What a title company is actually for
Let's be fair to title companies, because they do essential work. A title company runs the closing: they order the title search, resolve liens and defects, hold funds in escrow, and issue title insurance that protects the buyer and lender against problems in the chain of title. That is a regulated, insurance-backed business, and nothing on this page suggests skipping it. When your deal closes, you want a title company or a closing attorney handling the money and the policy.
The mismatch shows up earlier — in the window between getting a property under contract and closing it, when you want to put the world on notice that your equitable interest exists. That notice is what a memorandum does, and it is not what a title company is organized around.
Why a title company is a poor fit for the memorandum itself
A memorandum of contract is a unilateral filing: the buyer who holds the contract signs it, notarizes it, and records it to give notice. You don't need the seller at the table, and you don't need an open escrow. A title company's whole workflow assumes the opposite — a two-sided transaction, an open file, and a closing on the calendar. Ask them to record a memorandum on its own and you tend to run into the same friction every time:
- It's relationship-based. Many will only do it as a courtesy for customers with business already in-house. Cold-calling for a one-off recording often goes nowhere.
- It waits behind closings. Your single-page filing is not their revenue. It sits in a queue, and "we'll get to it" can cost you the days that matter when a seller is wavering.
- Notarization is on you. A recorder needs a notarial acknowledgment before the memorandum is accepted. Most title shops won't notarize remotely — you're scheduling an in-person signing to get one page acknowledged.
- Notice to the owner isn't part of it. Best practice is to certified-mail a copy to the owner of record and keep proof. That step simply isn't in a title company's playbook.
- Pricing is opaque. There's usually no published rate for "record my memorandum." You ask a favor and hope for a fee.
- No exit plan. Once it's on record, tracking expiration and getting it released is entirely on you — and a stale memorandum left on a title is a real liability.
What Jurably does differently
Jurably treats the memorandum as the product, not a favor. You upload the signed contract, verify the parties and legal description, confirm the owner's tax-roll mailing address, and notarize online by remote online notarization in minutes. Then Jurably certified-mails the notice to the owner and records the memorandum plus a sworn certificate of mailing at the county — e-recording instantly in the major Texas metros and handling the paper rail everywhere else. You get back a real instrument number you can track.
Because the filing is designed to be temporary, every memorandum carries a 90-day auto-expiration and one-click renewal, and Jurably prompts you to release it when the deal closes or dies. The point is a clean notice on title that protects a genuine interest and clears when it should — never a tactic to trap a seller. Jurably will only file when a real, already-signed contract exists.
When to use which
This isn't Jurably or a title company — it's usually both, at different moments:
- Use Jurably the day you go under contract, to file and record the memorandum, handle notarization, and mail notice — fast, self-serve, flat price.
- Use a title company (or closing attorney) at closing, for the title search, escrow, and title insurance that actually transfers the property.
If your only task right now is to record a memorandum and get on with marketing the deal, waiting on a title company's queue is the slow road. Jurably is the purpose-built one.
Jurably is a self-help filing and notary service, not a law firm or a title company, and does not provide legal advice or title insurance. This page is general information for real-estate investors.