Scott, Thanks for your reply. One thing I've learned since starting my astracting company is how to work smarter, without the restraints of working for "THE MAN" telling me how to do my work or when to do it  I find I work faster and at the same time I can still do a complete job, I'm learnded from an old pro at a title company using the lot books and the county records before computer were even used much (makes me sound old but I have small children 5, 7 & 14 to keep me young) back then only GI matters were in the computer. The computer index's at the counties here in California are very good and a search usally takes me less than 15 minutes to complete for 90% of the orders, some even as fast as 5 minutes if I've done it before. In order for me to do 50 everything has to be just right, including the stars must be alinged just right and traffic must be smooth which is a problem in this area on most days, that's when I use a typist such as my lovely wife (she types 95 words a minute as compared to me who types 35 per minute) she works full time and takes care of the kids and does volunteer work to boot without her I would not be able to do as much as I do. I still have time to play with the kids most days,  before I complete my work usally around 1-2am. And then back at it the next day at 8-9am. I know I must be unique in how much work I do as my competition cover less counties and less orders. and do this as a job after retirement or as a second income not the primary income to feed thier family. But I'm driven to take care of my family and have a nice home, which is hard with the median price of a home in my county being around $700,000.00. The title industry is my life and always has been. I pride myself at being fast and efficient and am alyways looking for ways to do thing better, faster and  to be able to make more money and/or save more time but not at the expence of quality, having been taught "If you have time to do the job you have time to do it right". That is not the creed for most title companies today which is why the abstract industry is growing. When I started in the title industry the only independents were Petroleum land men. I glad I was able to find a way to make a better living than what I was making working in house for a title company.
Gordon Tinsley
Northgate Title Services