An Average Day for a Recorder of Deeds
Recorders and registers of deeds are elected public officials that ensure that land and property records are maintained and recorded properly. We’ve previously looked at some of the responsibilities these public servants have, but in general, the role doesn’t get a lot of attention unless things are going wrong. To that end, many county recorders have been in the news over the past couple years as they set up programs to notify property owners of potential fraud occurring.
Bucking the trend of no news being good news, the Huron Daily Tribune decided to interview the local register of deeds for Tuscola County to get a better sense of the role and what it’s like when things are normal. The current register of deeds, Marianne Brandt, has been in the role for about a year, but has many more years of experience working in a different register of deeds office.
Like many county land records offices, Brandt’s office is responsible for recording any new real estate transactions, but also maintaining the historical records that go back to 1852. On an average day in Tuscola County, the process for new documents is that Brandt’s team will record them, and she’ll index them. If there’s any question as to whether the document is recordable, Brandt will be responsible for the decision.
No day is the same though, and while larger economic trends like changes in mortgage rates and housing affordability will affect the offices volume, there are never uniformly busy or quiet days. This means that on busier days the office is focused on recording documents as they come in and that quieter days are reserved for indexing historical documents or working on different initiatives. One of those initiatives is to create a quarterly newsletter that will give residents updates on what the office is working on or any new scams that people should be aware of. Initiatives like this give citizens a better sense of what the public offices they’re voting for and funding they’re providing are doing for their community.
It’s always exciting to see more attention brought to important local government roles like this. Since they tend to be highlighted when a mistake is made or citizens are being targeted, it’s important to get some visibility into everything going well. Extract Systems® software solutions support land records offices with automation software for indexing and redaction. By automatically identifying and removing any instances of personally identifiable information within documents, Extract helps ensure that there are more articles explaining what the register of deeds office is doing and fewer about information leaks or other issues. If you’re interested in learning more about our software or seeing a demonstration, please reach out to us and we’d be happy to set up a time to chat.
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