I've built my business over the years (24 years) with local attorneys and title companies. I haven't been burned in a long time because everyone knows who the bad players are locally, and avoid them (ie..."KLT" ...experienced local searchers won't touch them). Every once in a while I'll take an out of state order. But I'm wary. 

The abstractors I know who do alot of out of state orders, say even the "established" national companies they've dealt with for years are starting to have trouble paying on time.  Not sure what the answer is. 

When I do get a request from out of state I always check here to see if they have any payment complaints or if they are overseas based. Back in February I got a couple of orders from a company in West Virginia...when I checked on here they are known for not paying....so I turned the orders down. Every now and then I get requests from companies that turn out to be India based....I always turn those down....they are usually asking me to lower my fees...which is a huge red flag.