After stalling for over a decade to roughly 200, the number of U.S. jurisdictions that are electronically recording land and mortgage documents saw a major increase in the past 11 months jumping to 900 counties.
And according to the Property Records Industry Association it marks a milestone since e-recording now represents roughly one-fourth of the nation’s recording jurisdictions.
While the total may still be in the minority it is steadily growing. The association reported that between June 2012 and April 2013, the number of counties committing to the e-recording process increased by 9%.
Kay Wrucke, Martin County, Minn., recorder and president of PRIA and other insiders are calling the recent increase “particularly meaningful.” Expectations are to see the new expansion trend continue.
Feedback form PRIA’s tracking system indicates it took almost one decade—from the late 1990s until August 2006—to reach the 200 e-recording counties mark. Going forward, however, the attitude has changed. PRIA expects an additional 1,000 counties will be electronically recording documents by the end of 2013.
Larry Burtness, Washoe County, Nev., recorder and PRIA technology committee co-chair, explained that process improvements are part of the reason. “As the PRIA e-recording standards continue to mature,” he said, the number of counties leveraging this technology continues to expand.
As of today electronic data storing includes land records gathered by the county offices, reporting of the data receipt and examination, fee calculation and payment, as well as owner’s endorsement of electronic recording information and the return of recorded electronic documents to the submitter. These insiders say e-recording helps improve the quality of data,
According to PRIA reports the actual number of e-recording counties is higher than what is published on its lists, which are “limited to those counties that have been accurately verified.”
A full list of the e-recording counties nationwide is available to the public on the PRIA website.
