Titlewave in Pennsylvania was originally part of LandAmerica's Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company before LandAmerica went belly up and was bought out by Fidelity last decade. They use a variety of sources in Pennsylvania, and then have been branching out to other states such as New Jersey working out of their plant in Bucks County, Quakertown, PA.  They collect search work from various sources both domestic and foreign and then examine them and deliver the finished product in an XML file that can by uploaded into an agency's software.  For an agent, it is useful because you don't have to be an expert on all of the county's recording procedures [like is it a coal county or not a coal county?], and they will guarantee the accuracy of their work.  If they miss a mortgage, it's on them, not the agent's E&O coverage.  This lead other underwriters to set up similar title plants such as FastWeb for First American.  If you don't have a rush job and have a lot of volume, it's good because you don't have to hire more abstractors and examiners as work flow ebbs and flows.  But when time is of the essence or it's a particularly difficult transaction, there is nothing like having your favorite abstractor at the courthouse working hand-in-hand with your in-house title examiner. And this examiner has even gone to the courthouse himself to get a title done in a pinch.  Especially if there are a lot of zeros in the policy amount field.

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