I say wake up!! Not all on line counties are "thin". I do some Counties that have the exact same data on line as in house. Lenders, Underwriters and VM's have all learned that there are relatively few claims in this industry and some are now using a credit based technology to insure equity lines for individuals with credit scores above 620.  Again I say wake up! This is not and has never been rocket science. All the big VM's are taking in house every county that they can either via the county directly or a title plant. Some are bouncing the on line data and credit report data off of software that runs the chain of deeds and also eliminates the released mortgages. A quick review by a searcher and the data is ready to upload in xml format to the client. I think that waiting for future claims to change the "high tech" mind set is a waist of time. Technology will only improve and the risk of costly errors will be with every new enhancement. Sorry if this sounds negative but I truly believe that the days of the independent abstractor are numbered. FYI, I run a 40 person abstracting firm operating in the Chicago and Kansas City markets.