Hey Mark,

I have to disagree with the second part of your post.  I have been a title agent for about 7 years, and although I have never really done that much work (we primarily just do the abstracting) we have seen our local market hit by the larger companies forming joint ventures.

The small title agents are really going to get hurt by the formation of JVs.  It will be a similar market for title agents that it is for abstractors.

The vendor managers are probably going to get squeezed by increased competition and the availability of "self-service" online searching.  I wouldn't touch that job with a ten foot pole.

I think the title industry is just a really tough way to make a living these days.  It is not going away by any means, but the work is going to be dropping off for all of us.  Especially as interest rates rise and the work overall takes a down turn.

Sorry to be so pessimistic.

Robert A. Franco
SOURCE OF TITLE