Tri-Valley Real Estate Market Brings Stewart Title to Hacienda

International Company Looking to Expand in Alameda County and Beyond

The flattening of the real estate market has not stopped Stewart Title of California from growing. In fact, this division of parent company Stewart Information Services Corporation believes this is the perfect time to expand into new markets. That is why, in January, Stewart Title opened a new office in Hacienda at 4780 Chabot Drive.

"Strategically, Pleasanton is a good place to be, with Hacienda located at the crossroads of many cities," says East Bay District Manager Geoffrey Disch. "This area has a good real estate market and we already have a number of customers in the area."

The majority of customers are residential real estate, but Stewart Title serves commercial customers as well. "We also work with office and subdivision builders and developers," adds Disch.

Stewart Title is relatively new in the bay area, but the company has over 100 years of experience in the title insurance industry. Founded in 1893 by attorney Maco Stewart in Galveston, Texas, the company was the first to offer title insurance in the state in the form of an indemnity against loss due to title claims. Two major historical events helped shape the young company: the Galveston hurricane of 1900 and the discovery of oil in Beaumont in 1901. Both accelerated the need for accurate land documentation in Texas. In 1970, the holding company Stewart Information Services Corporation was formed.

Now headquartered in Houston, Stewart has become the fourth largest title insurance company in the nation, providing insurance and related information services through more than 9,500 issuing locations in the United States and 40 foreign countries including Latin America, Europe, Canada and Australia, as well as emerging markets where legally valid land entitlement systems are just beginning economic development. Services include title reports, flood determinations, document preparation, property reports and background checks. Stewart also supplies post-closing services to lenders, automated county clerk land records, property ownership mapping, GIS for governmental entities and expertise in tax-deferred exchanges.

Although the California real estate boom has quieted some, Disch says this is the ideal time to prepare for the market's rebound. "This is a good time to make investments in new offices. It takes time to get staff in place and get ready for the next surge of business. It's the perfect time to retool."

It took a year to get the Contra Costa County office up and running, according to Disch. But now with the main office in Walnut Creek and a second location in Danville, the Hacienda office allows Stewart Title to increase their Contra Costa County presence, and will help them to expand into Alameda County. "Within the next three months, we will have offices in Oakland, Fremont, Newark, Hayward and Union City. Next, we'll be looking to Solano County. We are definitely in an expansion mode."

For more information about Stewart Title of California, visit their website at www.stewartcontracosta.com, or the Stewart Information Services Corporation website at www.stewart.com.

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