Hi Tammy,

I think you are missing the point of NALTEA.  I understand your concern, but it is really not what NALTEA was set up to do.  Micro-managing all of the abstractors would be a fruitless task.  Quarreling over who should be allowed to join is only going to reduce the membership base and make it impossible to address the issues we all face.  Why would you want to exclude anyone?  Who cares if you don't like one of the other members, if they are contributing to the effort why would you concern yourself with the way they run their business?

It is not for NALTEA to tell any of you how to run your business.  There are BIG issues that effect us ALL.  Re-read my original post in this thread.  We need to be working on changing the INDUSTRY, not our competitors.  All of this bickering amongst ourselves keeps us all from focusing on the issues that are keeping us all down: There is no effective regulation of abstractors, which allows anyone to open an abstracting company and under-price you; RESPA reform has not addressed the insane mark-up of our fees, allowing the the VMCs and title companies to take more profit by forcing our rates down; the glut of unexperienced abstractors is driving up E&O prices that the professional abstractors have to pay; etc...

Refusing to join because you don't like one of the other members is really losing sight of the big picture.  The really important things can't get done with out the support of more abstractors. 

I hope all of my competitors join, even the ones who undercut my prices, because it will only help NALTEA make the changes that we need to remain a viable part of the title industry.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
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