Liberty Title of Ann Arbor will expand its geographic reach this week when a new alliance with Oakland County-based Sky Title Agency becomes official.

The deal - initiated and finalized in mid-February - could result in Liberty Title acquiring the business, said Tom Richardson, co-owner of Liberty Title.

Initially, the companies will unify their systems and launch the combination as of midnight Thursday.

“We’ll use the next 60 days of alliance time to figure out whether to create a new entity or whether we’ll end up acquiring them,” Richardson said.

The alliance lets the independent agencies unite into an 11-office operation - including two in Ann Arbor - spanning Washtenaw to St. Clair counties, all of Metro Detroit and Genesee County.

Sky Title opened about two years ago, Richardson said. Its president, Charles Busch, has extensive experience in the industry due to his time working at Metropolitan Title, and he brings both marketing and technology edge to the partnership, Richardson said.

Liberty also has pursued technological advances, including the recent design of proprietary software to aid real estate agents and lenders with new federal notification rules regarding mortgage fees.

In addition, Liberty brings its underwriting relationships to the deal.

While both companies have shown business growth, Richardson said, “in Michigan that’s a tough thing to do.”

Part of the difficulty, Richardson said, is the volume of foreclosures in Metro Detroit.

“Independent title companies have been hammered by (national) foreclosure contracts,” Richardson said.

Liberty Title employs 35, and Sky Title employs 31. Richardson said the companies have no initial hiring plans as they merge systems, but hiring could be done in the future.

“Given both companies’ path, we’ll probably be adding people,” Richardson said.

Paula Gardner is Business Director at AnnArbor.com. Sign up here for the weekly Ann Arbor Business Review email, distributed every Thursday.