Electronic Recording Stats

During the last few days of August, it seemed like we were processing a never-ending stream of electronic recordings, certainly more than would normally be the case. To quantify this impression, I reviewed our electronic recording stats for this summer. From June 1 to August 31, we recorded a total of 16,067 documents, 2578 of which were recorded electronically. This accounts for 16% of all recordings, a significant percentage increase over the 12% we have averaged for several years. And yes, August 27 (the last Friday of the month) and August 31 (the last day of the month) both were particularly busy with e-recordings - 80 each day whereas our daily average through the summer was just 40. Some more averages: of the 40 docs recorded each day, 15 are discharges, 11 are mortgages, 2 are deeds and 12 fall into other categories.

Why the upsurge in electronic recording? I think more registries are offering the service so our customers see some economies of scale in using the system. When Middlesex North was the only one operating electronic recording, there wasn't much incentive for an attorney to devote time and resources to learning the system. Also, after six years of electronic recording, there have been no incidents, no reversals, no complaints. For many attorneys, that's a long enough test drive. Now they're finally ready to make the jump.