AI-Powered Title Acquisitions Aim to Cut Closing Costs and Modernize the $25 Billion U.S. Industry
NEW YORK — A Miami-based proptech startup is betting $100 million that blockchain and artificial intelligence can finally bring real estate closings into the 21st century. Propy, which has spent years developing on-chain property records, announced in January 2026 that it secured a $100 million credit facility from Metropolitan Partners Group to execute an aggressive “AI-led roll-up” of traditional title and escrow companies.
The strategy is straightforward but ambitious: buy established firms, keep their local teams and licenses in place, then rebuild their back-office operations on Propy’s automated platform. The result, the company says, is a faster, cheaper, and more transparent closing process — one that puts the actual deed on the blockchain for instant verification and settlement.
The $100 Million Roll-Up Strategy
Propy plans to target title and escrow companies generating between $5 million and $20 million in annual revenue, with a focus on high-growth states such as California, Texas, and Tennessee. The company has already completed acquisitions, including Alabama-based Delta South Title, and holds letters of intent for additional deals. Roughly $75 million remains in its active acquisition pipeline.
Acquired firms retain their branding and staff while adopting Propy’s technology. Manual workflows are automated, cutting operational labor by as much as 70 percent, according to the company. Blockchain serves as the underlying infrastructure for audit trails and secure settlement, while AI handles repetitive tasks traditionally performed by escrow officers.
AI Agent Avery Takes Center Stage
A key piece of the platform is “Agent Avery,” Propy’s AI escrow officer. Trained on more than $5 billion in historical transaction data, Avery can check emails, open new files 24/7, verify bank accounts, and contact lenders or homeowners’ associations without human intervention. The AI works alongside human teams to reduce errors and speed up the process that often frustrates buyers and sellers.
Founder and CEO Natalia Karayaneva described the vision in a recent CNBC interview: “We’re building the infrastructure layer that allows real estate to operate on par with modern financial markets: AI-enabled and more liquid.”
Blockchain’s Role in Real Estate Transactions
While early hype around crypto real estate focused on tokenizing entire properties, Propy’s current approach is more practical. Blockchain is used primarily for record-keeping and settlement security. Once a deal closes, the deed can be recorded on-chain, creating a tamper-proof digital title that is instantly verifiable by title insurers, lenders, and future buyers.
This reduces the risk of title defects and could eventually support fractional ownership or faster secondary-market transfers. For now, the technology runs quietly in the background, supporting the same residential home sales that Americans complete every year.
Why This Matters for U.S. Homebuyers
Closing costs in the United States frequently reach 2–5 percent of the purchase price — and sometimes approach 10 percent when all parties are factored in. In a high-price market, those fees can equal or exceed a buyer’s down payment. Propy’s model aims to shrink that burden through automation and efficiency.
Karayaneva believes the changes could dramatically increase housing liquidity. “Multi-agent orchestration will allow transactions to become so smooth and cheap that the new generation will be buying homes anytime they change a city,” she said. “Instead of 4–7 million homes sold every year, we believe we’ll witness 20 million homes changing hands.”
For American families, that could mean lower barriers to homeownership, faster moves for job relocations, and greater transparency in what remains one of the most paper-heavy industries in the economy.
Industry Context and Challenges
The U.S. title and escrow sector is highly fragmented, with thousands of small and mid-sized players operating in a roughly $25 billion market. Legacy systems, manual compliance checks, and reliance on physical documents create delays that can stretch weeks or months. Propy is not the only company pursuing automation, but its combination of AI, blockchain infrastructure, and traditional license acquisitions sets it apart.
The $100 million facility marks Propy’s first major use of private credit. It follows years of building its core technology and comes as housing affordability remains a top concern for U.S. consumers in 2026.
Looking Ahead
Propy has signaled strong inbound interest from potential acquisition targets, suggesting the roll-up could accelerate in the coming months. If successful, the company could become a national player capable of handling a meaningful share of U.S. residential closings on its platform.
For now, the focus remains on execution: integrating acquired firms, refining Agent Avery, and proving that blockchain can deliver real-world efficiency gains without disrupting the regulated title-insurance system.
As more Americans buy, sell, or refinance homes, Propy’s experiment will be closely watched by real estate professionals, regulators, and everyday buyers looking for a smoother path to property ownership.
FAQs
1. What is Propy and what does it do? Propy is a Miami-based proptech company that uses AI and blockchain to automate real estate closings, with a focus on title and escrow services.
2. How is Propy using its $100 million funding? The credit facility from Metropolitan Partners Group finances an AI-led roll-up strategy — acquiring and modernizing title and escrow companies across key U.S. states.
3. What role does blockchain play in Propy’s platform? Blockchain provides auditability, secure settlement, and digital deed records, while AI handles day-to-day escrow tasks.
4. How much can Propy’s technology reduce manual work? The company reports that automated workflows can cut manual labor by up to 70 percent in acquired title and escrow operations.
5. When did Propy announce the $100 million facility? The financing was announced in January 2026; the company discussed deployment details in a CNBC “Property Play” segment on May 5, 2026.