By: KeyCrew Media
Many automation vendors pitching to title companies see real opportunity in title search, and the results come from recognizing it as a blend of production work and judgment work. According to Jimmy Lewis of TrueFocus Automation, understanding this distinction is the single most valuable insight in the industry, and it is one he has refined since he began automating title search workflows around 2000 or 2001.
Why Title Search Rewards a Thoughtful Approach
The current wave of AI-driven automation tools works best, Lewis argues, when it keeps a clear separation between the production work of title search and the judgment work of title examination.
“We still heavily believe in keeping the human in the loop,” Lewis says. “There is a lot of work that can be automated, but we focus typically on the heavy lifting.”
That heavy lifting includes document retrieval, extracting information from those documents, and formatting that information so a searcher or examiner can review it efficiently. These are high-volume, repetitive tasks well suited to automation. The examination itself, the professional judgment about what those documents mean for a property’s title, is where human expertise shines.
The distinction matters because vendors who honor this line deliver a complete solution. They protect title companies by keeping the human expertise that catches what automated systems are not designed to handle.
The Capacity Opportunity Vendors Can Embrace
Lewis frames the value of title search automation as capacity expansion. When automation handles the production-heavy portions of the workflow, experienced searchers and examiners can process significantly more files while maintaining accuracy.
“If we can take 50, 60, 70 percent of that production work off of their hands, they’re able to do two to three times more than they have in the past,” Lewis says.
This reframing shapes how title companies can evaluate automation proposals. A vendor who makes searchers dramatically more productive offers a strong, sustainable path forward, one that keeps expertise available precisely when complex or high-value files call for it.
As more vendors enter the title automation space with tools built on large language models and machine learning, the most reliable approach pairs capable technology with human oversight. Lewis’s position is that the searcher’s expertise is a valuable risk management function that automation should support and strengthen.
Where the Line Is Drawn
Lewis identifies specific parts of the title workflow that benefit from human supervision no matter how capable automation tools become. Title exam and curative work, underwriting, wire releases and disbursements, fraud and identity verifications, and most processes that are considered irreversible all call for contextual judgment that experienced professionals provide.
“They’re the experts, and they need to make the final call,” Lewis says of searchers, examiners and settlement staff.
He acknowledges that this boundary may evolve. “It may be different in a year or two or three. We don’t know,” he says. Building on the current strengths of the technology, while letting it prove new capabilities over time, keeps transactions secure where accuracy carries real financial and legal weight.
For title companies evaluating vendors, Lewis’s framework suggests a practical and constructive question: ask the vendor not only what they can automate, but where they keep the human in the loop. A vendor who can clearly describe the limits of their own tools is offering a solution built around how title work actually gets done.
How TrueFocus Structures Its Workflow
TrueFocus Automation has built its Title Hunter® title search platform around the principle that automation should amplify human capacity and support human judgment. Title Hunter® handles document retrieval and classification, data extraction and doc prep, and an initial QC/fraud check, which tend to be the volume-intensive steps that consume the most time in a searcher's day, while routing the examination and decision-making steps to experienced staff.
Lewis says this architecture has allowed clients to increase throughput while preserving the quality controls that title insurance depends on. “We’re pretty confident that we’ve built the right solution with the human in the loop, and automated as much as we could,” he says. “As of today, title search automation works great on HELOC, Refinance, Loan Mods, and Property Reports files, especially in markets where there is at least 20-30 years of online data available.”
One recent example illustrates the approach at scale. A client was selected to help a customer clear a backlog of roughly 140,000 documents that needed to be recorded. After a few days of manual work to map the flow, TrueFocus built automation that reduced human involvement from roughly eight to nine minutes per document down to about one minute. The remaining time was handled by automation, allowing the client to complete the project without bringing in additional vendor partners.
TrueFocus has drawn a deliberate and thoughtful line between what automation should handle and what it should keep in expert hands. For title companies weighing their options, how a vendor answers the question of where that line falls reveals more than any feature list.
Jimmy Lewis is the CEO & Co-Founder of TrueFocus Automation, a specialist in RPA (robotic process automation) and AI-driven workflow automation for the title insurance, mortgage, and real estate industries. TrueFocus has developed 840+ automation bots supporting more than 2,500 workflows and has returned over 1.3 million production hours to clients.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice. The views and opinions expressed herein reflect those of the individuals quoted and do not represent an endorsement of any company, product, or service mentioned. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making any investment decisions.
