As a child, Max Simkoff would venture out for fishing trips, mostly along Oregons Deschutes River. On a couple of occasions, he found himself camping right outside the ashram of the Rajneeshees, the followers of a controversial movement founded by the Indian mystic Osho and recently depicted in Netflixs Wild Wild Country. For half a decade, the Rajneeshees grew in power and wealth, lived by their own rules, quickly stifled any dissent and created a parallel universe in Central Oregon. Sound familiar?

In a way, youre taking on a very powerful, well-organized cult, The Real Deals Hiten Samtani said about the challenges facing States Title, Simkoffs startup that is looking to reform the title insurance industry and the residential closing process.

Late last month, States Title closed on a $123 million funding round that valued the firm at $623 million. Simkoff discussed the startups plan for that money, the biggest pain points in a residential closing, his partnership with homebuilding giant Lennar, and how the pandemic may finally wipe out archaic regulation around the homebuying process.

For the full conversation in article format, subscribers can click here.

(Write to Hiten at [emailprotected] And to check out more of The REInterview, a series of in-depth conversations with real estate leaders and newsmakers hosted by Hiten Samtani, click here.)

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Title insurance is broken. Heres how this $623M startup hopes to rebuild it - The Real Deal