That is one way to look at it.  The other way would be that those who attract clients with FREE listings in our directory, read the select articles marked "FREE ACCESS", and benefit from FREE sharing of information in our forums, may help us keep the servers on through whatever revenue we can generate by displaying advertisements.

Though we dearly appreciate those who choose to support us through purchasing subscriptions, there aren't enough of them to pay for Source of Title.  Thus, we are forced to try alternatives. 

We are more than happy to provide some services for free, but I think that those who take advantage of them can tolerate some advertisements.

Perhaps we made a mistake creating a community built around abstracting.  I, of all people, know how difficult it is to make a living abstracting.  But, if $199 a year (less than $17/month)  is too much, well... your days are probably more limited than you would like to admit.  ALTA membership is more than $400/year, and a subscription to The Title Report is more than $600/year.  Neither offers a directory that is searched more than 16,000 times each month, or forums with more than 19,000 posts!

I get e-mail all the time from thankful abstractors who attribute a large percentage of their business to Source of Title, and the vast majority never purchase anything from us.  But, I am still happy to have helped them.  Of course, most don't complain about it, either.

Its nothing personal, George, and I don't mean to address this to you.  Its more of a general attitude that abstractors seem to have that is discouraging.  If anyone can show me any resource that has provided more for abstractors than Source of Title, I would love to know about it.  I get more "thank you" e-mail than you can imagine, but the lack of support we get is disheartening. 

I have no intention of making Source of Title a paid-only site.  I realize that there are some people out there that wouldn't part with a dime unless you steal it out of their pocket while they were sleeping.  And, Source of Title would not be what it is today without their visits to the site.  I just dramatically underestimated what a large percentage of abstractors that is.  Out of 12,788 registered users, we have 397 subscribers.   I somewhat naively believed that if we provided the level of service we have and helped them grow their business, which is evident from the email we receive, that they would gladly return the favor by purchasing a paid subscription. 

Sorry for the rant... that is my gripe for the month!  If anyone else wants to complain about anything, I'll read it, but I think I am all out of replies.

For those of you who do support our efforts, we most certainly appreciate it and we will continue to do everything we can to return a good value for your investment with us.  We have heard from many of you that it was money well spent and we hope to make it even more so.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
SOURCE OF TITLE