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For more than seven decades, Security 1st Title of Reno County and its predecessor, Reno County Abstract, served Reno County real estate buyers and sellers.
The Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce named this business as the March Small Business of the Month.
In a small office on 10th Avenue and Main Street, with walls decorated with real estate maps and recognizable images of Reno County, 12 employees in a decades-old business focus on insuring titles to buildings and properties.
Behind real estate in Reno County
Security 1st deals in title insurance. When a person or entity purchases land, a house or a building, people at entities like Security 1st look into the title’s history, checking for fraud, past debts or credit issues from either the buyer or the seller.
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Nikki Hutton, assistant manager, said even though what Security 1st does isn’t very glamorous, it can get emotional for some of her clients.
“Whether you’re the buyer purchasing your dream home or if you’re the seller, it might be the home that you’ve raised all your kids in,” Hutton said. “We see a lot of emotions at this table.”
A title company is essential for anyone buying or selling a home, business or farm.
“This industry would not work without title companies, there’s nothing glamorous about it, but there’s a lot that goes through this office,” said Todd Brown, manager at Security 1st.
Although Security 1st of Hutchinson focuses on Reno County, they also do business in Garden City, Concordia, Park City and Kansas City.
The title insurance company’s his
The title insurance company began in Hutchinson more than 75 years ago, first as Reno County Abstract. Charles Brown and Wayne Colburn purchased the company from the original owners in 1989 and continued to grow the business.
Then, in 2004, Charles Brown’s son, Todd Brown took over the company from his father. In 2015, Brown merged his company with Security 1st of Wichita.
“I continued to run the company until Nikki and I had an encounter meeting and talked about merging the two companies, and that’s what we did in 2015, and here we are today,” Brown said.
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A longtime Hutch Chamber member
Brown said his father, Charles Brown, joined the Chamber after purchasing the business in 1989. Since then, the company has continued to support the organization.
“They do wonders for this city, always have good people down there,” he said.
After the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce named Security 1st as March’s Small Business of the Month, Brown and Hutton said at the same time, “it was amazing.”