Sunflower Title is small and growing

Richard Schodorf has spent the first half of this week opening Sunflower Title's newest office, at 7447 W. 21st St.

Schodorf, Sunflower's president, has been doing a lot of office openings in the past 12 months. Eight of them, to be exact.

The company, which employs 14, has grown in each of the years since Schodorf joined it in January 2008 as executive vice president and general counsel.

At that time it was a two-person office at 1999 N. Amidon. Sunflower was established in 2007 by Gregory Dale.

Schodorf said Sunflower has doubled its business and income each year.

Last year it had gross revenue of $600,000, and this year Schodorf said he expects that to climb to $1 million.

But the former prosecutor said he doesn't see adding more offices anytime soon.

His focus has turned to adding staff to fill those offices and forging relationships with the people who will bring his company more business, he said.

Schodorf, 61, spent most of his career as a lawyer working for the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Wichita. In between, he worked for five years as executive vice president at the former Columbian Title.

He got into that job while in private practice, he said, and Columbian had been one of his clients.

By all accounts Sunflower has a small portion of the title insurance and closing business. It's competing against much larger homegrown firms such as Security 1st Title, which has 120 employees and operations in Sedgwick and neighboring counties.

The past year has been turbulent for the title business, one competitor said, with home sales down and commercial real estate deals at a standstill.

More recently the real estate business — and by extension the title industry — has been experiencing a bit of a boost, driven in large part by federal tax credits for home buyers.

"The market has increased, and we think it's going to continue," said Craig Burns, CEO of Security 1st.

Schodorf said a turbulent market has enabled Sunflower to build for the future.

A down economy means the costs of opening an office are lower.

It's also easier to find good employees in a downturn, he said.

"It's an ideal time because you just can't get there when things start to turn around," he said. "You need to invest at the bottom."

Schodorf said he does worry a bit about growing too fast. But to not attempt to grow the firm during a down market means there would be less opportunity for Sunflower to benefit as the market begins to turn upward.

"There's a risk," he said. "There's always a risk. Yeah, I have come up with some safeguards."

Those include targeting the foreclosure business, which Schodorf said has been brisk, unfortunate as it may be.

"We try to go where the work is," he said.

Trying to be different

There are a few things that Schodorf tries to do to differentiate Sunflower.

One is to have one of the firm's four attorneys at every closing. That's because there are times where an issue arises at a closing that threatens the deal, he said.

The firm also will do closings after business hours and on Saturdays.

"He's just willing to find a way to make (a deal) work," said Tim Holt at Realty Executives of Wichita, which rents space to Sunflower for one of its offices. "We're really happy with the work ethic."

Schodorf also provides wine, gourmet coffees and Cocoa Dolce chocolates at every closing. Closings should be celebrated, he said.

"Buying a home is easily the most financially committing thing most people do in their lives," Schodorf said.

But perhaps his biggest effort is directed at the people most likely to bring Sunflower new work — real estate agencies.

"It's all relationship driven," said Gary Walker, residential general manager at J.P. Weigand & Sons.

While the choice legally belongs to that of the buyer in selecting a title and closing firm, they generally cede that decision-making to lenders and real estate agents, Walker and Schodorf said.

That's why Schodorf targets a lot of Sunflower's relationship-building efforts at real estate agents.

That includes holding weekly seminars on real estate-related topics for agents at firms such as Realty Executives and Keller Williams, he said, as well as monthly newsletters that update readers on the latest changes in real estate law.

"If I help them make money, they're more likely to help me make money," he said.

A slower real estate market has made it a bit easier to get their attention, he said.

If the real estate market were more like 2007, Schodorf said, "people would be too busy making money to need me."

This story was originally published May 13, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Sunflower Title is small and growing."