But again, can we sign up new lenders leveraging our lender network? We’ll see. We believe we can and can we help strengthen their operations so they can take on more business, right? I mean it’s not just signing lenders up. We didn’t — we really took a step back building the MI business and make sure the operations were very crisp, so we could take on business. So when — in MI, we were competing with very large and established competitors. So when we first signed up lenders, we had to make sure they had a really good experience or they want to come back. And this is all before you guys saw us in the public market. This will play out a little bit publicly, but it’s the same game plan. So we’re going to go in and take this kind of a step at a time and build it brick by brick.
And we’re fortunate here that the platforms are a little bit more established, right? We didn’t have any sales people. And I think when we first started, we had approximately zero lenders signed up. So they’re obviously further ahead and we believe that with €“ it’s almost like a partnership. We love kind of the experience and the talent that we’re getting in both organizations and combining that with Essent, can we help scale that. So longer term, we never thought Essent would be this big. When we first started the business and wrote the business plan, we thought if we could get to 10% share, we would do really well, and that was in a much smaller market. So some of it is going to depend on the size of the market, the size of house prices.
So as house prices go up, title insurance premiums go up. We know we’re €“ I think antique is the 15th largest. So we’re far maybe 0.5 point of share. So we’re €“ it’s timing. So we’re going to get in there. And again, it’s 3, 5, 10 years. And so I don’t want to put a number on it, but we certainly would expect supplemental income. We don’t do things not to make money. So whether €“ where that ends up over the long term, we’ll find out. We’re just trying to caution people in the short term that we are not trying to come out of the gate to show you earnings. We’ll always sacrifice early on investment. Certainly, don’t want to lose money, but I think longer €“ the prize is longer term in growing the business.
Mihir Bhatia: Got it. Great. I think we look forward to hearing more as you finally close the acquisition and start providing more detail. Thank you.
Mark Casale: You are welcome.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Bose George from Keefe, Bruyette, &Woods. Your line is open.
Bose George: Yes, good morning. Actually, just one more on the title. When you think about sort of the long-term growth trajectory, do you think it’s more driven by M&A or organic or just how is the combination there?
Mark Casale: Yes, it’s too early to tell. I think we’re always going to favor organic growth, Bose. That’s how we build Essent. The title industry has different dynamics, however. So we’re well aware of both. There is an opportunity to use our balance sheet. I would say from a €“ we have a pretty large capital position but we’re not going to be in the business of just buying title agents left and right. I think we’re going to — we could eventually get to the point where we’re acquisitive, but we really want to understand the operations of both and the potential to grow them organically. And there is going to be a limit to that. But it’s kind of baby steps. So first, get close on the transaction, right? And that’s probably not going to be to the third quarter and then really think through how do we strengthen the infrastructure of both businesses and then look for ways to grow organically and my guess is we’ll end up doing both.
