Thank you, KC! 

Let me repeat what you just said:  NOT ALL VENDOR MANAGEMENT IS CREATED EQUAL.

I know anyone who's followed items I've posted thru the years has heard this before, but yes, I'll say it again:  When big clients have stiffed us -- and it has happened multiple times -- we still pay the abstractors.  I have had to leave my company in the hands of others and go to another state to do oil/gas work to pay my own bills, but dammit we PAID the people we owed regardless of whether we got paid.  (I'm currently in the midst of suing Cornerstone of Lexington, KY  -- $12,000 plus intrest -- but I paid that money out to everyone long ago.)

One of my abstractors is now connecting to our company remotely to help with order processing.  Someone should ask HER if she gets her money's worth when she subcontracts to us!  She is now realizing how many questions we waylay before it ever shows up in her voicemail.  She also knows that I negotiate harder and with a lot more background information when it comes to things like 80 year searches and commercial work.  9 times out of 10 I get the individual abstractor MORE money than if they had negotiated themselves, even when I take my cut.

I constantly brag that we have the best abstractors in Michigan subbing to us, and we do.  I think the AVERAGE experience level is about 20 years in the business.  (One guy has been doing this work for 35 years.)  There's a reason for this:  they like the service and support we provide.  Period.

Alix @ Argent Title Research