In re India...(again, I am not against working with off shore companies as long as they A) are transparent B) pay up C) Are legit D) operate with American interests in mind..)

I do not think it is India at fault per say. In 2015 back on LinkedIn, I went into a group where are the big players hang out: Title Insurance Executives, Mortgage Officers for Fortune 500 Lenders, big time real estate attorneys, etc.

I asked a question in a discussion thread "What are your thoughts on outsourcing Title Search to off-shore companies?"

It was viewed by over 10,000 by the end of the day and by the end of the week it was HUGE! It gave me some insight(and advertised my business that got me a new client in the form of a Litigation Firm). 

General Consensus?  No way. Sure, cheap, but at the top tier you start messing with a lot of Financial Risk/Compliance stuff. The sort of thing that can get a company fined millions or billions, like these guys: https://www.globalcustodian.com/nasd-fines-four-fidelity-brokers-for-record-keeping-violations/. Imagine if that was your Equity Loan....

That is courtesy of the National Association of Securities Dealers. Then there are this...and this is OCWEN: https://www.housingwire.com/articles/37873-washington-hits-ocwen-with-fine-for-using-unlicensed-offshore-companies

I spoke with one of the managing partners at one of the largest REO law firms in North Carolina who, in a meeting, told me about how wake of the Housing Bubble a lot of emphasis was put on risk and compliance via the Consumer Financial Protection Act.

I am waiting on my friend to send me the article while I write this in-between Vendor Management, but one of the large "top 10" Title Insurance Companies is starting to get MILLIONS in Title Insurance Claims because they serviced Mortgage Loans to an "off shore" company, so I think slowly-but-surely there is an uptick in companies swinging back for on-site Abstractors, although technology is still a front line competitor.

I will say this in closing: there are many great Abstractors out there, and there are great Title Business Owner-Operators out there. But I am finding that those who are both (like me and Jay Duncan...no relation) are rare. There are many Abstractors out there who ROCK TITLE SEARCH...but SUCK in terms of being business operators. I have said this in previous posts: be innovative, be competitive, be driven, be smart. See an increased demand? Put a price on it. Have a chance to offer a new product or service? Put a price on it. Got screwed over by "no payers", create a PayPal, offer to take Credit Card, and CHARGE UP FRONT. YES: PUT A PRICE ON IT.

I fight for everyone but I cannot do it unless you help yourself first. 

Hugs to all!

-Will