I am so glad to see this kind of debate here that I almost wish I wasn't going fishing so I could join in!  I hope this gets continued at the top of the page!  Rob, it was great of you to drop in and I hope you will stick around to keep the conversation going. 

You pose a very good point in that we all have to tighten up our belts.  Jay answered you exquisitely.  The abstractors have been acceding to vendor managers' requests for fee reductions for years.  The downward trend in abstractor fees could not have been realized if not for the abstractors' finding more efficiencies in order to continue relationships with their source of work:  The customer.

There will come a point, however, and I think that point is near, when the most competent abstractors will seek more lucrative avenues of income.  Love of ones occupation does not feed the family.  So, here's my prediction:

The absence of competent abstractors, who are still necessary, and will be for some time to come, will bring with it an upward pressure on prices for abstracting service.  Supply and demand rarely fails to correct any market unless government gets involved.  Prices will continue to rise as more abstractors leave the field.  So, much of the efficiency achieved with on-line searching and outsourcing will be lost to a higher per-unit cost for the work that cannot be completed with more efficient means.

Vendor managers will seek less expensive, more efficient, means in an effort to replace the local abstractor.  They will find that they have killed the golden goose:  The local abstractor who was the efficiency that allowed the title companies to cover regions, or to provide coast-to-coast service, in the first place.

On-line records and adequate title plants for all occasions are a distant pipedream.  I think the vendor managers could give a little nudge to their sales forces to educated their customers as to the value of the service they are providing.  Vendor managers certainly provide a necessary service and might want to start thinking about selling that value, rather than cheap prices.  They are dealing with enormous lending institutions who are looking at the aggregate expense, not the per-unit cost that is by far outweighed by the profit realized by the per-unit loan income

Or, I could be wrong.  -Pat

to post a reply: login - or - register