Mark, I've heard about DateTrace, they are in Northern Ohio now. Interesting web site. None of this is new however, at least not here. A good friend of mine, now gone, wrote a book on real estate practice for beginning attornies in the mid 60's. I can't find the book now, but I recall a couple pages were a rail against non-attornies examining title and how badly it would hurt lawyers. We still have plenty of real estate lawyers, they just don't chase titles like they used to.
We have a database here in central Ohio that was started by the four biggest title companies in '79 or so that does much the same thing as DataTrace. When it started, we thought it was armageddon. Many of us use this system as a backup on some jobs, some companies depend heavily on it, but its still just as index, the documents have to be examined, the indexing questioned. Things are changing rapidly, but the computerization of county records levels the playing field somewhat for us. These plants charge for access, and the county doesn't. What we have going for us is expertise in collating and analizing the data. It is not just "slinging books" anymore. Just work on continuing education and adapt. This has not been a growth industry for many years. By the way, I've never shopped at Wal-Mart, never will. Doug
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