Raleigh, N.C. – A new milestone has been reached in the number of recording jurisdictions that are electronically recording documents. As of August 31, 2019, 2023 recording jurisdictions were eRecording enabled and another state joined the eRecording rank when Westerly Co., Rhode Island, began accepting electronic documents. Now more than 85 percent of the population in the United States resides in a recording jurisdiction that offers electronic recording.
Larry Burtness, Customer Operations Manager at Figure Technologies, and President of the Property Records Industry Association (PRIA), was delighted with this landmark accomplishment. Burtness stated, “PRIA promotes and monitors the adoption of eRecording throughout the United States, while developing best practices, white papers and educational tools for recorders and business. We continue to experience a month-over-month increase in the number of recording jurisdictions enabling eRecording in an effort to streamline their office workflows and boost both efficiencies and turnaround times for their submitters.”
Electronic recording (eRecording) is the automated process in a property records office of receipt, examination, fee calculation and payment, endorsing of recording information and return of recorded electronic documents to the submitter. eRecording improves the quality of data, reduces turn-around times and provides significant cost savings for those who utilize it, when compared to a manual process.
“Just since January 1, 2019, the number of counties committing to the eRecording process increased by over 90,” said President of eRecording Partners Network and PRIA Vice President, Jerry Lewallen. “As the PRIA eRecording standards continue to mature, the number of counties leveraging this technology continues to expand.”
According to PRIA’s tracking system, it took from the late 1990s until August 2006 to reach the 200 eRecording counties mark. Since 2006, an additional 1,800 counties have stepped up to enable the electronic recordation of documents.
PRIA, the leading resource for the property records industry, maintains a list of counties that have implemented eRecording technology and posts the list on the association’s Website (www.pria.us). The list includes counties whose implementations have been verified by PRIA.
The names of the eRecording counties are available to the public on the PRIA website, while PRIA members have access to a more detailed list which includes contact information for the counties enabled each month, as well as the individual county’s technology vendor(s). The list is continually updated by the PRIA administrative staff that works with volunteers to report new eRecording-enabled counties.
The eRecording process also provides a competitive edge to the firms that submit documents to the recorders electronically, by decreasing turnaround time and speeding up the transaction process.
Specific questions on eRecording can be directed to the PRIA offices at info@pria.us.
About PRIA
PRIA develops and promotes national standards and best practices for the property recording industry by identifying appropriate opportunities for collaboration among industry stakeholders; developing recommendations for standards and best practices; encouraging and supporting the adoption of such standards and practices; providing a clearinghouse for property-records-related information; and educating members, stakeholders and the public about the property records industry. For more information on PRIA, visit www.pria.us.
