Actually I didn't clarify that part of my post very well. Yes, last owners searches are used routinely for refinances in our area and have been for about 10 years now. Most title insurance agents will hire the same searcher who does their full title searches to also do their last owner search work. Some, however, have started going to whoever offers the best price for their LOS work.

The seachers who do the high-volume, quick turn-around, low price work are often referred to as "credit searchers" in our area. I am friends with some of them and I know the term gets on their nerves a bit, but we feel their skill set is not the same as those of us who do full searches on a regular basis. I think an agent who insures a title based on a $15 last owner search by someone who looks at 50 plus searches a day and whose emphasis is on getting the work done as quickly as possible is risking a lot more than the agent who uses someone who does full searches on a regular basis and charges more. The finished product for a LOS from both searchers might look the same more than 90% of the time, but I know that even simple things in the record will leap off the page to a full searcher as being potential problems for title insurance purposes that the credit searcher wouldn't notice. This is because their typical customers aren't concerned with the same matters an agent who is actually insuring the title might worry about.

I realize this is a bit off topic, but at least in our area, the recurring "$25 per search" complaint can be explained based on whether a credit searcher is doing the work or not. One of the credit searchers in our area was charging $6 (yes, s-i-x) per search up until recently. That person may still be charging that amount for all I know.

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