"Unlike other states, time is a marketable commodity in Connecticut because we have no unified county seats in which to search titles. we lose a lot of time on the road traveling between town halls. If the client is going to require additional and unnecessary work, they should be prepared to pay for it. I don't think that is a concept that is too difficult to understand."

This was the point that I was grasping at, not the idea that this is a job that can be done from home or anything else that would marginalize this job/profession.

The point that I am making is that whether you are self-employed, or you are running an abstracting service, there are costs that you incur no matter what - these are the costs that exist simply to do your job. You write these costs off at the end of the year (an if you aren't get a new accountant). While it is money that you had to spend, at the least it is not taxed, and it is money spent in order to make considerably more money.

The REAL commodity is in fact time when it comes to abstracts.

It takes time to learn your job, and gain a level of expertise.

It takes time to travel to various counties (which by the way, the idea that there is not a central place to get information in Ct. counties totally stinks, and justifies the additional cost even moreso when you have to research something you did right the first time - hats off to that business approach).

It takes time to prepare the abstract.

Depending on how you send the information back to an agency, it may take even more time to scan the information over to the client.

Again, I have been on BOTH sides of the fence, so I am not trying to be callous in any way. When you remove the cost of the preparation of the abstract (supplies and travel) the actual cost of the document is $10-$15. The remainder of the money made on that search is paid for YOUR TIME and the knowledge you built over TIME.

Now, I have no idea what the pay structure is in other states, or even outside of Southern NY. From what I have seen though, the people in the business are doing well for themselves. My frame of reference is this, so I apologize if what I have said comes off as rude. I just think that if this is a stie for abstractors and professionals in the title industry, it is worthwhile to be honest and on the same page with one another. When I see guys in their mid- to late-twenties driving around in BMWs and Lexus vehicles, I find it hard to talk about profit margins in a negative sense. And again, this may be wholly different elsewhere, but I can't imagine it being that different.

And considering the health - financially - of these abstractors, it is why I maintain that abstractors have to be more agreeable on the phone when dealing with their clients. I think charging for reexamination of something that has been already provided is the perfect response to be sure that the client is not going to call for mundane issues.

But, I am sure there are those that will disagree, and thankfully this is America so we can continue to discuss things that we don't see eye to eye on...

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