Well said.  All of it.  Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that NOW may be the time to turn the tables on these national companies.  For the past several years the high demand for abstracting services has artificially inflated our profession with inexperienced, unqualified, untrained individuals who call themselves "researchers" and "abstractors" and who, in order to break into the business, have undercut the customary fees and driven prices for our services ever downward.  The national companies have fed on this competitive market and begun demanding other types of concessions as well - faster turn times - longer waits to be paid, etc. 

Then suddenly several things happen to the market which drastically reduces the amount of work that we see (searches go to India to be done online, interest rates go up, housing starts go down, mortgage companies crash and burn, etc.)  and suddenly everyone is scrounging for work.  Those who did not see it coming suddenly begin dropping below the radar.  Abstractors phone and fax numbers get disconnected, title companies get investigated and closed, mortgage companies get their credit cut off and have to file for bankruptcy.  And there's an old saying that applies here -- "s)!t  runs downhill."  We all feel the effects in one way or another. ...But I digress ...

In my state (Iowa) I am told more than one "independent" abstracting/title company (actually, the description was, ver batim "bottom dwellers") has closed its doors in the wake of the recent down cycle.  I am curious - where will their existing cllients go?  My work load actually picked up in the last couple of weeks, and I can't help but believe that it is partially because there aren't as many abstractors out there to choose from. 

So, my thought is ... and again, correct me if you think I am wrong ... if we get back to the point that only the serious abstractors are out there servicing the needs of the nation, doesn't that put us in the position of power?  If the national companies have to call one of us to do their work and we ALL tell them we won't RUSH to get a less than acceptable product to them, and we won't WAIT 60 days for payment, and we won't REDUCE our fees to the point that we can't buy groceries with our paycheck, then what choice will they have? 

I have refused (even in recent days when I was threatening to lay off my entire staff because the work load was so slow) to work for any company that had a payment policy I was not comfortable with.  I have refused to work for any company that tells me it outsources any of its work to places outside the United States.  I have discontinued working for companies that owed me money for longer than was acceptable.  And I am still here.  Sometimes the pickins are slim, but I am still here.

I have seen all kinds of cycles in this business in my short 10 year career - the mortgage companies cycle through brokers who cycle through the national title companies who cycle through abstractors.  Once a national title company fired me because I could not be on the extreme east side of the state and the extreme west side of the state on the same day.  They then went through multiple abstracting companies in the next two years, and, when their major Iowa client got mad and fired them because they could not meet expected turn times, guess who they came back to?  The point of all of this is that I believe we are in a cycle right now that may reduce the number of abstractors who are out there cutting each other's throats, and, if those of us who are left have half a brain, we will band together and take control of our profession once again.