In the August 15, 2008 issue of Good Deeds, the Pennsylvania Recorder of Deeds newsletter, the Recorder of Deeds Office highlights eRecording progress in Chester County.  You can either read the article online at www.chesco.org/recorder or read it here: 

E-Recording in Chester County

Our office began accepting documents for eRecording via the internet in March 2006. As of July 31, 2008, over 10,000 documents have been eRecorded. Over 20% of our daily recordings are now eRecordings.

“E-Recording offers our submitters the ability to conduct business with the County without leaving their office. In today’s economy, this brings value not only in time management, but in energy savings as well,” commented Recorder Ryan Costello.

“The ability to eRecord documents gives the submitter a more efficient way of doing business,” said Deputy Recorder Ruth Huganir.If you are interested in submitting documents electronically, the first step is to contact our eRecording partner, Simplifile.

“Subscribing to the Simplifile service is, in a word, simple. Your account can literally be installed, configured and activated within an hour so that you can start eRecording that day,” said Simplifile representative Rob Moore.

Visit our website at www.chesco.org/recorder for details on how to contact Simplifile and activate an eRecording subscription.  [End of Article]

What progress has your county or organization made with eRecording? How many documents have you electronically recorded to date, and what percentage of your total recording volume is processed electronically? Share your experiences with Simplifile by posting a comment below or sending an email to blog@simplifile.com.

The ‘Technology Corner’ of the ALTA’s July / August 2008 issue of the Title News magazine features an article titled “The Race to eRecord”.  (To access the article online, go to the ALTA Web site at http://www.alta.org/publications/titlenews/08/2008.cfm.) 

In this article, I address the technological, legal and cultural issues inherent in eRecording adoption, briefly describe the two major approaches to enabling eRecording among government recording jurisdictions (portal vs. commercial provider), cite the experiences of early adopters on both sides of the counter, and–for those still assessing the advisability of eRecording–provide a sidebar analysis of both quantitative and qualitative considerations.

Those considerations include (1) legality, (2) accessibility, (3) feasibility and (4) marketability.  While the first two of those, legality and accessibility, can be influenced by submitters as they lobby recording jurisdictions to adopt eRecording, it is really the last two considerations, feasibility and marketability, that tee up an introspective look at whether eRecording makes financial and strategic sense.  Sooner or later, all submitters will line up along the adoption curve based on their propensity to adopt new technology and their understanding of the value proposition of workflow automation.

Where are you at on  the curve?  Are you taking the time to evaluate how eRecording can both cut costs and add value in a down market?  Are you reaching out to the counties you record with to encourage their adoption of eRecording technologies and processes?  I’m interested in your feedback on the article and your personal experiences with eRecording adoption.  Post your comments below or send me an email at blog@simplifile.com. 

Anyone familiar with the history of eRecording in Florida knows that establishing an acceptable legal foundation upon which the collective recording community—clerks, title companies, underwriters, etc.—can proceed has been an ‘on-again, off-again’ proposition.

Simplifile actually commenced eRecording in Brevard County several years back under UETA.  However, when NCCUSL introduced URPERA, several underwriters in the state assumed the conservative stance of not sanctioning eRecording until URPERA was passed.  That stance chilled adoption on both sides of the counter as County Clerks and title companies alike awaited clarification on the legality of the practice.

Then in the Spring of last year, as the following excerpt from a news release issued by Simplifile states, Florida passed URPERA and an Electronic Recording Commission was formed:

FLORIDA. May 7, 2007 – Simplifile announced today the passage of the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act (URPERA), by the Florida Legislature. While existing law (UETA) allows for electronic signature and electronic notarization of documents, this new legislation specifically enables the electronic recording of real estate transaction or land record documents with the County Clerk’s Office. URPERA clearly equates electronic documents to original paper documents, so that any requirement for originality (paper document) is satisfied by an electronic document.

See the “News Archive” at https://simplifile.com/eRecording/news-archive.jsp for the entire release.

Simplifile is pleased to report that as of May 22nd, the Florida Electronic Recording Commission (ERC) has established the official rules under which title companies, lenders, attorneys and other document ‘submitters’ like you can electronically record property documents with the County Clerk’s Office.  Simplifile is 100% compliant with the ERC rules, which means that Florida title companies, lenders and attorneys can begin submitting, and counties can begin recording documents via Simplifile starting today.

So if you’ve been waiting to eRecord in the state of Florida, you can now step off the sidelines and get in the game.  If you’d like information on which counties are eRecording , contact your local Simplifile representative or call our main offices.  And while you’re at it, let us know about your experience with eRecording adoption in the state of Florida or elsewhere.  Post your comments below or send your submission to blog@simplifile.com.

Rob Moore, VP Marketing
Simplifile, LLC

I recently attended the Mortgage Banker Association’s Annual National Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference and Expo March 16 - 19 2008 in Dallas, Texas and participated in a panel presentation on eRecording and eNotarization.  Also participating on the panel were Darren Ross, Director of eNotarization Services and Development for the National Notary Association (NNA), and Mark Ladd, Technology Committee Coordinator for the Property Records Industry Association (PRIA).

During his presentation, Mark mentioned that PRIA has identified approximately 300 counties that are currently eRecording level I, II or III documents.  Three hundred counties is a great start.  But with approximately 3,300 recording jurisdictions still processing paper, why aren’t more counties eRecording today?

Some counties still have their hands tied because their state has not established the legal foundation for eRecording by passing UETA or URPERA–but those states are now in the minority as a quick review of the status of those legislative acts on the NCCUSL Web site reveals.

I believe the obstacles are primarily cultural.  For literally hundreds of years in some counties, customers have walked, couriered or mailed documents to the county and county personnel have either greeted their customers across the counter or processed their mail, opening packages to handle the documents inside.  eRecording replaces the in-person, over-the-counter exchange of documents with images and the eRecording equivalent of email.  That’s a change some recorders and their staffs are reluctant to make.

What’s more, while some counties have made great strides in automating the indexing, archiving, search and retrieval of public records, others are still relying on workflow processes dating back decades, if not centuries.  But even counties that have invested in a land record management system wrestle with the idea of automating the round-trip recording of land record documents. 

Some worry about security.  With daily news reports of viruses, phishing schemes, supposedly secure systems being hacked, and customer data being misplaced or compromised, clerks are understandably wary of the risk an ‘electronic conduit and counter’ might introduce into their workflow processes.

Finally, the proliferation and adoption of standards and questions concerning competing market development and economic models are creating some early confusion in the industry.  That confusion has not deterred ‘early adopters’, but it has sidelined some who are waiting to see which way the directional signs will ultimately point.

As an eRecording service provider operational in over twenty states, Simplifile founders have spent years as “unpaid industry consultants”, traveling the country to educate recording jurisdictions on the merits of eRecording.  In the process, we’ve learned a great deal from recording officials and their staff, and have reflected county feedback into the ongoing development and evolution of our service offering.  We are enjoying the journey, and have very much enjoyed the successful deployments and early wins of innovative county recorders and their customers. 

To date, working closely with our customers and alliance partners, we have successfully and securely transacted the electronic recordation of well over 1.5 million documents, and the processing of corresponding recording fees.  That’s a data point we’re proud of, and that we hope will convince counties not yet eRecording to “go digital” and realize the tremendous value of automating the recording function.

We’re now seeing counties embrace eRecording in record numbers.  Early adopters are influencing their peers to look into eRecording, and Land Record Management System vendors are also influential as they provide trusted guidance on eRecording strategy.  Simplifile’s alliance partner program enables us to work cooperatively and from a vendor-neutral position with a county’s vendor to seamlessly integrate systems.  Taking a cooperative approach helps to resolve county concerns and speed the adoption process. 

I’m interested in your feedback on and experiences with eRecording adoption, either as a participating county, a county not yet eRecording, a county vendor, or a submitter.  Post your comments below or send your perspective to blog@simplifile.com.

When eRecording with Simplifile, we recommend that you identify the status of paper originals by marking or stamping the originals as having been electronically recorded, and providing other recording data such as the date, time, county name and any other unique identifying information. 

Stamping paper originals with this information can prevent original documents from inadvertently being submitted for recording a second time, and can provide clerical staff with ready-reference information to increase their productivity and effectiveness.

We further recommend that you print the first page of a recorded document when it is returned from the County and attach that page to the paper originals stamped “Recorded Electronically”.  The recorded page returned from the County contains recording data and confirmation that the instrument was recorded.

Simplifile submitting customers, including title companies, banks and attorneys can request a self-inking stamp from Simplifile that identifies the following recording information: document identification number, recording county, date and time.

We welcome any comments on the practice of stamping paper originals and encourage you to share your own best practices on this blog.  You can either comment on this post below or send a new post submission to blog@simplifile.com.

Welcome to the Simplifile blog!

We’re introducing a blog to the Simplifile site to create a forum for informally reporting and soliciting your perspective on the market adoption and evolution of eRecording. After all, eRecording is dramatically changing the way county clerks / recorders and their customers, the recording public, have transacted property instruments over the past several hundred years.

As a company, we anticipate posting entries covering topics ranging from best practices and industry happenings, to thoughts and opinions on the eRecording market and its development—and we invite you to do the same.  If you have content that you would like posted, please send your submissions to blog@simplifile.com

We will be reviewing submissions to filter incorrect and inappropriate content, but we are committed to posting all constructive entries. So, with that said—let the blogging begin!