Lisa, you may be onto something there :).  I'd be happy to share premiums and closing fees with these companies! 

We provide a service.  We spend our money getting to the courthouses, making copies - we deserve to be paid for that.  An appraiser gets paid, whether or not it closes.  The special assessment company gets paid, whether or not it closes.  Home inspectors get paid, whether or not it closes.  Even if it may not be common practice, a closing notary deserves to be paid for work they did, even if a loan doesn't close.  That's the way things work.  The title companies that are hiring out their searches are taking the risk upon themselves that the loans will close.  That's the risk THEY take, not us.