Jason,

I really think it has gone past the point of brainstorming.  Abstracting has become a dying occupation. The major title insurers and title/escrow companies which are able to outsource or rely on electronic title plants have already written the abstractor off. Many of them have huge libraries of backtitles that they need only update, and if they can accomplish this through cheap labor in India and availability of online records they will do so. Look at First American's stated intent to aggresively outsource to their Indian operation. The wisdom of this seems odd in view of this month's claims chronicle disaster in which it had to pay a huge claim resulting from an error in retrieving information from an electronic title plant, but that does not seem to dampen their fervor. The work assigned to abstractors will be relegated to performing searches of properties for which there is no backtitle or for which their is no online information, and as soon as the abstractor completes the search the client will have the backtitle for future use. As it becomes possible the image the documents on line, assignments for document retrieval will also become less. Essentially the abstractors will wind up struggling among themselves for an ever declining volume of crumbs. Prices and volume of work will decline accordingly.

With respect to those companies that do not have the ability to outsource or use title plants, there may be some that deal equitably with the abstractors, but as we have already seen there are many which abstractors will have to chase for payment. The outlook for the occupation is not good.

Attempts have been made at brainstorming over the past eighteen months. It generated little interest. Naltea even tried to generate interest in increasing its membership to improve the situation, but I am left with the impression that there has been difficulty. There appear to to be two main reasons for the lack of interest...apathy and financial hardship. Those abstractors that have not yet experienced the problems created by outsourcing and electronic title plants have maintained a comfortable position, and see no reason to make any change in the status quo. In time however, the problems will become industry wide and engulf them also. The other side of the coin are those abstractors that are losing business to this system, and do not have the financial ability to participate in any remedial action.