It’s a family affair at Lyons Title & Trust, which recently opened its third office in Port Charlotte.
Joel Lyons, manager and CEO of the Port Charlotte office, is also involved in the North Port location. His father Richard Lyons and late grandfather Kevin started Lyons & Lyons P.A. in Bonita Springs about 20 years ago, and then Lyons Title & Trust was founded by Richard and his son Joel.
The family also leases space on Fifth Avenue in downtown Naples.
The Lyons, who have been serving Collier, Lee and Sarasota counties, sought to expand into Charlotte County.
On May 16, the family, co-workers and friends celebrated the opening of the Port Charlotte branch at 20020 Veterans Blvd., Unit 11.
Joel Lyons
Joel Lyons was raised in Naples and is a graduate of St. John Neumann Catholic High School. He went on to graduate from the University of Alabama with a degree in finance and a minor in economics.
“I started working for Lyons Title & Trust in January 2017,” he said.
Then, in 2020 “the real estate industry took off and we basically quadrupled our business overnight. While the market has cooled off a bit from 2020, we are still continuing to see our business grow,” Lyons said.
There are other title companies in Charlotte County, but Lyons said what sets his business apart is that “we have been building an infrastructure of talent and systems that allowed us to be more than prepared for a boom like we have been seeing. We never became overwhelmed with the volume of real estate closings, and I credit all of that to the great team we have on board.”
The team includes Heather Saterfield and Shaminka Tulp.
The road to success is not without its challenges, and this is especially true for title and trust companies, Lyons said.
“After the crash in 2008, the level of regulation for title companies increased tremendously. Accordingly, the expenses to operate a company in compliance with American Land Title Association Title Insurance and Settlement Best Practices framework has increased tremendously, thus the margins have been greatly reduced,” he said.
“The challenge is to earn the confidence of the real estate industry, so they will receive the excellent service they have come to expect, whether the real estate market is booming or is in a lull.”
Lyons said the other big challenge is hiring people who share the company’s commitment to service and appreciate and value all the other members of the team.
