This is en EXCELLET topic for this forum, and I am very glad to see people sharing their opinions. One important thing to remember is that price varies by region... for this reason, we are planning to add the state you are in to the message posts.

For instance, we charge $45.00 (plus copies) for a current owner and we are at the top of the fee scale for this region. Many people here are doing current owners for $35-$40. I lost one VERY LARGE client last year to another abstractor who is doing them for $32.00! I refuse to lower my prices for the same reasons that have been discussed, but there are always people out there that are willing to do them for less.

I would love to be able to charge $75 for a current owner, but there are so many people here doing them for $40.00 that I would be out of business tomorrow if I tried. I don't have a problem being at the top of the fee scale, we provide a very high quality product and a quick turn-aroud time, but I still have to be competitive with the local market.

I DO think that some of our clients are lowering their fees. There seems to be a lot more clients now than there were a few years ago and I think they are going through the same thing we are. Some of them are being forced to lower their prices to compete in their markets. I think the reason we are asked to lower prices is so they can undercut their competition. The problem is that they bid the jobs lower and then try to put us in a position to lower our prices to maintain the same overhead... thus we are the ones that really lose out.

My theory on this is why should I help one of my clients undercut another one that is willing to pay my full fee. They keep saying that it is due to the volume, but if they don't get their "new customer" one of my other clients probably will. Joe is absolutely right, "Lets face it price reductions is the beginning of the end." Once our clients get into a price war, they will all have no choice but ask us to reduce our fees. We need to help our good clients, by not helping their competition undercut them.

Just my $0.02.
Robert A. Franco

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