Plant City, Florida-based Hillsborough Title has entered its fortieth year of doing business. The firm is the first member of the Florida Agency Network’s (FAN) statewide network of title agencies, the largest independent title agency in the state.

Hillsborough Title was founded in 1984 by Gail Calhoun, who left her job as a manager with another local title agency to do so. Her young two sons, Aaron and Nate Davis, were among her first helpers.

FAN CEO Aaron fondly recalls the early days in their small, second story office in downtown Plant City, where he and his brother helped out by “refilling paper clip jars, emptying trash cans and pulling staples out of the carpet.”

“We came from humble beginnings,” recalls Davis. “But we followed my mother’s lessons and her example, working hard and staying focused on our customers. Through the years, we also learned to embrace change, which is why that little office is now part of an agency that covers all of Florida with over 50 offices and over 200 employees. Although maybe we don’t use as many paper clips and staples as we used to,” Davis chuckles.

Hillsborough Title is also located directly in the paths of early fall Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Plant City and the surrounding region were heavily damaged by those storms. Many FAN and Hillsborough Title team members gathered at the FAN office complex as a staging ground for early relief and recovery efforts. Davis says that, shortly after that, he and the leadership team had a decision to make regarding a previously-scheduled celebration to mark the 40 year anniversary. “At first, we started to think that maybe it wouldn’t be a great idea to have a party in the middle of all of the devastation caused by the storms,” he recalls. “But many in the community encouraged us to go forward with it anyway. They told us it would actually be a bit of a break from all of the stress and anxiety.” During a short address to the attendees at the event, Davis thanked the people of Plant City for being the impetus for what would later become Florida’s largest title agency network. “I like to say that this, my hometown, gave us the grit, the drive and the small-town chip on our shoulder to go out and build something much bigger and better, for which we’ll always be grateful.”

FAN, Florida’s largest network of title agencies, is a strategic alliance of members and vendors assembled to provide a customized, streamlined closing experience. The network is also the developer of multiple proprietary, settlement services technologies.

For more information, go to FLagency.net.

About Florida Agency Network

The Florida Agency Network (FAN) is a statewide alliance of title agencies that share services, resources and technology. FAN has formed a strategic alliance amongst members and vendors, in addition to creating proprietary technologies, to better serve its clients, allowing it to provide customized solutions to protect and streamline the closing experience.Members share back-office services, pooled resources, access to industry-leading technology, improved efficiencies, and the ability to offer their clients greater geographic coverage throughout Florida with SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 security compliance solutions available. For more information, please visit www.FLagency.net.