Dream Finders expands into title, mortgage lending

Recent purchases by Dream Finders Homes bring the company deeper into the title and mortgage lending universes.

Dream Finders has closed on its purchase of Alliant National Title; terms of the deal were not disclosed. Dream Finders previously owned an agency, Golden Dog Title and Trust.

The title company deal was announced in October and follows last month's purchase of the remainder of Cherry Creek Mortgage. In July 2024, Dream Finder acquired the outstanding interest in Jet Home Loans. It has also acquired a number of other homebuilders since its founding in 2008.

Why Dream Finders wants to grow its reach

This business expansion also comes at a time when homebuilders are worried about higher supply costs as a result of President Trump's far ranging imposition of tariffs.

Meanwhile, other firms involved in real estate sales and finance such as Rocket have been expanding their verticals. Rocket recently inked transactions with Redfin and Mr. Cooper.

Alliant National works with more than 700 agents in 32 states and the District of Columbia.

"We are pleased to close on this transaction and formally welcome David Sinclair and the Alliant National team to our Dream Finders Homes family," said Patrick Zalupski, chairman and CEO of the homebuilder in a press release. "This partnership creates significant value for both Alliant National and Dream Finders as a result of further vertical integration and additional service offerings to our stakeholders."

Title insurance is dominated by four companies

The title insurance underwriting business is dominated by four companies: Fidelity (which owns the second, fourth and seventh largest underwriters by premium volume), First American, Stewart and Old Republic. The largest underwriting units of those companies hold a combined 79.7% market share, according to 2024 data from the American Land Title Association.

In comparison, Westcor, the sixth largest underwriter in the business, has a 3.8% market share. The tenth largest was Doma at 1.8%. Alliant was outside of the top 10, at 17th, with a 0.73% share; it produced $118.6 million in title premiums, the ALTA data reported.

While many homebuilders have title agencies, Lennar is among the few other firms with an interest in an underwriter. It currently holds a stake in Title Resources Group, which it obtained through a series of transactions, starting with its former subsidiary North American Title. It sold that business to States Title, which rebranded as Doma and became public, with Lennar as its largest shareholder.

Lennar ended up with over 8% of TRG as a result of its purchase of Doma. Together, TRG and Doma had a 4.63% market share.

Besides Lennar and Dream Finder, other homebuilders which own underwriters are Pulte, Premier Land Title; DH Horton, DHI Title Insurance; and Shaddock National Holdings, First National Title Co.

On the lender side, a subsidiary of Finance of America, Incenter, had owned underwriter Agents National Title and agency Boston National Title, but sold them to mortgage insurer Essent Group in 2023 for $100 million.