The old days
Back in the heady days of 1889, when the still-provincial Orange County, California split from Los Angeles County, two separate firms popped up in order to handle title issues for the two counties. A few years later in 1894 a local businessman named C.E. Parker merged the two companies into the aptly-named Orange County Title company. The company grew slowly but steadily and by 1964 had changed its name to First American, expanded its operations to four states and gone public. In 1968, the company went through a restructuring process and became a general holding company, The First American Financial Corporation, which conducted its title operations through First American Title Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, and operated its trust business through First American Trust Company. The company also began an aggressive policy of acquisitions -- purchasing several existing title and abstract companies and continuously expanding its number of offices so that by 1982 the company served every area of the country. In May 2000, the company changed its name from First American Financial Corporation to First American Corporation.
Divide and conquer
Today, the company divides its operations up into three main segments: title insurance and services, real estate information and services, and consumer information and services. The insurance business is handled by First American Title Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, which operates through direct operations and a network of agents. Through an aggressive streak of acquisitions and start-ups during the mid-1980s, the company has grown from a large regional company to a nationwide company, becoming less dependent on operating revenues from any one state or region.
The real estate information and services division of the company provides tax monitoring, mortgage credit reporting, property data services, flood certification, field inspection services, appraisal services, mortgage loan servicing systems, mortgage document preparation and other related services to its clients. In 1998, the company established First American Real Estate Solutions LLC to consolidate its operations.
The consumer information and services business was developed by First American in 1998 to provide services such as automotive credit reporting, direct-to-consumer credit reporting, multi-family resident screening, pre-employment screening, property and casualty insurance and other related services. This segment also provides home warranties and trust and thrift services.
