Business Spotlight: Land Matters

Not many things make it to 129 years old. The Eiffel Tower is only 127, department store Sears is 123, and the Lincoln Memorial has been around 94 years.

Founded in 1887 by James Adams, Ozark Abstract and Title Co. opened for business the same year Labor Day became an official holiday, the U.S. Navy began leasing a base at Pearl Harbor and barbed wire was patented.

The title company has made its home on the Ozark square for nearly 13 decades, and its owners claim the designation as the oldest operating business in Christian County. Changing hands multiple time throughout the years, Shane and Carrie Nelson purchased the business from Hogan Land Title Co. in 2011.

“I was general manager at the time, and they approached me,” Shane Nelson says, declining to disclose the purchase price. “Hogan wanted to concentrate on Springfield, and it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Just two years earlier, Nelson was brand new to the title business, leaving a 16-year career with Ozark Chrysler Plymouth after the still unsolved death of dealership owner Rufus Church shuttered the business.

“I was the GM in title, but I had to learn everything from answering calls at the front counter up,” Nelson says. “I had bought and refinanced a couple houses, and that was the extent of my knowledge with title companies.”

That’s the extent of most consumers’ knowledge of a title company.

“It’s this place you go to close the sale on your house,” he says. “Most people don’t even pick the company – one is as good as the other.”

That’s the knowledge barrier Nelson’s five-member staff are up against as they strive to become top of mind for land transactions in Christian County.

Expanding on history
The unassuming Ozark Abstract office sits just off the square’s northeast side, kitty-corner to the county’s second oldest business, the Christian County Headliner News. The light brown walls are lined with bookshelves and history. Stacks of tattered covers date back to the early nineteenth century and record every county land transaction made.

“This is where the real value of the business is,” Nelson says, pointing to the books. “When researching a property, we can go back to the beginning, to the first person who ever claimed it. You can’t get that anywhere else.”

Christian County historian Wayne Glenn – author of 13 books, inducing “Christian County History A-Z,” which details the county’s oldest businesses – says the business was a necessity in the early days.

“You had to have an abstract in those days, there was no such thing as a title company,” Glenn says. “Property had to have a verified owner before it was sold and the abstract could prove that was really your land, not just something you claimed.”

Today, Ozark Abstract has diversified to include title insurance, construction disbursement and deed preparation. Escrow closing is the company’s bread and butter, making up about 75 percent of business.

“Our fees haven’t changed since I started here,” Nelson says, noting he charges $150 per party per closing. “I’d say we closed about 500 deals last year.”

Declining to disclose revenue, Nelson says the business has had steady 7-10 percent growth since he took ownership, and he’ll pay off the purchase loan in just three payments.

Community central
With roughly 90 percent of its business originating in Christian County, Nelson is bent on giving back to the community.

“I think if you predominantly make your income from a town, you have a responsibility to give back to that town,” says Nelson, a former Ozark mayor. “In a way it’s selfish. If we help make the town better, it helps grow our business.”

Nelson and Lloyd’s Cleaners owner Todd Edwards co-founded Penguins & Princesses, an annual black-tie fundraiser for Care to Learn. In years past, the event has brought in more than $30,000 annually to address the health, hunger and hygiene needs of Ozark children.

Nelson’s community focus and Ozark location are the reasons Re/Max Solutions real estate agent James Stewart prefers to work with the company.

“I do all my Christian County closings with them,” Stewart says of his roughly 25 deals last year. “One of the biggest problems Ozark has is how much of the workforce leaves the city each day.”

Stewart, who also is an Ozark Ward 1 alderman, says even though Re/Max Solutions has an ownership stake in Springfield-based Choice Escrow Land and Title LLC, he prefers Ozark Abstract.

“If I can do business in Ozark, I’m going to,” he says.

And that’s music to Nelson’s ears.

“Looking through these books, you see the same family names pop up over and over – that’s Christian County,” he says. “It gives me a sense of pride to carry on that history.”