ___________________________________________________________ You can find Keith's articles published in Crains Detroit Business, RealView Detroit Real Estate Review, and most recently The New York Times Real Estate Section. Google Crains Detroit Business Keith Stonehouse and Google New York Times Keith Stonehouse.Here is the article that is in the New York Times within a much larger article talking about Real Estate issues across The United States, Keith Schnieder - Writer for the NYT called me last week to interview me after getting my name thrown at his desk a couple few times along with crossing over my name online numerous times doing a search for michigan real estate, networking, and title insurance............ “People in this business much older than me say they’ve never seen anything like it,” said Keith Stonehouse, a vice president with the Franklin Title Agency who teaches professional development seminars, like the “Reality of Realty,” in the region.“I saw a guy buy a house for $2.1 million in Bloomfield last year — a brand-new house,” Mr. Stonehouse said. “He got hit by the economy and never moved in. Now the house is on the market for $950,000, and it might not sell for that much.” - Google: New York Times Keith StonehouseVirtual business networking helps Keith Stonehouse, Vice President of Franklin Title Agency in Rochester, raise money for his favorite charities and recruit referrals that wouldn't necessarily come from singing the national anthem at Rotary meetings. But others insist face-to-face interactions, "hello-my-name-is" badge in place, still hold a vital place in small-business marketing. "In my experience the online business networks are one-dimensional. Along with the big players, thousands of business professionals seek to make their presence known among colleagues and potential customers. Stonehouse sends regular announcements to his e-mail roster notifying them of in-person networking events, including his own monthly martini group for young business people called Tempus Networking. "At least half of my business comes from online, out-of-the-box networking, but it is important to have live events as well," Stonehouse said. "Most other networking groups ask you to make a one-minute speech about yourself. We ask people to take ties off, have a martini and relax while sharing business cards." When it comes to online networking, he finds it a fast medium for commercial trade. "If you show people a benefit, remind them of options, people will click with you right away; you are in the same virtual medium," he said. After doing business, he makes a database entry for every contact. Contractors, real estate agents, builders and potential home buyers are all grist for the title insurance mill. For any request, he can refer business to his online network of professional associates assembled on the Troy-based networkpods.com. He has a custom profile page that acts as an interactive brochure. He also maintains a presence on linkedin.com, where users have free access to basic information and pay $19.95 to $200 a month to see something beyond the superficial billboard. "The first thing I do when I wake up and last thing I do at night is check my business networks," Stonehouse said.CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS: February 11, 2008 - PEOPLE: WEB EXTRA Nonprofit board elections and appointments.Nonprofit board elections and appointments from the week of Feb. 4, 2008: Keith Stonehouse to chairman of the board, the Matilda R. Wilson Boys and Girls Club, Auburn Hills. ____________________________________________________________ Unlike any time in recent memory, the topic of real estate has been making its way to water coolers, coffee shops and online discussion groups and blogs just in the same way as the latest celebrity arrest or last weekend’s big game. Unfortunately, by the time a story or topic gets told and retold, it comes out something like the commercial that starts out with “Bobby’s got an Oreo Cakester” and ends up with “Billy got his first chest hair.”That bugs Keith Stonehouse, vice president of Franklin Title Agency in Rochester Hills. “There are so many myths and rumors about what’s really going on in the market. People think only people in the City of Detroit are having their homes foreclosed and you can’t get refinanced. People want straight answers,” he said.So he figured, why not get the right answers out in the public the same way they’re getting wrong answers by coordinating a series of meetings, the Reality of Realty, which he calls “a laid-back educational seminar about what’s really going on in real estate.”“What we’re doing is getting together a group of real estate professionals – real estate agents, loan officers, appraisers – to talk about what’s really going on in the market and be on hand for anyone who’s looking for help,” Stonehouse said.The first Reality of Realty meeting will take place from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at Dave & Buster’s at 45511 Park Ave. in Utica. Other meetings are scheduled for Royal Oak, Southfield, Utica and Ferndale. To register or for more information, call (800) 532-3332 or visit http://activerain.com/blogs/stonehouse. ___________________________________________________________ Tempus Networking's Next Big Event is February 27th - Wednesday at Big Rock in Birmingham on S. Eton & Maple rds. Tempus Networking is in it's second year built off a format for business professionals and business owners looking to come out and do some out of the box networking while meeting and greeting others alike in a laid back and social atmosphere all while giving to a local charity of the month. Join us Wednesday the 27th where there will be amazing food, and cash bar all for only $10. which goes to charity each month! For more info please contact me, Keith Stonehouse ASAP! _________ __________________________________________________Franklin Title Agency is looking for Realtors and Loan officers to do business with in 2007!Franklin Title Agency is the only title company in Michigan offering FREE home warranties to the buyer on purchase deals!Franklin Title Agency's Closing Rates Refinance = $150.00 Purchase = $250.00 Purchase w/ Home Warranty = $450.00 Refinance on weekends = $250.00