Legal
Title examiners, abstractors, and searchers
Search real estate records, examine titles, or summarize pertinent legal or insurance documents or details for a variety of purposes. May compile lists of mortgages, contracts, and other instruments pertaining to titles by searching public and private records for law firms, real estate agencies, or title insurance companies.
Median pay
$58,650
Growth to 2035
+2%
about as fast as average
Openings a year
5,300
Time to qualify*
6 months
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Title examiners, abstractors, and searchers
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
- Prior experience
- None
Calculate your switch to title examiners, abstractors, and searchers
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time sitting
Time standing
Title examiners, abstractors, and searchers: 28% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Prepare and issue title commitments and title insurance policies, based on information compiled from title searches.
- Examine documentation such as mortgages, liens, judgments, easements, plat books, maps, contracts, and agreements to verify factors such as properties' legal descriptions, ownership, or restrictions.
- Examine individual titles to determine if restrictions, such as delinquent taxes, will affect titles and limit property use.
- Prepare reports describing any title encumbrances encountered during searching activities and outlining actions needed to clear titles.
- Prepare lists of all legal instruments applying to a specific piece of land and the buildings on it.
- Copy or summarize recorded documents, such as mortgages, trust deeds, and contracts, that affect property titles.
- Verify accuracy and completeness of land-related documents accepted for registration, preparing rejection notices when documents are not acceptable.
- Read search requests to ascertain types of title evidence required and to obtain descriptions of properties and names of involved parties.
Also called: Abstractor · Advisory Title Officer · Commercial Examiner · Commercial Title Examiner · Examiner · Title Abstractor · Title Agent · Title Examiner
Outlook and AI
Title examiners, abstractors, and searchers held 59,800 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 61,100 by 2035 (+2%, about as fast as average; all jobs: +3.5%).
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