This is the misconception that has lead to the horrible decreasing price trend in this industry. The only real cost in an abstract is NOT the time. You also have your basic overhead, such as office supplies, rent, utilities, phone bill, E&O insurance, health care, replacing a fax machine or computer, etc. Plus the ones that nobody really thinks about, like training, marketing, and follow-up.
In order to provide a reliable abstract, the abstractor needs to be aware of changes in real estate law. This means you must spend money on books, newsletters, seminars, or whatever you do to keep current. Our office does all three.
You also have to market yourself. You have expenses in developing letters or brochures, postage, directory listings (whether here or another site), or other methods to introduce and promote your services.
And, lets not forget the time spent on follow-up. The questions that come in when you have something out of the ordinary, or even the time spent faxing the order back to the client. Most forget about this additional time.
The point is that you can't bill your clients for all of these other things, the costs have to be built into the price of the search - over and above the time you actually spend doing the search.
Best,
Robert A. Franco
SOURCE OF TITLE
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