Id like to know why they cost so much!?
Surely if they offered cheaper services the more custom they would get!?
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Position:Home>Genealogy> Why are Genealogists so expensive?Question: Why are Genealogists so expensive!? Id like to know why they cost so much!?
Surely if they offered cheaper services the more custom they would get!? ThanksWww@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Time and travel!. Research is not simply opening any book in the genealogical section of a library!.!.!.it's time consuming!. I have spent hours, days, weeks!.!.!.yes, years, searching out certain of my elusive ancestors!. If a professional genealogist has to travel, say to the Library in Virginia!.!.!.it's costly!. Documented records are essential, you'd not want some back-door 'genealogist' to whip out your pedigree!. In other words, you pay for what you receive!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Serious genealogy involves a lot more than searching a few internet sites!. We have to search in archives, travel to courthouses and libraries, send away for records, hire translators, pay for researchers to help us in places where we can't travel!.!.!.and we still try to make a living from it!. It depends on how remote the location is, but when you start looking at the former communist countries in Europe, it gets very pricey!. If we offered "cheaper services", what would you want from us that we don't already do!? Every genealogy is "custom" because every family is unique!. We go where the records take us and charge accordingly!. You pay by the hour because that's how we work!. There are no guarantees and the harder the search, the more we earn our salaries!. It's not the last 200 years where we earn our keep, it's the 700 years (or more) beyond that!. If it were all that easy, everyone would do it!. This is a specialized field and it requires a lot of education and experience!. If you chintz, you get what you pay for!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Like anything else!.!. you get what you pay for!. ANYONE who is a professional genealogist does so, because they truly love the challenge of what they do, and are more interested in doing it well!.!. instead of making lots of money!. You also have to have a good understanding of what is involved!. Anyone can pull up websites, look up other people's published "trees", etc!. The problem with this!?!? It is fast, but a high percentage of what is found this way, is flat garbage!. It is also true that a very high percentage of factual records (wills, court records, so forth) are NOT online!.!. the only way to get them, is going to the courthouse, in person (meaning!.!.time and expense)!. Last!.!. there may be records of 4 John Smith's!.!. and it comes down to knowing how to interpret them!. The internet fools a lot of people into thinking it is easier than it really is!. And!.!. yes, GOOD genealogists will find things online that the novice won't even think to find, even if they are there!. It does take time and effort to be a GOOD researcher!. A GOOD researcher can find things faster if they know the best places to look, that someone without skills won't find!. IF you think about it!.!. there are times when that would actually save you, against what you would spend to find it yourself!. Bottom line- good ones are worth it!. Www@QuestionHome@Com I think the price is for the extraordinary access to indexed documents that they have!. Ancestry!.com pales next to what a certified genealogist has available!. I honestly think they are cheap compared to other professionals!. My mechanic charges me $80/hr, my doc charges $110 for 5 min!. Genealogists average $29/hr (see source), mine charges only $10/hr!. and she is certified!. She does several people at the same time!. She has access to obscure courthouse, newspaper, and cemetery records that genealogists share among themselves!. When she goes on a trip for a specific job she copies and indexes the records there to share with other genealogists!. Genealogists lecture at genealogical society meetings!. Genealogical societies publish hundreds of well researched reports each month!. My genealogist volunteers at a local family history center (Mormons), so I can ask her questions when I find the time!. Free! She doesn't charge me for whatever I find on her advice so long as I mention the record is already discovered, in my next request!.Www@QuestionHome@Com it takes ages and all the costs involved are time,, travel, subscriptions, effort, eye strain (!), record keeping etc etc!. ive been doing mine for over 3 years now and in all that time, the furthest back ive got on any of my branches is late 1700s and even that hasnt been properly confirmed by original records, only internet ones!. so imagine the effort involved in researching fully, it takes agesWww@QuestionHome@Com |