Jennifer, I am in Chicago. Cook County is the second largest county in the country. There are 2 or 3 online services available to anyone here. I have already lost significant volume to one of the VMs.The online fees are nominal 6-15 dollars per search and probably lower for negotiated volume discounts. Chicago Title has "Property Profile" w/info back to 1974!!, "Datatrace" is another company, "Datatree" has docs for a dollar. Some Counties here are online also. I am surprised that there is so much talk about price cutting when the issue of losing the work altogether is far more frightening.
One other issue I have run into in Kansas is an insurance product that the lenders purchase in lieu of Title, It's like a casualty policy. It seems that some actuary has figured out the claim rates in our business and come out w/ a product that accomidates the stats. It's like auto insurance, they simply plan on a certain number of claims and adjust the premiums accordingly. No title search is done.

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