While I am on coffee break, I am going to go on a limb here and address some stuff I have seen here.

For one, whole I am open to the idea of a new site or new group, Source of Title has been CRITICAL to the development and expansion of my business. Not only that but it is an investment, and I intend to use it. If someone is going to bash or outright attack other vendors on this site, granted they should be warned and/or removed but I say “let them”. If someone attacks my business and I, it reflects POORLY on them and is outright unprofessional, and childish. If you are a vendor manager looking for a vendor, would you do business with someone who verbally attacks other companies? To ask if a company is a no-pay or if they have a good work history, that is one thing(due diligence/business intelligence), but to attack one is another. There is a place for that("nowhere"), and is not here. I have seen some of the vendors attacking the Indian companies on here, and that is uncalled for which brings me to my next point: India/Off-shore Companies.

This to me, is a dead topic. It is totally redundant and here is why: remember all those legal changes that took place in October of 2015? They have changed the industry and will continue to do so. I recently went onto a group on LinkedIn where all the BIG name title executives and lenders hang out. I asked one question: “How do the new laws effect title search?”. It was broadcasted across 8,473 people WORLD WIDE (if not more!). The general consensus is this: there is too much risk now to outsource title search to an off shore company. From my personal experience, 98.99999% of the “foreign” companies that contact me thinking I am a vendor manager, do not have Errors and Omissions Insurance. That said, almost ALL of my clients MANDATE I have it. Think about it this way: that $10 current owner search they have has A SUBSTANTIAL amount of legal liability on it. Put it over seas, that amount doubles, if not triples, if not more. Suppose that company than provides a fraudulent or bogus product to you and you deliver it to the client. Good luck suing them AFTER your client sues you and smears you…This is a very REAL scenario. I have seen evidence of the shift, when clients who once allowed me to remote search from home now wanted me to be on-site and have non-watermarked copies. Either way, now those foreign countries (notice how I used plural) are going to need someone to do searches much deeper than what is online or someone to retrieve judgments, and I am going to see to it is going to be me.

I see all the talk about how Abstractor’s are being devalued, you’ve lost clients to India, blah blah blah blah. Truth be told, I think Abstractor’s devalue themselves. I am a business man first, “title runner” second and that is how ALL OF US need to be. I go to the courthouses and granted, I will see some Paralegals and Abstractor’s dressed business-casual, business-formal and rarely suits. But I see also the others: jeans, t-shirts, football jerseys, using fowl language, smoking vape pens, etc. When I walk in, I walk and talk and act like a CEO/Legal Professional to where people come up thinking I am a lawyer (I quickly tell them I am not). That is how you should be. I am literally the face of my company, and I represent not just my company but my clients and the industry as a whole and it never should change.

Want to fix your business? Want to add value to your company? Your service? Want to beat the foreign companies?  Start by looking and acting like a businessman. Learn how your industry is changing (this industry is CONSTANTLY changing) and how you can jump on board. Learn what the other businesses are doing and see how it works. See how you can make it better. Be pro active: reach out to potential clients or new clients and ask how you can take it to the next level. Be innovative: maybe you need to move your business to a higher volume area or a area that is experiencing growth?  

That said, if it is not broke, do not fix it. The site does not need to change, the PEOPLE need to change.