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Well thanks Diane. It's nice to hear that SOMEONE has respect for the career some of us have dedicated our lives to.
I mean, aside from a few select clients and my mom. (thanks mom!)
Wait - she's probably not a commonground member, I guess. Yet. I'm sure the EDR marketing machine will reach her sooner or later.
Also, I agree with MattF - if there was some form of title product that had any value for our purpose whatsoever, and it was available in the $20 range, I would probably be interested in hearing more about it.
Great topic, refreshing candor.
I concur that title information is a) the responsibility of the user, b) not absolutely required by the standard, and c) usually not helpful and sometimes misleading. I have done many of them myself - I was taught how to do them years ago in the Register of Deeds' Office, and it is called a "Grantor-Grantee Index Search".
Usually if you do see a railroad or an oil company etc, it was a mineral right or easement of some sort. Often they were speculative and never amounted to anything more than an obscure piece of paper in a filing cabinet. And it us usually pretty easy to corroborate as to whether any physical manifestation of that paper ever materialized.
Most real estate transactions already have some form of title work being ordered, and we ask for it and place the responsibility on the user, where it belongs. If they want us to provide and review title work beyond that, we're happy to do so, but it costs money, and as mentioned here by plenty of others, pricing pressure forces any extras to be add-on costs only.
We would only suggest it be done if we had other information that gave us reason to believe that there was a potential REC - and - that title work was the appropriate form of corroboration for that.
Also, I wanted to thank you Mike, and also McCarthy, for not insinuating that the "race to the bottom" is perpetuated by "small firms and one-man outfits that just cannot match the quality of us bigger firms". I have seen/heard that slander elsewhere, and it just contains so many falsehoods and unfair generalizations .....where do I begin?
As the owner of a smaller firm for nearly 20 years, I would put our track record up against anyone's. Our clients love us, and they have their reasons for that.
Anyone who is being honest knows this: the fact is that there are many smaller firms that do a great job, just like there are big firms that also do good work. There are also small firms that do not do good work, and big firms too. There are also good firms - of all sizes - that make a mistake once in a while. And, there are larger firms who are very quick to drop price, and also smaller firms who struggle hard not to, and vice versa.
Size may matter in some aspects of life, but not in this area. Just like in those "other areas", it is a matter of client preference!
These products have been out there for some time.
There is a company called Environmental Risk Managers (http://www.environmentalriskmanagers.com) that has specialized in both direct production of these products to the market, as well as working with environmental consultants and "regular" insurance brokers and agents to educate them as to the possiblities and provide them with the tools to fill this need.
The person to talk to is Chris Bunbury (231) 256-2122 or jcbunbury@aol.com - please be sure and tell him Dave VerSluis sent ya! Seriously, I have known Chris for many years and he is a phenomenal resource.
Listen to what your customer is telling you, Mike. He is giving you truthful and valuable information. What you choose to do with it is of course up to you, but he's shooting straight with you, from his perspective. You may not have enjoyed it, but that does not mean that it's his head that is in the sand!
Don't get me wrong, I don't like it any more than you do. And of course I have run into the same thing, as many have.
This industry has become commoditized, and that is exacerbated by the poor economy, especially here in Michigan. Of course we need to fight that every inch of the way, but with some of our competitors embracing their only opportunity to grow market share, "thats the breaks" in capitalism. And no consumer is going to feel sorry for you if you can't figure out a way to adapt to it.
Example 1-A: the domestic auto industry vs foreign imports.