It is slow but some work is done in-house and a lot of work is going overseas.  And our fellow abstractors in the states are lowering their fees to match those overseas just so they can get the work, I guess because a little income is better than no income.  I think they are just delaying the inevitable.  The industry is changing and I feel there will be little to no use for abstractors.  Why pay us when they've hired kids fresh out of high school and pay them minimum wage and quickly train them to do a "search".  No wonder E&O rates are going up, it's not because of us properly trained and schooled abstractors.

I'm twiddling my thumbs most days because I wont lower my fees.  There's some work out there if you want to work for what would equal minimum wage by the time you add up the hours you worked.  I have a lot of friends and relatives in the industry (banks, title companies, etc), I know that several vendor management companies are quietly downsizing due to the slow economy. I have relatives being laid off from a bank that used to do a lot a refinances and another relative and two friends laid off from a title company. Four title companies I worked for went out of business in the last twelve months. And lets not forget that block chain is coming.  I have very little faith that work will pick up.  While I try to figure out what I really want to do next, I've taken a couple of night classes. I still do searches, but have taken on some part time work to cover bills. 

I think "abstractor" is a dying job.  I think technology is changing all the job markets and we need to change with it or get left behind. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm still taking classes at night just in case.  I used to really enjoy doing title searches.