If it is a main page and will get lots of traffic I will pay and have a local writer who has experience in the subject write it. But if I need 40 pages I can't spend 40x$20-$50. to fill the pages. So I will outsource a lot of the filler pages and just have the main pages and the sales pages done locally. Basically if the pages will have traffic and I want to try to collect money off of them I have local writers do them. If they are just filler for spiders to run through and the occasional reader then I outsource them. All of the stuff I outsource goes through an editor so I only pay .001 if the editor says they don't need to do much to the articles then I pay more.. 95% of the time outsourced stuff need a good amount of editing when articles need more then 20-30 min of editing they are worthless and get deleted. I do write a lot of stuff but my writing is not so stellar and it takes some editing when it is finished but I do write a lot of technical stuff and stuff I am interested in.
I write my own articles because that's what a client is paying me to do. Occasionally, I'll outsource work for my own sites - small articles for a site I'm part owner in, but never client work. It would break trust and it's not worth it because I'd spend more time fixing the poor job I'd likely get than just writing it myself in the first place.
I write all of my main articles myself. I have previously outsourced writing for less important sites with mixed results. Mostly it was nothing but a waste of time and money.
Currently, I write my own articles. However, once a get a few more sites up I would like to find a quality outsource article writer to free up some additional time.
It is amazing when sometimes the same "writer" posts 2 threads in the BST forums, in one he is offering his services and in another shopping for cheaper writers. Outsourcing without informing the client beforehand is scamming! When I hire a writer I do it because I read his work not the other guy's.
Right now I'm doing all the writing for my blogs. I think even if I have no time to write, I will just hire someone to rewrite the PLR articles with given keywords.
Outsourcing the articles to a right person at the right time is like spotting the gold amidst rocks. But if you can outsource it wisely, I bet it would save a lot of time and energy. For me, I write my own articles partly because of trust in myself and partly because of lack in trust of "Buy articles cheap!" sellers.
I will outsource if I don't have enough time to complete the project like it is meant to be complete, but I only do this after talking it out with the client first. Overall, I would say that 96% of the writing work that I get from clients, I do myself.