Jay: Great reply-I was striving to bring some equality to our pricing structure so that it becomes more inflation safe or tracking, since almost everything goes "up" so should our fees- like the realtors and the LO's fees- I have always tried to post or quote fees that are much higher than what I see on here- because I provide a quality product and in a very timely fashion- I hardly ever have anything left to complete at the end of the day-and it has all been delivered to the client. While I do receive some flack about the online land records system that I do my best to defend-and just as a point ,I don't take anything personal about the comments made about how bad a search is if it is done "online" , that is certainly not the problem- it is the way the Counties and Clerk's offices have designed and offered their respective records to the online subscriber- there is no difference in what I do online today and what I was doing in the record rooms when I started doing this as a "rookie" learning the ropes from the entrenched examiners that had lived and died in the record rooms except that what I provide today is a much better , easier to read and  a more complete report than I could ever have done in the record room in the time alloted to do this as it was back then.
As far as the fees that we charge, it should also take into effect the amount of experience that goes into being able to produce an end product, not necessarily the amount of time it takes-after all, you don't pay the same rates for the first name listed in the law firm as you do for the intern that just got out of college, If someone asks for the best, they expect to pay the price, we should always be offering the best and for the best price-no deals- I have always worked with the understanding that I get paid when the transaction goes through- I know that goes against what has been said here- but it has always been my way of "working with" the clients I deal with- they have always offered to pay me a cancellation fee- but they didn't make any money and I always just considered it a wash, lets move on to the next money making project instead of lingering on the ones that have no chance at all. It always makes collections a lot less stressful too- you don't have to worry about the ones that never made it.
I have rambled enough, talk to me when your have time, and thanks for taking the time to write.Your posts are always welcome and insightful.
Steve Meinecke
IA/Titlefax
Woodbridge, Va