Hey Angela,

A couple quick questions for you.  Have you ever abstracted before? and have you ever run a small business before?

These are not meant to be snobish or nosey because both are very large undertakings.

First you can find several on-line abstracting courses but, they only cover a very, very, very general overview of abstracting.  They will not give you the nuts and bolts and county specific information you will need for the area and state you are planning to cover.  You best bet is to work as an employee for a title company or an attorney as an abstractor  for a couple of years so you can get that one-on-one training abstracting really requires.

Second, you will need to find out what kind of licensing your state requires.

Third, you will need to setup your company either as an S-corporation or an LLC depending on your state and the advice of your CPA.

Fourth, you will need E and O insurance to cover any mistakes that might be made on a search, to protect you, your home, your savings, and your client.  This will not be cheap and if you have no experience in abstracting it will be difficult to get.  Most providers are requiring 3 to 5 years experience.

There are numerous books out there that will walk you through setting up your own business.

You might want to attend the next NALTEA conference in January in Clearwater, Florida.  It will have educational workshops which will give you some ideas of what is involved in abstracting.  Will you be able to go out right after the conference and begin abstracting?  No.  It will cover different areas of abstracting from legal descriptions to differences in foreclosure and current owner searches.

Check out www.naltea.org for more details.

One more note, this is not meant to discourage or pressure not to enter the business, this is a high risk business and if you don't know what you are doing you could easily get burned and wiped out.

Jay Duncan