The only way to "take back the industry" is to drop our prices as low as the Indians and we all know doing that wouldn't pay for our gas, let alone our mortgage.  It is not up to us -- it is up to the mortgage companies and banks that order title work from the lowest bidder.

We have entered a global economy and this isn't going to change.  WE have to change; we have to specialize or show what we offer that they can't.  Or we have to learn to work with them and for them in some instances. 

Not all of the Indian companies are alike.  There are good and bad, just like within the United States.  It's just that we really do NOT have a way of collecting when we're stiffed.  That being the case, when you're hurt by a company TELL EVERYONE, especially other local abstractors so that when they go hunting for someone else to do a search that necessitates going to the courthouse, they'll find bupkis  (no idea of the spelling there!  Not even spell checker recognizes that word...)  When a client hurts me, I put out a Deadbeat Client Alert not only to my network of abstractors, but to many of my competitors.   It forces them to pay up if they want work done.  This tactic has actually worked for us in the past.  I post here; I post on Abstractor Watchdog.  We can stay in competition with one another, but there must be a certain amount of solidarity.  So thank you for the info, Deborah!  It is greatly appreciated.