For the second time in this thread, I back you, David. My research indicates that this company has some people in DC and maintains a far bigger presence in Chennai, India. While I applaud Prashant Kothari for his business saavy, the fact is that String harvests information on the world wide web and sells this information to their clients. (stringinfo.com and prashantkothari.com will tell you as much). By their own admission, they came to SOT in an effort to learn about vendor management companies. As most of us know, vendor management companies are the very companies that provide independent abstractors (like myself) with much of our work. Let's be realistic here. It is fairly obvious that String would like to contact VMCs and do online searches. Whether these searches are done in Washington D.C., Chennai, India, or anyplace on the third rock from the Sun, the fact is they will be trying to do the work that we direct field researchers do. This once again comes down to the reliability of online searches as opposed to those searches physically performed in the courthouse/registry/townhall, etc.

I have physically searched the records of over 500 counties, town halls, circuit courts, and registries. I have traveled from Maine to Key West and as far west as Chicago. I have been performing public records research since I began law school in 1983. In addition, I personally know the downside of using online databases as one's sole source of information for title information. In my humble opinion, the online research issue is the single biggest threat to the independent abstractor. It is my belief that we need to let the lending industry know the pitfalls of utilizing offshore resources and business process outsourcing that solely utilize online resources to provide title information. It just does not work.

I acknowledge that in this financial climate where interest rates are rising and the real estate industry is, in general, slumping, it is more cost efficient (initially) to use a company that will do a $35.00 current owner search. My question to the direct lenders and VMCs is this: will it really be worth it when title insurance premiums are through the roof because you used an online search service (in India or anywhere else) that screwed up your search/title (missed liens, mortgages, etc.) when for another 10, 20, 30 bucks you could have gotten it right the first time by using a qualified title searcher who actually goes to the place where the real estate records are recorded and physically reviews each and every record that affects title?

Rich and Monica...in snowy Maine