I can only speak for the company that I work for when I say that we NEVER use overseas firms to do our searches.  There are divisions that utilize them to type completed searches.  That is as far as it goes.  The only searches that are done by our internal abstracting division are deed retrievals and on some occasions current owner searches.  I do not use any type of online searches and do not allow the abstractors that do my searches to do online searches.  They need to be in the courthouse.  I actually just had an instance where an abstractor wanted to charge me they hit "enter" on their keyboard because they were doing the searches in their office from a program they bought from the recorder's office.  This was before they were sure that the document actually affected my property.  I explained to them that I WILL NOT pay for that service when I could just as easily do it myself.  I am willing to pay a good amount of money for these searches, but only when I KNOW that they are actually being searched and done correctly.  If they are doing online searches, how can I be sure that everything I need is contained in the report?  I can't.

I go back to a post that I submitted in a previous thread....I need you all in the record rooms everyday to do these for me.  You all make me look good.  Without the expertise that you all have, I don't have a job!!  Your ability to provide me with an excellent product enables me to provide that excellent product to my clients.  If they could get the same caliber product from someone else, they would.  At least my clients understand that no one else in this industry will give them the attention and in depth information that they need.  That is why they stay with me.   That is why I stay with you.