The Role of an Abstractor

​I have had a few conversations with people lately about the role of an abstractor, and I wanted to share my thoughts with you all. An abstractor’s job is really pretty objective: report all the recorded documents that affect the subject parcel. It is not your job to make legal determinations (that would be the unauthorized practice of law) and it is not your job to force the title to fit together perfectly where it doesn’t (that is what curative is for). Think of it more as reporting on the facts as opposed to an op-ed piece.
So if everyone is just reporting on the facts, how do you make your work stand out? As I mentioned last week, focus on doing the basics well. 

1. Make sure to find all of the documents at the courthouse that affect your parcel. It can sometimes be pretty difficult for the next person looking at your work to catch a missing document, and that document could make a huge difference in your title. 
2. Have a solid understanding of what each document conveys and reserves. Be specific in your ownership report and in the comments of your runsheet; don’t try to generalize. That said, if you write out half the document in your comments, that may mean that you are having trouble identifying the relevant information.
3. If you had to make any assumptions while running title, make a note about what you did to try to resolve the issue (where you searched for a document that would provide an explanation), describe the assumption that you made, and draw attention to the fact that a further determination may be needed.
4. Work efficiently. You wouldn’t want someone to waste your money, so don’t do it to your company or client.
5. When it comes to formatting, get familiar with, and follow, your company/client/broker’s preferred practices.

The concepts behind running title are really pretty simple. However, that doesn’t mean they are easy to execute well. The more you do it, the more you can learn from your mistakes and refine and improve upon your processes. Just remember to stay objective.