{"id":849,"date":"2020-04-06T06:00:41","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T10:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=849"},"modified":"2024-04-25T23:20:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T03:20:31","slug":"pandemics-property-transfer-breakdowns-the-digital-real-estate-industry-is-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/pandemics-property-transfer-breakdowns-the-digital-real-estate-industry-is-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Pandemics, Property Transfer Breakdowns… The Digital Real Estate Industry Is Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The latest\nimpetus to digitalize real estate might just turn out to be the tipping point.\nPractically overnight, COVID-19 is a defining element of our time. This hideous\nand deadly virus became a major challenge to the systems that carry us through\nour everyday transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Deed\nRecording in the Time of COVID-19<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Spring 2020 brought a time of at-home quarantine to people in most every walk of life, across most of the United States<\/a>. To shield employees and the public against the spread of the virus, many county recorders shut their offices in March. This meant they were providing the public with limited ability, at best, to record documents and complete their real estate transfers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 26,\n2020, Fidelity National Financial CEO Raymond Quirk, along with the company\u2019s\nchief legal officer, wrote to Mark Calabria, the director of the Federal\nHousing Finance Agency, to discuss these limits. The letter characterized property\ntransfers as \u201cthe backbone of our nation\u2019s financial health.\u201d The typical U.S.\nhousehold saves $3,300 a year through refinancing \u2014 a substantial monetary\nstimulus. And deed recorders supply essential services: shielding consumers\nfrom fraud, solidifying the lender\u2019s lien priority, and keeping titles\ndefect-free. In light of these realities, FNF urged the Federal Housing Finance\nAgency to press for exemptions to let county recorders and\nregistrars’ offices stay open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why\nshould that be necessary? After all, we are talking about issuing, signing, and\nrecording paperwork. Can\u2019t these processes be handled remotely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many county recorders are<\/em> able to digitally submit documents into the county records. Electronic signatures are no longer oddities, paperwork for home sales is becoming digital, and county recording offices regularly scan home deeds for online review. Nevertheless, COVID-19 obstructed Washington DC\u2019s building permit process, as declarations of covenants became nearly impossible to record. And while California, for example, allows for eRecording, it\u2019s only available to professionals, not the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\njurisdictions currently offering public access to eRecording services are\nleading the way to the future. A completely electronic process must become\nstandard, from online notarization to the uniform handling of mortgage\nagreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nSearch of the Digital Mortgage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The fully\ndigital mortgage-based home purchase needs just one thing to become the\nnorm. It needs to automate the final phase: closing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A closing on\na property sale is that magic moment when the seller and the buyer come to the\ntable and sign the final title and mortgage paperwork, and the new owner\nreceives the title and the keys to the home. The main hindrance to fully\nonline closings \u2014 in addition to the need for standardized, secure remote\nnotarization<\/a> policies and practices \u2014 is the lack of eRecording\ncapabilities in some counties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook County, Illinois provides a model for others to follow. The county provides deed recording services without requiring any in-person contact. Consider its response to the virus lockdown: a Recorder of Deeds Public Notice on COVID-19. Dated\u00a0March 16, 2020, it explained\u00a0that while Recorder of Deeds offices were temporarily closed to the public, basic functions could be handled remotely:<\/p>\n\n\n\n