The "glory days" of more work than we knew what to do with are long gone.  The requirements for getting a mortgage are now much more realistic.  Many clients of abstractors found themselves in the same boat with the abstractors themselves:  clients weren't paying.  Mortgage companies -- backed by government money and new, lax government guidelines -- were throwing money around.  Suddenly, the real estate/mortgage bubble burst.  Foreclosures skyrocketed.  The mortgage companies and vendor managers who were left out to dangle in the wind, had to declare bankruptcy.  That all came to a head about 2 years ago.  Our industry has stabilized.  It's not GOOD business, but it is tried and true companies who give out mortgages to people who will actually PAY them.  Refi's are just about non-existent because even with low interest rates, when the value of your property is less than the mortgage currently on it, you're not going to be able to get new money.

The fly-by-night companies are gone -- and gone under.  We're still going to be hurt, but I don't think it'll be as bad as it's been, at least not in our business lifetime.  The line of dominoes -- that usually ends with the abstractor -- is much, much shorter.