Member Highlight – Agent: George S. Haymans IV
George S. Haymans IV is a native of Natchez, MS and attended Murrah High School in Jackson, MS graduating from The McCallie School in Chattanooga, TN. He graduated with a B.A. in English and Spanish from the University of Mississippi and earned his J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Before law school, George worked in Washington, D.C., serving as an agriculture intern with U.S. Senator Thad Cochran. While on Capitol Hill, George was actively involved in the farm bill, forestry, and conservation legislation. It was during this time that George’s passion for the land and proactive energy grew into a position on the Ducks Unlimited Governmental Affairs team, where he regularly met with members of the United States Congress to effect implementation and funding of critical conservation programs.
While in law school at Ole Miss, George became a licensed real estate broker and gained invaluable experience managing agricultural property in the Mississippi Delta. With this foundation, George founded the law firm of Haymans & Company. He is also a founder and manager of Mississippi Title Group, LLC (MTG), a statewide title insurance agent, representing Fidelity, Commonwealth, OREXCO, and Stewart Title Guaranty companies. Since 2012, MTG has participated in closing and insuring over $4 Billion of real property transactions. MTG has multiple offices throughout the State.
In addition to his involvement with MTG, George is also a full-time professor at the University of Mississippi and teaches several classes each semester on Real Estate Law, Business Law and Business Communications. He frequently conducts seminars and CLEs on foreclosure issues, complex survey matters, resolving title defects, landlord tenant law, and ethical considerations for real estate lawyers and real estate agents.
George routinely handles acquisition, sales, and refinances of commercial and residential real estate, as well as the due diligence and contractual matters associated therewith. He represents a regional group of developers and general contractors in all facets of real estate projects including acquisition, plan approval, and the drafting of necessary infrastructure documents for PUDs, subdivisions, condominiums, and multi-use developments. His experience includes commercial and multi-family development projects in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Florida. Throughout his real estate law firm’s primary service area, George regularly handles commercial and residential transactions and title evaluations, advises neighborhood and condominium associations on corporate structure and governance plans, and assists with the full range of issues relating to real estate law.
George made Oxford his permanent home in 2003. Based in the firm’s Oxford office, George regularly works on projects across the multi-state region served by Haymans & Company. George says he finds that the biggest advantage to working in Oxford is, “its a small town with lots of friends and business associates, but Oxford is also a dynamic area with a presence of large national and regional developers that work in the commercial and student housing markets. This exposure has opened our Firm’s services outside of Mississippi for due diligence, title, and legal representation in other markets across the Country. For example, we just completed a condominium conversion project in Tuscaloosa, AL and have assisted a life insurance company that with acquisition of over $250,000,000 of NNN medical properties across the country… both of these relationships were developed through representing the principals in personal matters or residential closings in Oxford, so this market has been the springboard for a boutique real estate practice designed to serve a small number of clients’ as they develop across the country.
What is the strangest or funniest situation you have seen in the title business? A husband brought his girlfriend in to pose as his “wife” in the sale of a homestead property, our closing paralegal realized that the girlfriend looked nothing like the wife’s driver’s license (there was also a 120lb difference in actual weight vs stated weight, plus purple hair vs brown). When we brought this to her attention as she was outside chain-smoking Virginia Slim 100s during the closing she cursed at the man and ran off, scared that the police were right behind her. It showed our staff that people are capable of anything and to be as diligent as possible. Now we take that same approach of being as diligent as possible with email scammers and fraudsters.
In addition to his work in real estate law, George and Annie, his wife, and their three children enjoy traveling, family outings, and involvement with outdoor sports. They are active in local, regional, and state community work, and are members of Oxford University United Methodist Church.