Michaela,

I think that the way this industry is headed... those that do not offer other services besides abstracting are going to find themselves on the short end of the stick. Darwin proved that only those who adapt will survive. The same is true in this business. The abstractors are being squeezed from all sides....reduce their prices....turn the abstract around in 6-8 hours...mobile office...competition from title plants... low end/uninsured competitors undercutting their prices and stealing their clients. The picture is not a pretty one.

I do not think anyone is saying get out of the business entirely...just hedge your bet, and have someting to fall back on. Since we have 1. cut the problem clients loose, 2. reduced our abstracting clients to only the best clients and 3. replaced the clients we cut with clients in other fields,  life has been a lot easier. Some to the related fields that you can enter in addition to or in lieu of abstracting pay two or three times more than the $50 you get for a cuurent owner search. In areas such as appraisals it is not unusual for a fully licensed appraiser to charged $500 -$600 for a residential appraisal.  I think you will find that your income may increase with the same effort you put into abstracting. There are a number of other areas in which you might be interested also.

You can continue to abstract while you work in these additional fields, but you select the clients you want and the conditions under which you will work.