I like your thoughts JT - you think as I think - also FYI - the average distance between courthouses in Texas is 40 minutes - maybe that is why different states are more upset with pricing.  Somehow I think some abstractors went into business pricing like some other states with totally different criteria involved and affected our pricing.  I don't see how these VM companies can in anyway have the same pricing for all states.  With these distances involved, our county records are also more voluminous also and therefore research takes longer.  Some of our counties' populations exceed the population of entire states in the east coast.