Skip to content
Boston Career Explorer

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.

Also called: Abstractor, Advisory Title Officer, Commercial Examiner, Commercial Title Examiner, Examiner, Title Abstractor

Median pay in Greater Boston
$68,400
$32.89/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
Not published
Massachusetts 2024–2034
Not published
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Moderate-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$53,080$53,080$68,400$94,070$95,680

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • 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.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Higher exposure87 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 84
  • Language-model AIOE 91
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 87

Observed AI use today: Some (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is higher, and people already use AI tools for some of this work. Tools can help search records, pull key details from documents, and draft reports and lists. Judging whether a title is clear, spotting problems in odd or unclear records, and deciding what it takes to fix them still need a trained person.

Likely to change

  • Searching records and compiling lists of documents
  • Drafting title reports and commitments

Still relies on people

  • Judging unusual liens, easements, or ownership questions
  • Deciding what steps will clear a title

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

  • Property, Real Estate, and Community Association Managers

    Your knowledge of property records, ownership, and contracts carries over, and this job offers higher pay and growth in Massachusetts.

    Pay difference
    +$37,650 median
    AI exposure
    Higher
    MA growth
    +3.2%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Detectives and Criminal Investigators

    Careful record review and clear written reports are core skills here, and the work adds interviewing and fieldwork.

    Pay difference
    +$41,750 median
    AI exposure
    Moderate
    MA growth
    +3.1%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Electricians

    Reading plans and following codes carries over. This move means a paid apprenticeship and hands-on work with lower AI exposure.

    Pay difference
    +$11,510 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +11.6%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

11 programs near Boston

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

Talk to a career coach