Price fixing is exactly my concern locally. There are plenty of title companies, and just as many law offices that work title (even though some just don't have the knowledge and expertise to be good at it) in my area. I'd once made the comment that it would be nice to shift from everyone cutting each other's throats for deals and undercutting by $10 just to get the deal in the door, to sticking to the book rates that everyone has but ignores. "Oh, we can do better than what's on the pricing sheet" has become almost holy writ here. I was told that having all the title agents come together and stick to set pricing would constitute price fixing, and be illegal.

Additionally, I'd think that to make it stick, it would almost have to come from the state level. So many agents cover multiple counties, or in some cases, the entire state, that a county's resident agents could stick to their guns, and someone from outside the county would just have to slip in, do some minimal marketing, and pull the vast majority of the business away from the locals.

All these things I never had to worry so much about before are now coming to the forefront of my mind. Guess that's what happens when you decide to strike out on your own!