Purchasing property on the courthouse steps without a title search is akin to those sales they have of storage units--you don't know what's inside until after the sale.  I wouldn't purchase an acre of swamp land without a title search.  Many, many an investor has purchased what they think is the deal of a lifetime, only to find out that there are so many liens on the property, it will never appraise for anything even close.  Choice:  sell it some other unsuspecting fool or sit on it until the liens expire.  Not really a good investment of money.

Realtors sell a property, they get paid.  Mortgage brokers make a loan, they get paid.  Appraisers and Surveyors do their job, they get paid whether or not the loan closes.  If the realtor is knowledgable and ethical, he/she doesn't list a home for more than it's worth.  If the buyers realtor is knowledgable and ethical, he/she doesn't allow the buyers to make an offer that is unreasonable.  Sellers only know what is told to them.  Very, very few do their own due diligence when looking for a home.  It would appear to me that only the title abstractor is responsible for bringing the potential bad news. 

Also, you are not correct in that the lender has 1st position.  There are many instances in which another lien usurps that position.  That is why an update is essential immediately prior to presenting the documents for recording and those lenders who cut the abstractor out of that loop and mails in their recordings, does so at great peril.  If a mistake is found on a recording that is mailed in, it is mailed back to the lender with a note to make corrections.  The errors are corrected, sometime taking several weeks.  I have seen mortgages that have taken as much as 9 months to be accurately recorded.  With the market swings, any number of transactions could have occurred during that time period.  By cutting out the abstractor, because we are unimportant to the process and monkeys can do our job, they blindly mail the corrected mortgage to the clerk's office and it is blindly recorded--only they aren't in the 1st position anymore and they have no idea.

This may sound like a personal dig at you and I really don't mean it to, but I am concerned that you haven't received adequate enough training in abstracting to reveal to you the absolute necessity of an title search in all transactions.  It would appear to me, correct me if I am wrong, that you are involved in the real estate industry and are trying to diversify during the slowdown and abstracting sounded like a good idea.  Any really good abstractor who isn't just trying to make money working from home will have the same reaction many of us are having---yes, the title search IS the most important step in the chain.  Why?  Because we understand what a title search is--and isn't--and we know the incredible value of having a search done--and having it done by someone extremely knowledgeable.  Any good realtor is going to think THEY are the most important step in the chain.  Any good mortgage broker is going to think THEY are the most important step in the chain.  Any good...fill in the blank..  By good, I mean someone who is dedicated to their profession--not just putting in hours.  So I am going to give you some really heart-felt advice, until you value the title search as essential and until you have the expertise to place a value on your skills, you really shouldn't be abstracing on your own--you need to work for someone else who is old-school and really knows their stuff.

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