July 1st, 2008, marks the birth of the very first minority-owned Title Company if not in the entire country, definitely in the State of California. With a management agreement signed between Team Nation Holdings, Inc., a Nevada Corporation and Reliance Logic, Inc., a California Corporation, the Alameda Division of First Southwestern Title was fully conceived. Mike Macapagal, a Filipino-American, and current President and CEO of First Reliance Escrow will serve as Division President and co-owner with 60% equity interest in his division. He will be headquartered in Union City, California. Another escrow branch is operating in Daly City, California. Several branches in and around the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California will open very soon.
With a team of highly qualified escrow and title professionals, the Southern-California based First Southwestern Title will see its operations expanding in Northern California for the very first time. Dennis Duffy, CEO of TEAM Nations, a publicly-traded holding company which owns several title, escrow, mortgage and other real estate companies based in the United States is extremely pleased of this development. “We have long wanted to expand and target the key territories in the SF Bay Area but never had the opportunity to. Now, with the creation of the Alameda Division, under the able leadership of Mike Macapagal, we believe that we will capture a good portion of that market”.
For his part, Mike Macapagal is excited of being given the chance to own a piece of a title company and build it from scratch in Northern California. “I am humbled of this opportunity, but I am also confident that we can make a huge difference here. I have the best and the brightest escrow team operating in the SF Bay Area today. And that’s always been the key to my success. We will continue to expand and look for creative ways to stay afloat in this difficult market, while positioning strategically for when the market picks up in a year or two”.
Mike Macapagal and his wife, Katherine Gastrock-Macapagal, together with their business partners under Reliance Logic, their holding company which owns real estate investment companies in the US and the Philippines, will operate a series of business ventures that include: a Division of a Title Company in Northern California, an Independent Escrow Company in Southern California (Burbank and Irvine), and they will form the biggest Title Production plant outside of the United States, an outsource set-up operated under IntelAssist with offices in Eastwood-Libis, Quezon City and soon at Subic (SBMA), Philippines. The company also signed a contract to design and create a software system for title companies and escrow companies which will allow title officers, escrow officers, banks and mortgage companies, real estate agents, buyers and sellers, to have access to all the details pertaining to a transaction, whether it be a sale/purchase, a refinance, a foreclosure or a shortsale at the click of a finger. The greatest aspect of this system is its ability to store and scan all of these information into a disk, which will then create a “paperless” environment, thus provide aditional cost-savings opportunity. The company believes this will revolutionize the real estate industry in the United States.
Their business partners include Glenn Basina, President of RE Logic, Inc., a California Real Estate Investment Company with over 600 Real Estate Agents scattered in 3 offices around the SF Bay Area, and their Broker of Record at RE Logic, Joey Valenciano. Prior to shifting in Real Estate, both Glenn and Joey held management positions as former Engineers in Silicon Valley, California. They will provide the I.T. and technical background to Reliance Logic.
Background & Work Experience
Michael Macapagal has over 18 years of experience in the title insurance and escrow industry. He started as an entry-level mail room clerk, and worked his way up to become an Escrow Branch Manager. Recently, he held senior level management positions as Area Manager, County Manager and finally, as President & CEO respectively. He is also one of the founding members of FAREPA (Filipino American Real Estate Professional Association) in its San Francisco-Peninsula and Alameda County Chapters.
Michael’s defining moment came in 2003 when he turned a small escrow office located in San Bruno to become Alliance Title’s top revenue-producing branch in the San Mateo & San Francisco Counties. That tiny office quickly branched out into two (2) big offices, and dominated market share in less than a year when their competitors have been in the area between 15 to 20 years. He was quickly promoted to Area Manager, and was soon managing several offices in various counties. Every title company took notice of his success, and at least one, Stewart Title, gave Michael “an offer he can’t refuse.”
In 2006, he joined Stewart Title to become its County Manager in Alameda County. There, he made history when his former employees in San Mateo County, Alameda County and Santa Clara County filed mass resignations only to follow him. Michael built 6 offices for Stewart, located in San Bruno, Hayward, Oakland, Newark, Fremont & Milpitas.
More recently, Michael opened up an independent escrow company and served as President and CEO of First Reliance Escrow. As he relinquished the escrow company to his wife, Katherine, Michael faces an enormous challenge of building a division for First Southwestern Title in what could be the most difficult time in the history of the industry. However, it is precisely the uphill challenge that lures him to the job. He firmly believes that for every despair comes an opportunity, and for every opportunity that knocks, comes a chance to build; a chance to discover, explains Michael of his new role.
Michael studied BA History at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City. He joined Upsilon Sigma Phi in Diliman campus, where he currently serves as Secretary of its alumni association based in North America. He later pursued continuing education in Paralegal Studies at Merritt College and Human Resource Management at UC Berkeley.
To learn more about First Reliance Escrow, please visit our website at http://www.firstrelianceescrow.com. The website for First Southwestern Title is currently under construction, as well as for the holding company, Reliance Logic, Inc.