Many real estate professionals are familiar with the function of title searchers and title abstractors.  However, few stop to consider the importance of the role that the abstractor plays in the overall transaction.  With all the talk of improvements in technology infrastructure and outsourcing of title search functions to overseas "thin" plants, it seems that most title people think that conducting a title search is simply a matter of inputting a few keystrokes on a computer.  Worse yet, those same people are more likely to trust an automated title search than a search performed by a live human being.  In fact, in a recent Forbes magazine article entitled, "Inside America's Richest Insurance Racket", author Scott Wooley claims that title insurance, "...is far less necessary in these days of computerized records, online searches and rare instances of title fraud or hidden liens."

I find it staggering that Mr. Wooley could be so woefully misinformed.  One need only pick up a newspaper these days to be aware of the recent increases in fraud within the real estate industry, including property "flipping", mortgage fraud and identity theft.  I believe that competent title abstractors are the first line of defense against such schemes.  They function not only as the gatekeepers of the information the title industry relies upon, but as proofreaders for the county recorders' offices, bringing indexing errors to the attention of county workers.

A title policy is only as good as the title search that was relied upon to issue it. By extension, a title search is only as good as the abstractor who performed it.