Anonymous wrote:
What are they getting at in lines 60, 61 (a)-(b) and 62?
Answer: In these four lines, the Office is attempting to get a better understanding of what costs are incurred by agents in producing or acquiring their title information. If you maintain your own plant or “rent” access to a plant, line 60 is intended to pick up the non-labor costs of running that plant. Labor costs are separately accounted for in the data call and on Schedule B.
We understand that many title agencies purchase searches and access from other parties. Some agencies acquire what amounts to an old fashioned abstract, a list of the documents in the chain, and copies of those instruments. Other searches also include suggested requirements and/or exceptions, based on the searcher’s review/examination of the documents. We need to better understand how this difference in business models affects the costs of operating an agency, and that is the distinction being drawn.