The low priority that the VM's place on e &o insurance seems to speak loudly for the higher priority that they place on the low cost of the title search...notithstanding their protests to the contrary. The uninsured abstractors have the flexibility of lowering their prices to $25.00 or $35.00 for a current owner search. This seems to be what theVM's want though. Read Wanda's posting above concerning paying to have work assigned, turning it around faster and drafting the abstract on the VM's site.  I hope this is not an example of "following the cheese" of which Jay spoke, but it definitely does seem to be a trend.

I recently had a VM contact me about doing searches in this area. She was proud to say that her sales pitch to new clients essentially stated that her company could do the search faster, better and cheaper than anyone else. This seems to be typical of the VM's vendor set up packages lately. She then went on to ask me If I would consider doing current owner searches for for $25.00. Fortunately, I was in a position to tell her that I was not running a blue light special at the local discount store.

I do not share your positive outlook of the insured abstractors gaining ground over the uninsured abstractors. The VM's cut their prices to attract new clents, and then expect the abstractors to do the same. The current owner searches are already cut to the bone when you factor in the expenses of e&o insurance, gasoline and copying expenses. If the current trend among VM's to insist on abstractor price reductions continues, the VM's may be left with only the uinsured/inexperienced abstractors and the inaccuate title plants (which may become even less reliable in view of state and federal legislation to limit bulk transfer of information). I suppose one could call for a national strike among abstractors a la South American style, but I do not think that you would ever get a consensus among the abstractors.