There is no search conducted by our office that only includes mortgages from the last deed forward.  If we are abstracting open mortgages, it means all open mortgages. 

I cannot think of an instance where a lender or title company would want anything less than all open mortgages.  We all know that a lien is filed against the property, not the person.  Why, then, would it do anybody any good to have liens abstracted only against the current owner? 

When a title company is asked to insure lien position, it must list all open liens against the property so that the appropriate liens may be cleared.

If a lender is relying upon a search in lieu of title policy, he or she is nonetheless, in my experience, using the report to determine lien position. 

Maybe I am misunderstanding the entire question.  If anybody knows of an instance where a lender or title company would not want to see all open liens, I would be interested in learning.

When you speak of the price difference to search prior owners, I can see your point.  It is more time consuming to search grantor/grantee than it is to search geographic indices.  In my opinion, you should be getting paid more if your county is more labor intensive and time consuming to work...and always show all open mortgages.   Easier said than done, I know.  Again, maybe I'm missing something here.