Well that took a little time to read.  Someone hit a nerve that apparently is on every abstractor's mind. 

There is a psuedo "top" title searcher in our county that openly condemns any one who does not go to our county courthouse and occupy one of the 12 computer desks provided by our county to do their title searches.  And she knows because she is always there taking count.  There are four abstractors that actually lay claim to "their" computers so that leaves 8 computers for the rest of us to do our work.  Somedays you have to stand and wait for someone to leave (someone other than these four because they never remove their things even when they get up).  If you do not get seen often at the registry, then it is assumed that (a) pity you, either your law firm or you, if you are independent are not getting any work or (b) heaven forbid you are the scum of the earth doing searches on line. 

We went to computers four years ago.  When I called the County Managers office to ask why they did not provide more computers and more space for the title searchers, the reply was:  We provide the online service for our county because we DON'T WANT to have to provide enough space for the legal community to use.  THIS COUNTY wants the legal field to search AWAY from their county register of deeds office because it is more cost efficient to them.  The building where the Register of Deeds office is housed is not wired well enough to run more than 12 computers for the public plus the computers necessary for the 25 county employed clerks.  Some days when all of the computers are in use there is a power failure.  Then there is wear and tear on their equipment.  The way our County looks at it is that they are providing those four attorneys who employ those four abstractors who never leave the Registry with free office space.  And they are because those abstractors do not have a desk in their attorney's offices.  The rest of us come and go unless we are working on a big project.

The County has a disclaimer on its website, however, when I asked about whether or not the index on line was the same as the index on the computers in the Registry the answer was it is exactly the same.  When a document is recorded it shows up immediately on computer in the Registry and on computers not at the Registry (online).  When I inquired about the disclaimer I was told that the county would stand by any mistake that they make in the indexing and since the indexing is the same on the computers at the registry and someone else's computer away from the registry then they stand behind it.  The disclaimer is more or less there because if someone who does not know how to do title searches messes up then they will blame the county.  That is what they do not take responsibility for.  Now you can take that with a grain of salt but that is how it was explained to me.  A few attorneys in our area layed off their title searchers when we went to the computer system because they do the searching on line themselves.

I agree with everyone on this thread who says that the abstractor still has to be skilled at searching what ever means that they search.  I said on another thread here that the old way of searching when we flipped through pages in the index books was the best efficient way of searching.  We could catch indexing discrepancies better because we could see the whole picture.  However, the title industry has gone to computerized searching in some areas where we do not get a choice.  I would rather search by books however, I hope that I have honed my skills to adapt adequately to the computerized search.  I know that I have because I still find errors in indexing and still get a thrill when it all pieces together be it the easy way or the hard way.   

When we had the books to search I called myself a title examiner and refused to be referred to as an abstractor.  Now I consider myself an abstractor.  The difference is a title examiner searched more thoroughly by searching all the properties surrounding your property.  By pulling out deed books and lining them up to compare signatures side by side, chain of titles, maps or legal descriptions.  Now with the computers you have to copy every document to see them side by side.  The title industry doesn't require that any more and will not wait for you to do a thorough search like that.  Most only want a current owner search anyway so it is unnecessary to search the back chains for mortgage that have never been satisfied to clean up the records.  My opinion is that an abstractor is a rake and take searcher.  

Our records are on the computer from 1953 and up.  The 1953-2000 books were destroyed.  The current Registrar, after many of us complaining, finally put the 1800 - 1952 books back in the Registry.  She had them stored in a non-climate controlled storage unit for three years.  Some of them are ruined.  I ran for Register of Deeds in 2000 stating that I wanted to preserve the old records.  She won and destroyed some of them.  I ran for Register of Deeds in 2004 stating that I wanted to bring the old books back into the Registry which she did just before the primary election.  (I ran in the Republican primaries both times so I never ran countywide against this incumbent Registrar. I (and some others) claim that she defeated me in my primaries because both times I was the strongest candidate.  Such as politics!)  I will be running again in 2008.  So I watch with interest and awareness of how the Registries can best work along side the title industry.  

Personally, I do not like the documents being available online except to the skilled professionals that need to utilize them for whatever purpose that they deem necessary.  To have run for this office in 2004 stating that the documents need to come off line would have been detrimental to my campaign, however, now since Choicepoint, and Heineman scams, I don't think anyone should see the value of being so open with our public records.  Too bad for me that our election is not this year.  Oh well.  Que Sera.