HOUSTON-GlobeSt.com talks with James F. Erwin, executive vice president of Chicago Title Insurance Co., about the title insurance business. During his 30 years in the business, he’s experienced both boom and bust markets.

GlobeSt.com: How has the economic slowdown impacted the entire title insurance industry?

Erwin: The title insurance world has changed because the volume and velocity of deals was not there. The smaller title companies have suffered because they don’t have the working capital to stay in business. The big companies have a lot of cash and they can weather a storm. With that said, in 2009, everybody was having staff decreases because business was poor. We don’t have as many people as we did in 2008. We have enough people to get the work done, but we’re not hiring any new people. I don’t know of anyone who is hiring new people.