To start let me begin I was recently introduced to Sot and have been posting under my wife’s name Yvette Alvey. All post under her name is my opinions and not hers or her company. Let’s move the discussion on low prices off a different title post heading to further avoid any misunderstandings against Accurate Group.

I wanted to interject my opinion regarding marketing and pricing for two different types of clients in the Title Abstracting/Researching industry... Through my vast experience in the title industry I have observed to different avenues to approach those clients. The 2 forms of clients are settlement companies and banks.

Settlement Companies:

Where is the vast majority of settlement companies located? The answer is near heavily populated areas. Not to say they aren’t in rural areas, just fewer there. The settlement company usually has a vast amount of resources to ascertain loans, by going through mortgage companies. These types of clients you can charge a reasonable rate for product services. Examples I have observed vary from $50 to $500, usually consisting of a full search. This varies from state (20yr, 30yr or 60 yr.). The turnaround time isn’t usually 24 hours and you usually receive a check with recording. . In most part you must be a local company or independent contractor to fully satisfy their needs. Settlement cost are usually passed to the customer or rolled in the loan. Possible down side is a high cancellation form loans falling through.

Banks:

In the rural counties you find more banks making loans. From what I see they like to keep their closing cost to a minimum and in house. Many banks may pay for all closing cost and therefore require less inexpensive fees, examples from $5 to $25. To market them you have to go through national title vendors. The title vendors want lower fees so their business will make money. Now we must factor in overseas outsourcing and the incredibly low prices that are requested. Most of the work are C/O’s and must have a 24 hr. turnaround time. On servicing these types of clients you don’t have to be a local abstractor. With bank clients you can ascertain a large volume of work, which in general isn’t that difficult. Down side are low fees and slower payment.

In conclusion how do you really argue against or for  low fees? There is a lot of other factors regarding expenses that I didn’t discuss. This is just an opinion on marketing only. Many of you will disagree with this, but is an opinion only.