I totally agree with setting standards in searching,
pricing etc.. as we can see by some of the other
messages from newer abstractors, some are having a
great deal of trouble getting started. Those of us who have been in the business for more than 10 years
(15 myself) we remember when things were still being entered by had in books and computers were still
pretty new. (at least in my area) I think the problem
is that newer people don't know how badly they are
undercutting other people's livelyhood when they
set prices so low that you can't compete. When we don't share prices, its because we're afraid of being
undercut, but we're being undercut because when new people don't know what to charge, some title
companies are glad to set the prices for them, the lower the better. Its a viscious cycle. No one wins then. They get the product cheaper, but its not always quality work when they use searchers who have never worked at a title company, and have little or no experience. We've all worked hard to get where we are, and its hard to lose your work to someone who has never searched before, or has gotten questionable training. Business is business, and I know that undercutting the competition is part of it. But
when the people doing the undercutting is someone
who doesn't really know what they are doing, and you know whats going on, its hard to stand idly by and
watch your work get taken away. I don't agree with
how some of the new people are being treated, but I
would love to see some kind of national standard set
for all searchers. Personally I have seen many people
come and go in this industry, and those of us who are
still here, are usually cleaning up many mistakes made
by (no offense) fly-by-night searchers who are there
one year, and gone the next.(This is just my 2 cents
and I truly do not mean to offend any new people
out there.)


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