David Holthouse doesn’t just fix problems—he eliminates them before they start.
As the head of Customer Support at CloseSimple, he spends his days in the trenches with title professionals, helping them untangle issues in real time. But in his mind, the real opportunity isn’t just solving problems—it’s preventing them from ever happening.
And that all starts with one thing: clean data.
"The amount of time I spend tracking down issues that stem from simple data entry mistakes is staggering," David says.
A missing email. A misspelled name. A wrong phone number. Tiny errors that, left unchecked, snowball into transaction delays, misrouted communications, and frustrated clients.
"We build all these great tools to make the process smoother," he says. "But they’re only as good as the data being fed into them. If the order starts with bad data, the whole system breaks down."
That’s why David is obsessed with order entry. It’s the first domino.
"Get clean, structured data into the title production system from the start, and suddenly… everything works. Communication improves. Automation actually does its job. And instead of spending half your time fixing problems, you get to focus on what really matters."
David’s vision for title isn’t about replacing people—it’s about removing the repetitive stuff that wastes their time.
"The title industry is filled with redundancies," he explains. "So much of what happens in a transaction—chasing down documents, confirming details, scheduling appointments—could be handled by AI assistants."
Instead of four or five people touching a file just to move it along, imagine a world where an intelligent system does 90% of the work, and human experts step in only for high-value decisions.
"Title isn’t going to wake up one day and suddenly hand everything over to AI," he says. "But step by step, as technology improves and companies start seeing the advantages, that shift is going to happen."
And it all comes back to clean data.
"If the foundation isn’t right, none of these innovations will work the way they should. That’s why getting order entry right is such a big deal. It’s the first domino."
David isn’t just applying this mindset to technology—he’s applying it to how customer support itself works.
"Early on, support was just about putting out fires," he explains. "Someone calls with a problem, we fix it, repeat."
But at CloseSimple, he’s flipping that script.
What if we stop the fires before they start?
"What can we do now so this never happens again?" That’s the question driving his team.
And it’s a question he thinks the entire title industry should be asking.
"A lot of title companies are so busy fixing what’s broken that they don’t have time to ask, ‘How do we stop this from happening in the first place?’ But that’s the mindset shift that leads to real innovation."
David isn’t just reacting to problems—he’s constantly hunting for ways to do things better.
"I read about AI, quantum computing, customer experience trends—whatever’s out there," he says. "And I’m always thinking, ‘How does this apply here?’"
That curiosity, he believes, is what separates the best companies in title from the ones that just get by.
"The companies leading this industry aren’t just reacting to problems—they’re asking, ‘How can we make this better?’ ‘How can we remove friction?’ ‘How can we create a better customer experience?’ The more we ask ‘How can we…?’ instead of just accepting things the way they are, the faster this industry moves forward."
For David, that’s the real key to the future of title and escrow.
Not just adopting new technology.
Not just making incremental improvements.
But adopting a mindset of constant innovation.
Because once the first domino falls, everything else starts to move.
The Growth & Scale Reportis published by CloseSimple, and explores strategies for growth and tools for scaling your title or escrow company. The report emphasizes the art of balancing growth and scale, with a focus on personal and organizational success stories. It aims to share insights from industry leaders who have navigated these challenges, providing a platform for broader conversations in the business landscape.