Editorial
Front Page - Friday, December 3, 2010
Title attorney takes care of his own during bad economy
David Laprad
Ray Fox is the owner of First Title on Carter Street. A title attorney, Fox also handles 95 percent of the closings at his company.
- David Laprad
In times of economic stress, businesses understandably have to make difficult decisions. Since the economy started its slippery slide in 2008, hundreds of thousands of employees across the U.S. have been victims of those hard choices. But not the people who work for Ray Fox, owner of First Title on Carter Street. Although his business is facing the same challenges as other companies, he’s held on to his staff with a stubborn grip.
“If you have quality people working for you, you need to hold on to them so that when things pick up, you don’t have to re-staff. It’s hard on the budget, but we owe the people who brought us to where we are,” he says.
Fox, a title attorney, has nine people working for him, including two lawyers. As he talks about how difficult the last three years have been, staff members dart past the door of the conference room where he’s seated, perhaps on their way to making sure the next day will be busier. “On a good day, we have several closings,” he says.
In addition to taking care of his staff, Fox says First Title is centered on meeting the needs of its clients and other people in the community, to the point of offering free counsel on simple matters.
“Our clients can come in without an appointment, talk with one of our lawyers, and not be afraid of someone sending them a bill for 15 minutes of conversation,” Fox says.
First Title’s attorneys are also on a list to assist people at the courthouse who have questions about a variety of issues, such as quick claim deeds and boundary line disputes.
“People will read an article in a magazine or get bad advice from a neighbor, and then end up needing help,” Fox says.
Fox seems to have been born and bred for title work. As a child, he set his sights on becoming a lawyer, then earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a dual Master of Business Administration and Juris Doctorate degree from Mississippi College School of Law.
In 1992, he went to work at Metropolitan Life, which immediately starting priming him for management work. While he enjoyed the corporate side of the job, sales was not for him, so when a friend told him Title Escrow was looking for an attorney, he seized the opportunity.
“I’d never done this kind of work before, but it worked out and it’s been a great career. Some attorneys say [a title lawyer] doesn’t do real legal work, but we do mega-million dollar deals annually and transfer some of the biggest pieces of real estate in the world, so I consider what we do real legal work,” he says.
More than that, Fox says he’s loved every minute of his job, which he compares to assembling a puzzle.
“When someone tosses a tract of land in the air and creates a subdivision, I put to pieces back together. Sometimes, a piece will be missing, and it’ll be my job to make sure it becomes a part of the whole again.”
In 1997, Fox sold his interest in Title Escrow and purchased First Title from Anna Benton and Clint Gilliam. A year later, he moved the business from the old Zayre’s building to its current location and tripled the size of his staff.
Then life was great until three years ago. Fox credits his loyal clients for keeping his business solvent.
“We’re fortunate they still use us, so we work hard to provide good service,” he says.
Fox not only takes care of his staff and clients at First Title, but his family as well. His sister, Liza Fox Heath, an attorney licensed in Tennessee and Georgia, joined the team in 2006, bringing over 18 years of title experience to the company. And his two daughters “helped out” at First Title while growing up.
Although neither of them followed in his footsteps, the things they learned while working for him have come in handy.
“When my oldest daughter, Lauren, started college in Murfreesboro, we bought her a house. At the closing, she discovered they were trying to add fees she didn’t need to pay. She called me twice and said, ‘Dad, they’re not going to do it.’
I asked her if they were right or wrong, and she said, ‘Wrong, because I shouldn’t have to pay for preparation of a deed of trust on a cash transaction.’ Then I said, ‘Quit calling me and handle it.’ And she did,” he says.
Fox’s youngest daughter, Meghan, surprised her entire class at Notre Dame High School with her knowledge of real estate.
“A teacher was quizzing the students about the complications of buying and selling a piece of real estate, and she kept answering the questions. The teacher finally told her to teach the class, which she did,” Fox says.
Today, Lauren is a pediatric occupational therapist, while Meghan works at the UTC Children’s Center. Fox says they both take after their mother, a teacher, in that they love to work with kids.
In addition to being a title attorney and handling “95 percent of the closings” at First Title, Fox owns several duplexes and commercial properties, and has “rehabbed” and sold a number of houses with his brother. He says even though the housing market is depressed, real estate is still one of the best ways to accumulate wealth.
“You have a piece of rental property, and someone else is paying for it!”
The work Fox does on behalf of others doesn’t end at home or his office, as he also likes to help support the community of which he’s a part. To that end, he’s a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary, and is involved with The Knights of Columbus, St. Stephens Church and the Audubon Society.
At work, Fox comes across as button-down and all about business. He walks quickly, wastes no time making his point and smiles only occasionally. He says his co-workers even badger him about not smiling for photographs. But he’s not without a sense of humor.
He seems to enjoy telling the story of how one of his daughters landed a job at a tanning salon because she’d cleaned the bathrooms at First Title, and he jokes about his newly grown beard, which has more gray than when he last shaved it off 20 years ago.
“I’m going to decide over [the holidays] whether or not it makes me look old. My wife, Leslie, says it does,” he says.
Beard or not, Fox plans to continue the work he loves, hold on to the staff he appreciates and serve the clients for which he’s grateful for many years
to come.
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