This Michigan County Made Mortgaging Easier With Searchable Electronic Records

thodonal88 / Shutterstock.com

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau disclosure forms don’t have to slow transactions down.

Isabella County’s Register of Deeds kept electronic land records dating back to the 1940s for eight years, but this jurisdiction in Michigan’s central Lower Peninsula wanted more than 700,000 documents from the 1800s onward online and free to search.

While US Land Records maintains a viable, complete title search, an expanded keyword search better serves people looking to do comprehensive genealogical research from home.

Plus, new TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rules took effect Oct. 3, necessitating faster recording of mortgage documents. So in July, the county outfitted its digital database with Xerox’s Super Search program and mobile app, which include deeds, mortgages, liens, oil and gas leases, and court orders.

“Had we not had that implemented in time for the TRID changes, we would’ve been looking at a lot of phone calls bogging the things that needed to get done in the office down,” said Karen Jackson, the county’s register of deeds. “It’s self-service, and a lot of older clients doing genealogy research aren’t comfortable coming in to use an unfamiliar computer. This way, they can take their time, search whatever the want, make copies and the county still gets its copy fee.”

Oil and gas companies prevail in Isabella County, and the Register of Deeds’ office sometimes sees upwards of 30 industrialists pouring over records in the office at once. Tensions can mount among the intensely private group, Jackson said.

Super Search could cut the drama out of the process, using optical character recognition (OCR) to pull the text off every new document, indexing primary fields like “grantor” or “property” and scouring every word whether it’s indexed or not—all in the same day. That might not help a title searcher, Xerox Program Director Mark Nicks said in an interview. But the average user may only have an address, which isn’t typically a search field, he said.

A common problem is fictitious notary names being used, but Super Search can more easily identify fraudulent documents, Nicks said.

TRID law reforms have put pressure on mortgage title companies to have all the necessary documentation recorded within three days of holding a closing, or else face accumulative fines. In November 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau merged disclosures and regulations in the Real Estate Settlement Procedures and Truth in Lending acts, with the resulting forms going into effect earlier this month.

Costs must be set at the time of closing, and if changed the entire reporting process starts over.

Neither title companies nor banks are left much time for paperwork, but Super Search lets them log on and index all documents quickly without missing a page or having to recalculate costs. If a local bank records the mortgage and a second bank in New York City does the assignment, the latter can ZIP the proper documents to the register as an e-recording.

Three years ago, Xerox teamed with Google on Super Search’s predecessor—Super Index. Google’s search appliance enabled rich text search rolled out in two large-population counties in the Detroit area: Macomb and Oakland.

“However, we found the algorithm we built is more geared toward registering deeds,” said Matt Armstrong, a Xerox senior account executive.

Tarrant County, Texas, home to the city of Fort Worth, was the first Super Search customer and Isabella was the second.

Monthly upkeep and site hosting fees vary by county, but the cost of $55,000 includes the OCR process, license and implementation.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.