County cuts paper from land docs

The Maricopa County Recorder's Office in Arizona announced June 4 the availability

of an electronic document recording system that would cut a days-long process

down to seconds.

The new electronic recording capabilities integrate with an existing

system that enabled title companies to electronically submit scanned documents

for review and recording, according to the county. The new system allows

title companies to eliminate the scanning step for lien releases because

the documents are now created, signed and recorded electronically.

Cindy Yates, vice president of marketing at Ingeo Systems Inc., the

creator of the electronic recording system, explained that anyone involved

in a mortgage closing process benefits from this solution. "This process

used to take days," she said. "Now it takes seconds."

In addition to increased efficiency, significant savings in paper handling

and postage are evident. A typical day sees 5,000 to 8,000 documents submitted

to the county, the fourth largest in the nation. Each and every document

— all of which are multiple pages long — must be processed and returned

by mail to the sender. County officials expect 20 percent of that paper

load to disappear because of the new system.

The electronic recording solution is composed of two software solutions,

ePrepare, which is sold to mortgage servicers, title companies, attorneys

or anyone that submits documents to a county recorder; and eRecord, the

electronic recording part of the system.

The system has automated the paper-based procedure of recording land

records, Yates said. But like any software product, continual upgrades can

lead to "trouble" in certain areas.

"The weaknesses are apparent in limited document types we are able to

electronically record," Yates said. "A template has to be built for each

document type, such as a reconveyance, an assignment or a deed of trust.

There are hundreds of document types."

Later this year, Ingeo plans to upgrade its software to Version 3.0.

"This new edition, which will implement an architectural change, allows

more flexibility in building document types and expanding applications into

other business to government applications," Yates said. These applications

include elctronically creating and applying tax liens on the federal, state

and county levels, she added.