News & Resources

1st Quarter 2007

Message from The President
Bill Welge

It is our pleasure to bring you the RecordFusion First Quarter 2007 Newsletter. Our main objective with this publication is to keep you informed about recent developments in our industry, and in this issue we will shine our spotlight on electronic recording, or eRecording.

eRecording has seen widespread adoption in recent years, and in this newsletter we will cover several topics about eRecording, including the different eRecording levels, recent eRecording legislative efforts, and RecordFusion's approach to electronic recording. If you are new to eRecording, this issue will educate you about the process, and for you more experienced eRecorders, we hope that this newsletter will get you up to speed with the latest eRecording developments.

Electronic recordings make it possible to conduct a centuries-old process in a new form. In the Middle Ages, before laws governing real estate transactions existed, most real estate exchanges were conducted by oral agreements. As written documentation gained popularity in the beginning of the Renaissance era of the 1500s, paper documents with hand signatures came into wide use. And now the advent of computers in recent decades has ushered in a new era of electronic recording. As paper-based recordings recently have begun to diminish in popularity, eRecording has become an important tool to aid in the computerized movement toward efficient real estate markets.

eRecording offers a number of advantages to county recording offices. First, since documents submitted electronically arrive pre-scanned and often partially indexed, recording offices can dramatically reduce handling times. This represents significant efficiency gains and cost savings for you. Second, eRecordings can be an excellent method to prevent fraud, mainly due to reducing the turn time between signing and recording and the capability to cross reference against a more timely index.

Index information submitted with an eRecording can be cross-checked against indexing performed at your recording office; if indexing doesn't match up, fraud will be detected immediately. eRecording systems also feature secure logins that help prevent unlawful activity. So eRecording can not only save your office money, but it also can help improve the security of your constituents' private information and better the overall quality of your records.

We are seeing unprecedented change in our industry, and the opportunity to make changes that will improve the quality of records is tremendous. I find this challenge thought-provoking and exciting, and I work diligently with my team to find new ways to use technology to streamline the eRecording process. I hope that we can work with your county to submit eRecordings. We'd like to be your partner in advancing land records management well into the future.