I posted a reply to someone on this topic a few weeks ago.  In the past several years I've lost at least four of my biggest customers to outsourcing to other countries.  I had already lowered my fees about 7 years ago to compete.  When I left the title company I was working for to go out on my own 17 years ago, I was one of about 10 abstractors within a hundred mile radius.  I made almost twice the fee per search (depending on the distance of the county from my home) as I do now.  There is no way I could do a current owner search (most of my current owners end up being 40 year searches) for $20.  I can't do a search anywhere for that amount & won't.

The companies that outsourced their work had all been reliable customers for years.  There is no loyalty anymore.  It's all about doing it as cheaply as possible.  I wonder how long it will take before they have so many losses that they come crawling back to their American abstractors?

Our customers need to realize the time, effort & stress involved in doing a search in a timely manner & doing it thoroughly.  This is a very specialized, detailed profession that needs to be done by well trained people.  This is NOT just some rinky dink job to be done by someone they pick up off the street or from another country who'll do it for peanuts.

I've done this too long & I'm getting too old to do anything else & my work has gotten slow.  If anyone has any idea how we can all do something about this, please let us know.