Posted by Loretta Reed on 5/3/07 7:53am
Msg #188558

Don't be fooled by this mornings email...

Got an email this morning from certsigningagents.com or something like that. They are advertising an abstracting course for notaries to get into the title searching business. Don't be fooled by the $69 fee for the class. This may be good for informational purposes but it takes years of working one on one with a title company to become qualified as an abstractor.
Most title companies won't even use an independent abstractor without 2 years experience.
Abstractors are a dime a dozen just like notaries now.

This makes my blood boil.

Reply by Lee/AR on 5/3/07 8:14am
Msg #188560

I received that last week and I agree this is so over-the-top nuts, it's unbelievable that someone would have the brass (or ignorance) to market it! DO NOT go there. Was a R.E.Broker for over a quarter century, know my way around a courthouse, would NOT attempt Abstracting because I know that I don't know it all. Anyone who thinks this is a good way to make some money had better take out a kazillion multibillion bucks worth of E&O, too!

Reply by SueW/Tn on 5/3/07 8:20am
Msg #188562

AMEN Loretta! I've been sitting back watching those folks that jump on any and all bandwagons for the promised "easy money". They make a big score with the initial job seekers and then move on to something else. Rent a conference room, get 100 applicants at $100 a pop, work 5 hours and laugh all the way to the bank hanging them out to dry. Disgusting!

Reply by BrendaTx on 5/3/07 8:24am
Msg #188564

Sue, Easy Money is in exactly what you state.

Remember PT Barnum. “There's a sucker born every minute”.

Reply by Roger_OH on 5/3/07 8:30am
Msg #188566

Equally appropriate in this scenario...

and also from PT Barnum, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public".

Reply by BrendaTx on 5/3/07 8:34am
Msg #188567

Re: Equally appropriate in this scenario...Recently saw that

one myself. Didn't realize that was PT Barnum's.

Reply by sue_pa on 5/3/07 8:35am
Msg #188569

I saw on another site a thread about inspections. A very short thread I might add. Someone posted a web site to get info. About 2 or 3 posts later someone asks ... How do I get started? Is there a certificate or course I can do online? ... This person couldn't even read (or comprehend) what was posted an inch or two above that gave more info than she could ever utilize. She wants to 'get started' and get a 'certificate' for something she apparently knows NOTHING about. Amazing.

Reply by ZeeCA on 5/3/07 9:32am
Msg #188581

at the bottom of that page, did you notice the ad for notary

training?



Notary Signing Agent.
Earn $70,000+ as a Signing Agent. Step-By-Step Training & Mktg Tools.

Reply by BrendaTx on 5/3/07 8:23am
Msg #188563

Agreed. Do NOT believe that abstracting is easy work.

It takes years of experience and apprenticeship IMHO.

Reply by Loretta Reed on 5/3/07 8:38am
Msg #188571

Re: Agreed. Do NOT believe that abstracting is easy work.

Gosh guys,

We really can agree on something, can't we!!!!!

I have been an abstractor for 11 years and would have never imagined that someone was selling a book on how to do this. This is just not the way it works.

Go to www.sourceoftitle.com and click on your state and the county you live/work in and you will see just how many people are doing title searches in your area. It will make you turn around and try something else. Very discouraging.

Reply by Loretta Reed on 5/3/07 9:00am
Msg #188578

Re: Agreed. Do NOT believe that abstracting is easy work.

On the sot website, under "Directory" Palm Beach County, Florida has 251 title companies/abstractors in that county.

Reply by Kevin/Ct on 5/3/07 9:24am
Msg #188580

It has become extremely difficult to make any appreciable amount of money at abstracting anymore. That is primarily why our firm exited from it a year ago. The VM's constantly pressure the abstractors for discounts and price reductions while at the same time imposing ridiculous turn around times and conditions. Added to that there are the undercapitalized firms that will run up huge bills of several thousand dollars and fail to make payment.

There is apparently a new wrinkle in the business also of abstractors being told by clients that they need to pay for work assignments, not to pass the expenditure along in their invoices and that they must keep their prices competitve in the market. In other words the abstractor is being squeezed from both ends resulting in increased expense and decrease profit margin.

The volume of work is also low because of the current slump in the real estate market and the outsourcing of abstracting work to be done on line in India, China and the Phillipines.

Don't waste your time with abstracting. It is even tougher to make a buck as an abstractor than as a signing agent.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 5/3/07 10:13am
Msg #188584

I think its great! The more notaries that chase the rainbow

the better it will be flr those who concentrated on the business. Hope full a whole bunch will jump on the abstracting bandwagon, drop notary work and get into abstracting and then whatever the next quick buck is going to be. It only means that the pie will get sliced less so each one who stays will get a bigger piece. If I learned anything over my life that is that longevity pays off in business.