I'd venture to guess that most of you reading this get up in the morning with a fire in your belly and a genuine passion for the work that you do.  You are the backbone of not only the real estate and title industry, but of this great nation of ours as well.  You are the ones who are making this country work, and it is a genuine privilege to be associated with a fine group of talented people such as yourselves.

That is why in March 2004, I first proposed the concept of a national association for title searchers.  I thought that a national organization with the goal of improving the profession of abstracting by giving abstractors a unified voice was way overdue.  That organization, thanks to the tireless efforts of a core group of volunteers, has become what is now known as the National Association of Land Title Examiners and Abstractors (NALTEA).  It is gratifying to see that I have colleagues in the abstracting community who not only share my vision for the future of our trade, but who have cared enough to contribute their time and talent to bring that vision to fruition.

NALTEA will hold its annual conference in New Orleans later this month, where it will be offering its initial Abstractor Certification Exam.  As pointed out by Lynn Hammett of NALTEA's Education Committee, the abstractor is the only person in the real estate transaction not required to have some sort of certification or licensing.  NALTEA's intent is to use this initial exam to create a professional designation with ongoing education requirements for title abstractors and examiners.

While I've long been an advocate for licensing of abstractors, any state requirement for licensure should have an examination component to keep it from simply being another revenue stream for the state governments.  As it stands now, only a handful of states require abstractors to be licensed and requirements vary widely. The state of Kansas, for example, simply requires an applicant to 1) fill out a form, 2) pay an application fee, and 3) be able to fog a mirror when held under the nose.

At this writing, Pennsylvania does not yet have a requirement for licensing.  When and if that ever happens, licensing should require an exam based on the standards set forth in The Abstractor's Bible by Attorney William F. Hoffmeyer, a recognized expert in the field of real estate law, particularly in the area of conveyancing interests in land.

As someone who truly has a passion for this line of work, it seems to me that in a state where even used car salesmen need to be licensed, the least we could do is require the same of the people who research and compile information about the biggest single investment most people will ever make in their lives.