April 23 in Literary History

April 23 is one of the most important days in literary history. April 23 is the date William

Shakespeare was born and the date he died.

Shakespeare was born in Stratford on Avon in 1564. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and had three children with her...Susanna, Hamnet and Judith.

No one really knows what Shakespeare looked like or much about his philosophical or religious beliefs, but there are few that deny him the title of "greatest writer in the English language" and few that dispute his enormous influence on our society.

In all, the bard is credited with writing 38 plays and 154 sonnets. But what impresses me the most about Shakespeare’s words is that they are quoted more than any others except for the Bible.

Below are some of the more famous Shakespearean quotes…

1. All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players:
   
2. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
3. Brevity is the soul of wit.
4. Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.
5. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose
   By any other name would smell as sweet."
6. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
   But in ourselves"
7. "Nothing can come of nothing…"
8. A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!
9. Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
   Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds;
10. Sweets to the sweet, farewell!

This is perhaps the most famous speech in dramatic history...Hamlet's "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy. In this video Laurence Olivier plays Hamlet.

What a Buzz

Bees buzz, electric saws buzz and even people buzz, but now there is Google Buzz.

Google’s Buzz is the latest in social networking sites. Yes, it looks and acts similar to other social sites.

I must admit, I love Buzz, but then again I’m kind of an odd duck.
How odd? Well, lets put it this way, I am the only person I know that uses Buzz.

I have been on for about three months and right now I have no Buzz friends...but, don’t feel bad for me. I have no friends, mainly because I don’t know anyone on Buzz, accept for me that is.

OK, so why do I like Buzz so much...
Because it connects directly to my Gmail, YouTube and Blogger accounts. When I write a blog post it is immediately posted on my Buzz page. If I post a YouTube video it too is immediately posted on my Buzz page.

Its great.

When I first started to use Buzz and experienced its inter-connectivity I thought it was going to take over the world, or take over Facebook at least.

But, I seem to be wrong...Buzz just isn't, well, creating much of a buzz in the social networking world.

I still think the concept of Google Buzz is a winner...Now all Google needs to do is get someone besides me to use Buzz.

Wanna be my friend?

Work Begins, Maybe

There is buzz everywhere that tonight is the night...The night when construction on the Lowell Superior Courthouse elevator will begin. The first step is for crews to lay footings for the structure, which will be attached to the side of the building.

Bids, talks and meetings have filled the past year in preparation for this work. Last month an architectural artist began casting molds of the historic window frames on the old building built in 1845. These cast will be used to duplicate decorative windows on the outside of the new elevator.

But last week the biggest sign that construction was near occurred. Dig Safe outlined three safe areas in the Elm Street Parking lot for boring.

The plan is for work to begin at 6:00 in the evening and continue until 4:00 in the morning…we’ll keep you posted as the project progresses.

Give Me My iPhone Back...Now!

Did you hear the one about the Apple Engineer that walked into a bar?
This is priceless. As they say, you can't make this stuff up...we''ll be talking about this one for years to come…

On March 19 an Apple Engineer named Gray Powell stopped to have a few in a bar located in Redwood City, California. After a couple of beers Powell left the bar and headed home. Shortly after Powell's departure another person, completely unassociated with the Apple engineer found his iPhone sitting on a bar stool.

Innocently, "the "finder" unlocked the phone and discovered it belonged to Powell. He intended to return the phone in the morning, but the next day "the finder" discovered the memory of the iPhone had been completely wiped out, remotely.

He found this curious and began to examine the phone closer. "The finder" discovered this iPhone was like none he had ever seen before. This phone had a strange case disguising it to look like an iPhone 3GS. There were two camera openings and it was much squarer than the 3GS. "The finder" knew he had found something special.

Somehow a popular tech site named Gizmodo heard about the unique iPhone and purchased it from "the finder" for $5,000.

People are speculating that the iPhone Powell lost is actually the new iPhone 4G scheduled to be released in June.

And Apple wants it back, now!…according to one rumor Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself called Gizmodo and demanded the phone be returned. I see a law suit coming...

Below is a video Gizmodo made of the new Apple 4G iPhone. It is quite a sneak preview.

Elevator construction begins next week

Word is that construction of the new elevator for the courthouse will begin next Wednesday, April 21. Since the majority of the work will be performed between 6 pm and 4 am (i.e., in the middle of the night), court operations should not be unduly disrupted by the work. A good portion of the employee parking lot will be blocked off to accommodate the contractor's equipment and the excavation, but that should have little effect on the public.

The elevator will be for handicap accessibility only and not for the general public. It will be constructed in an external tower, constructed along the south side of the 1848 building (the brick one in the rear), adjacent to the employee entrance. The elevator will have stops at parking lot level, the first floor and the second floor. I believe that construction is expected to take six months to a year to complete.

On another note, please remember that the Registry of Deeds is closed this coming Monday, April 19, due to the Patriot's Day holiday.

Media reports increase in foreclosures

An AP story in today's Lowell Sun reports a nation-wide surge in foreclosures. This is old news to us here at the registry; so many of the documents we see these days are foreclosure-related or part of the debt collection process. And with each foreclosure, values slide a bit more which just traps more and more homeowners in a situation where they owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth.

Here's what I wrote on this site at the end of March about the direction of real estate:

Our recording statistics for March 2010 duplicate trends seen last month. When compared to the same time last year, the number of mortgages recorded is down substantially while the number of foreclosure-related documents is up. Specifically, the number of deeds recorded for the entire registry district slid slightly, from 439 in March 2009 to 414 in March 2010, a decline of 6%. Mortgages were down by a much greater margin, slipping from 1430 to 920, a drop of 36%. Foreclosure deeds jumped from 33 to 57, an increase of 73%, and orders of notice more than doubled, going from 43 to 112, a jump of 160%. The total number of documents recorded dropped 20%, from 5919 to 4709.

When these figures are broken out by the city of Lowell versus the nine towns in the district, the same trends persist, although there was a slightly greater drop in deeds and mortgages in the towns and a slightly greater increase of foreclosure documents in Lowell.

Timing Is Everything

More often than not, timing is everything. It is true in life, business and even the registry of deeds.
For the past two years the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds has had a twitter account. Every day we post at least one tweet. We usually tweet about projects or happens at the registry and/or the Superior Courthouse.
What does this have to do with "timing"?
I’ve written about the registry's foray into twitter before and truthfully, we are looking for more followers...so this time, as I blog about twitter, I hope is the right time to get you interested. Just go to twitter.com sign up and look for lowelldeeds then start following.

Registry closed on Monday, April 19

Monday, April 19, is Patriot's Day here in Massachusetts. It's a state holiday, so all state and municipal offices will be closed. Patriot's Day commemorates the events that occurred not too far from here on April 19, 1775, when a regiment+ of British soldiers ventured into Middlesex County in search of arms and munitions. At day break, they were met at Lexington by that town's militia; shots were fired and the American Revolution commenced. The British continued on to Concord where they were engaged and driven back by other area militias which, later in the day, included men from towns in this Registry District including Tewksbury, Dracut, Chelmsford and Billerica.

Google Tablet

Just when I had convinced myself that I needed to buy one of Apple's new iPads, I find out that Google is making a tablet computer too...and it will run on Google's smart-phone Android Operating System. Now I don't know what to do...Apple? Google? Apple? Google?

Below is a "concept video" of the soon to be released Google tablet...once you see this you'll know why I am so confused. It looks like Google got a real winner coming.

iPhone OS 4.0

What a week Apple Computer is having…first the company release the revolutionary iPad and yesterday Steve jobs announced a brand new operating system for the iPhone. It is called OS 4.0 (one problem worth noting, OS 4.0 can NOT be downloaded to first generation iPhones, like mime)

If you are an iPhone user (other than first generation) here is what OS 4.0 will give you:

1.You’ll be able to run two Apps at the same time. As an example you could listen to Pandora music while playing a game.
2.You’ll be able to organize your Apps into folders rather than having page after page of icons on the phone’s desktop.
3.If you have an AOL email account and a gmail account you’ll finally be able to get email from multiple accounts.
4.And gamers, you’ll love this one…OS 4.0 will allow you to play games against friends “online”.
5.You’ll be able to wipe out data on your phone, remotely (don’t know why I would want that but…).
6.The same software now offered in the new iPad for e-reading will be available for iPhone allowing you buy and read books on your phone. I like this one the best.

Apple continues to be the industry’s leader mainly because of innovation like this. Thanks to Brian Caulfield of forbes.com for info used in this post.

The condominium market

The records here at the registry of deeds provide us only a limited ability to discern what is built upon each property, but we can usually pick out condominiums with ease. Consequently, I've applied a "condominium filter" to some of our recording statistics. In 2009 in the city of Lowell, for instance, condominiums accounted for one out of every three foreclosures. In the nine towns in the Middlesex North District, one out of every four foreclosures was a condominium.

The primary reason condominium foreclosures are relatively high is the roller coaster ride of prices through the last decade. Back in 2000, the median price of a condo in Lowell was $90,000. In 2005 when prices reached their peak, that number rose to $194,900. By 2009 it had slid to $147,000. If you bought a condo in 2000 and still owned it (and hadn't refinanced in the interim), you'd be in pretty good shape. But if you bought anytime near mid-decade, you probably paid more for the unit than it is now worth.

Similar trends apply to condo values in the towns of the Middlesex North District. In 2000, the median condo price was $142,900, in 2005 it was $256,500, and in 2009 it was $215,500. The 2005 to 2009 drop was 16% which means that if you bought in 2005 and borrowed more than 80% of the then value of the property, you now owe more on your mortgage than your unit is worth.

Net Neutrality

Earlier this week the FCC lost a huge ruling when a US Appeals Court shot down its attempt to control net neutrality. Haven’t heard of net neutrality? Trust me…you will in the near future.

First, What is net neutrality?

Net Neutrality is the concept that Internet Service Providers must treat all Internet traffic the same. That’s the way the Internet world works today. You pay one monthly fee and download anything you want with no additional charge. You can search for a particular site and you'll get it. This is net neutrality.

If net neutrality is gone this “might” not be the case. The Internet Providers (companies like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T etc) want to create a kind of two-tiered Internet. One tier of information would be provided to the consumer free, the other tier would be assessed an additional charge paid by the consumer or it would download slower.

For instance, just image if Comcast or Verizon made a deal with Microsoft and when you searched using Internet Explore it came up faster than when you searched using Mozilla Firefox.

Scary? You bet.

But there is another side to this story….The Internet Providers argue they own the pipes that deliver the data and they have the right to surcharge Internet gluttons. They even state a two-tier system would benefit the average user. How? Providers believe limiting big downloads would speed up the average surfer's Internet experience.

The fight for net neutrality goes on…but has suffered a major set back.

Community Preservation surcharge may increase

Senate Bill 90 now pending before the state legislature makes some modifications to the Community Preservation Act. The CPA went into effect back in 2002 and allows communities in the Commonwealth to vote to increase their property taxes to raise money for a variety of uses including open space and historic preservation. Any amount raised by a town is matched by the state from a Community Preservation Trust fund maintained by the state. This CPA Trust is funded by a surcharge on documents recorded at the registry of deeds. Since 2002, the surcharge has been $20 per document with municipal lien certificates having a $10 surcharge and homesteads being exempt.

SB 90 retains these surcharges with one important modification: If the state's Trust Fund has insufficient money to support at least a 75% match to the towns that opt into the act, the Commissioner of the Department of Revenue may raise the surcharge by an amount sufficient to raise the needed funds. The maximum the surcharge could increase would be to $70 ($50 for MLCs). This means that if there is an acute shortage of CPA funds and the surcharge is increased by the maximum amount allowed, it would cost $125 to record a mortgage discharge (instead of the current $75), $175 to record a deed (now $125) and $225 to record a mortgage (now $175).

As a practical matter, having the CPA surcharge change by some random amount (the reset fee is "rounded up to the nearest $1) will be disastrous for the operation of the registry of deeds. Our diverse clientele has a difficult enough time getting the current fees right even though they have been in place and unchanged for seven years. Changing the fees on a yearly basis will create recording gridlock when mail is returned, e-recordings are rejected, and customers are turned away, all because they haven't updated their registry fee chart. The objectives of the CPA are commendable, but tweaking it in the manner proposed is not without some negative consequences.

iPad

It looks like the Apple iPad did not meet industry experts sales expectations. On its first day Apple sold 300,000 iPads units, including preorders. Experts estimated iPad sales would approach 600,000 to 700,000...it didn't.
Most people I talk to ask..."what does the iPad do that a small laptop computer won't do. Truthfully, I don't know yet...and I wonder if that is the reason sales did not live up to expectations.
Regardless of the number of sales, Apple shares have jumped $1.59 in the past week fueled by iPad anticipation.
As far as I am concerned the jury is still out and the future of the iPad is in question.
Below is the Apple Company promotional video...it tell you exactly what the iPad can do. You can make up your own mind.

First time home buyer credit expires soon

A glance at the calendar reminds us that the Federal First time Homebuyer tax credit will be coming to an end soon. The deadline for having a purchase and sale agreement executed is May 1, 2010 and the closing must occur before July 1, 2010. The credit available for first time home buyers is $8000 and for long time homeowners who purchase a new residence, it's $6500. According to the Treasury Department, more than 1.8 million taxpayers have collected $12.6 billion in tax credits due to this act. The nice thing about a tax credit is that you get the money whether you owe any tax or not, so even if you'd be receiving a refund anyway, your refund would be even larger, possibly even exceeding the amount of taxes you already paid in. Taxpayers who purchase homes during 2010 may also claim this credit on their 2009 tax return (which is due in 13 days) or can wait until their 2010 returns are due.

From our vantage point, homesales have remained flat during the first quarter of 2010. Hopefully the continued availability of this tax credit plus the return of nice weather will cause an uptick in real estate activity in the coming weeks.

March recording statistics

Our recording statistics for March 2010 duplicate trends seen last month. When compared to the same time last year, the number of mortgages recorded is down substantially while the number of foreclosure-related documents is up. Specifically, the number of deeds recorded for the entire registry district slid slightly, from 439 in March 2009 to 414 in March 2010, a decline of 6%. Mortgages were down by a much greater margin, slipping from 1430 to 920, a drop of 36%. Foreclosure deeds jumped from 33 to 57, an increase of 73%, and orders of notice more than doubled, going from 43 to 112, a jump of 160%. The total number of documents recorded dropped 20%, from 5919 to 4709.

When these figures are broken out by the city of Lowell versus the nine towns in the district, the same trends persist, although there was a slightly greater drop in deeds and mortgages in the towns and a slightly greater increase of foreclosure documents in Lowell.

Water, Work and Computers

The first three pictures below show the security wall being constructed in the basement of the Registry of Deeds. The new room will be used to store equipment and as a computer lab. We used a semi-solid wall structure to allow light and air to infiltrate into the room. (Click pictures to enlarge)












The pictures below show water seepage (again) in two areas of the basement, including the new computer security room. To prevent damage we store all equipment in this room a minimum of eight inches off the floor. As the water flowed on the floor, construction workers continued to build the wall as custodial employees vacuumed the water.

New mapping project

Along with almost 10 million pages of document images, through the years, this office has recorded close to 30,000 subdivision plans. All of these have been scanned and are available for viewing at the registry and online, but the index that we maintain for finding relevant plans leaves much to be desired. When we record a new plan, we do enter the property owner's name if it is stated (it doesn't have to be) and any street names shown on the plan. Adding the streets is helpful, but if it's a long one, like "Chelmsford Street", there might be close to 100 plans that would be presented in answer to any search for that street.

The surest way to find a plan is by having its "plan book and page" numbers. (Whenever a plan is recorded, it is assigned such ID numbers). Since the property description of most deeds contain the plan book and page number of the plan that shows the lot covered by the deed, that's the way most folks find plan references. But many times there is not an exact reference even though a plan may be mentioned.

In trying to find ways to make it easier to find plans relevant to your parcel, I thought that if we could use an application like Google maps and then position each of our plans as a transparent overlay on top of the portion of the Google map depicted on the plan, it would be very easy for people to find their parcel on the Google map and immediately see which if any subdivision plans existed for that locus. Simple pop-up text boxes could easily display information about the plan and perhaps even the scanned image of the plan itself.

We're just in the exploratory phase now and some technological roadblocks may arise, but I wanted to get the concept out there and see what you thought about it.

March statistics to-date show RE slow down

I usually wait until the end of the month to compare recording statistics with those from a year ago, but with turbulent times in the economy and in real estate in particular, I thought today would present a good opportunity for a preview of coming attractions. Unfortunately, it doesn't look good.

When we compare recordings from March 1 to March 28 for 2009 and 2010, we find that in 2009, the total number of documents recorded was 5175 while in 2010 it dropped to 3841. The number of deeds and mortgages dropped, as well, from 373 to 312 for deeds and from 1212 to 707 for mortgages. The only thing that's up are documents related to foreclosures. The number of orders of notice rose from 40 in 2009 to 95 in 2010 and the number of foreclosure deeds jumped from 31 in 2009 to 50 in 2010.

Check back on Thursday for the full month's stats. Hopefully, there'll be a surge in deeds and mortgages over the next three days to even out these numbers a bit.

New Foreclosure Reduction Plan

The New York Times is reporting that the Obama administration is announcing a new program to reduce the number of foreclosures across America. The plan has a number of components, but the most important of them will help reduce the amount of principal owed on homes that are "underwater" to an amount more in line with the fair market value of the property. As much as this may seem unfair to homeowners who have been able to remain current on their own mortgages, cleaning up the inventory of underwater homes is essential to reviving the housing market. The theory is that the lender will lose less money by reducing the mortgage principal than by foreclosing and reselling on the open market.

This scenario was perfectly illustrated by a deed that was recorded earlier today for a Lowell condominium unit. The homeowners purchased the unit in October 2007 for $200,000, financing the purchase with a $190,000 mortgage. The lender foreclosed in December 2008, bidding $170,000 at the auction. This past year, the city of Lowell assessed the unit at $158,000. Today, the unit sold for $78,000.

Until the amounts on these types of properties get knocked down, either through principal reductions or more rapid foreclosures, real estate will remain stagnant.

A Visit to Chelmsford Town Hall

I stopped by Chelmsford Town Hall this morning to get an update on some of the great things the town's engineering department is doing with GIS (which stands for Geographic Information System). With GIS, a town can integrate records from almost every department to provide "one-stop shopping" for land related information.

More than ten years ago we first got interested in GIS but the technology and the electronic infrastructure was insufficient to do anything meaningful. But now, the cost has gone down and the capacity has gone up so we'll be revisiting GIS as a part of the registry. The first project I envision is converting copies of all of our subdivision plans into transparent digital overlays and then attaching them to a map of the area (of the Google maps variety). Once finished, if you were looking for a subdivision plan about a particular point on the ground, you could simply find that point on the computerized map and the subdivision plan overlays would show you which subdivision plans covered that particular lot. This is still just in the idea stage, but it certainly seems feasible.

y i not a

According to Wired Magazine for the past few months Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been answering customer emails, himself. Of course, he is not answering all customer emails, just some, well maybe several, or a few anyway. Wired says he has answered at least one.
i have to give Steve Jobs credit...This is a great PR move, and the billionaire is using his iPad to answer the mail.

What an opportunity i thought...Here is a chance to communicate directly with the man who created a technological revolution.

Today i am drafting my own email to Jobs in hope that i too might get a response...

Here is the first draft...

Hi Steve,
i have a question i need to ask...Steve, where did u get this lower case "i" thing u r using before the name of your products. Granted, its cool, but what does it mean.

Obviously, the "i" has some significance for u... iPod, iPhone, iTunes and now iPad. All named with an "i".

And your small "i" success has spawned many imitators... iHome, iTheather, iGoogle, iMobile and it goes on.

Steve, bear with me, but I never understood y u didn't use a lower case "a" instead "i"?... then people would listen to their music on "aPod" (get it "a" Pod). And people would talk on "aPhone"...
Come on Steve, admit it, it makes more sense, doesn't it? "a" is an article and belongs before a noun, "i" is a pronoun.
i know u are a busy man, but can u explain y u used "i" and not "a".
Sincerely,
Tony

Homesteads and Mortgages

For years, homeowners have asked whether they need to file a new homestead after refinancing and recording a new mortgage. Our answer has typically been “we don’t know” since we believed the law to be silent on this issue. Absent any clear statutory guideline, our logic has worked as follows: Since a subsequent deed dissolves an existing homestead and since a mortgage is a type of deed, a new mortgage should dissolve an existing homestead. But many lawyers respond to that formulation by saying that no, a mortgage is not a deed; it’s a security interest and unless the homeowner signed something that expressly released the homestead, the new mortgage should have no impact.

Recently, however, someone directed me to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 188, section 6 (“Property subject to prior mortgage”) which states as follows:

Section 6. Property which is subject to a mortgage executed before an estate of homestead was acquired therein, or executed afterward and containing a release thereof, shall be subject to an estate of homestead, except as against the mortgagee and those claiming under him, in the same manner as if there were no such mortgage. If the owner of the equity in such property redeems the mortgage, he shall not be allowed to claim under it against the owner of the estate of homestead, his or her surviving spouse, heirs or assigns; but if said owner of the estate of homestead, his or her surviving spouse, heirs or assigns offers to redeem the residue above the homestead estate and the mortgage from a sale or set-off on execution and the judgment creditor has redeemed the mortgage, the amount paid for such redemption of the mortgage, with interest and expenses, shall be included in the amount to be paid for the redemption of said residue.

There doesn’t seem to be much ambiguity in that first sentence – “Property which is subject to a mortgage executed before an estate of homestead was acquired therein, or executed afterward and containing a release thereof, shall be subject to an estate of homestead, except as against the mortgagee and those claiming under him, in the same manner as if there were no such mortgage.” Does anyone read it differently?

Wilmington Board of Selectmen

The Wilmington Board of Selectmen generously invited Register Richard Howe and I to make a presentation to the board tonight.The meeting begins at 7:PM in the Wilmington Town Hall. Register Howe will talk about projects currently going on at the registry and goals and plans for the future. Once Dick finishes I will explain the process the registry uses to create Assessors Reports with CD's of the images.

The handout on real estate activity in Wilmington that will be distributed at the meeting is available here.

Recording Handbook: Please suggest topics

How do you calculate tax stamps due on a deed in lieu of foreclosure? What is needed to record a document written in a foreign language? What other issues of these types arise at the recording counter? The Massachusetts Deeds Indexing Standards have existed for ten years and are intended to create a uniform set of rules for recording documents throughout the state. While some questions have been raised about the consistency of compliance by scattered registries, the standards themselves do take us a long way towards standardization. But what of the things that have not yet made it into the standards, like the two examples I cite above? What's the preferred way of handling them. Over time, I've developed a list of such items and how we respond to them, striving for uniformity within this one office, at least. It occurs to me that in the absence of anything more formal such as an expanded version of the Deeds Indexing Standards, a locally produced document that identifies these situations and describes our response to them and our reasoning for that response might be helpful. I'll report on the progress of this project here as it develops. In the meantime, if you have any suggestion for items that should be included, please send them to me by email.

Green Energy session in Lowell tonight

Tonight at 6 pm at Lowell City Hall (375 Merrimack Street) in the Mayor's Reception Room there will be a free and open-to-the-public information session on the Massachusetts "Stretch Code" which is an appendix to the state building code that allows cities and towns the option of implementing enhanced energy efficiency standards. Tonight's event is co-hosted by Lowell's Green Building Commission and by ICF International, a green energy consulting company that's working in partnership with the city. While a good portion of tonight's discussion will be for the benefit of those in the building and design fields (architects, building inspectors, etc), concerned citizens will also find much of interest including information about financial incentives of up to $42,000 offered by National Grid for "deep energy retrofit" projects.

Flooded

Today is the third consecutive day the basement of the registry of deeds has been flooded. The courthouse custodial staff has spent hours vacuuming the water. This morning the clean up continues, and probably will go on for most of the day.

International Amateur Scanning League

An article about scanning that appeared in yesterday’s New York Times caught my eye. Reading it, I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t about scanning paper; it was about scanning DVDs. This effort is being organized by the International Amateur Scanning League which has as its goal making thousands of hours of non-copyright video produced by agencies of the federal government freely available online through sites such as YouTube and the Internet Archive. In an interesting and very positive twist, the government is fully supporting this private volunteer effort which is doing its scanning at the main National Archives facility just outside Washington DC in nearby Maryland. Leaders of IASL refer to this as “an experiment in crowd-sourced digitization.”

With broadband internet giving most of the country a high speed connection to the web and with the cost of digital storage down to almost nothing, now is the time to convert massive amounts of analog and paper records to digital form. This story gives an innovative example of how a large volume of material can be scanned using volunteer labor – crowd-sourcing, as it’s called. It’s a technique that more governmental entities should consider trying.

et tu Brute?

In the Roman calendar "the ides" was used to describe the 15th day of March, May, July and October. But every month in Rome had an Ides. In January, February, April, June, August, September November and December the Ides fell on the 13th day of the month, not the 15th. The most famous ides is the "Ides of March, the day when assassins killer Julius Caesar in the capital. "Beware the Ides of March" a Soothsayer told Julius Caesar in 44BC. But Caesar, the most powerful man in the world, was not going to be told what to do by some fortune teller... and he paid dearly.

Below Marlon Brando, in the role of Mark Antony, delivers the funeral oration for his fallen friend in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. Actually, Brando is good here, but Charlton Heston dwarfs him in the same role years later. I love this play.


This is one of the most famous speeches in all literature...

Washington Post sees new round of foreclosures

A story in today's Washington Post echoes my recent findings for the Middlesex North District: Foreclosures are rising rapidly and risk further destabilization of the real estate market. The Post story talks about a growing "shadow market" which represents the lag between a homeowner's mortgage default and the lender's decision to proceed to foreclosure. Because a glut of foreclosures, lenders are hesitant to actually foreclose lest they further suppress the market. And some lenders have so many defaults that they lack the resources to do these foreclosures expeditiously. This story predicts that it will take up to 30 months to work our way through the inventory of defaulting homeowners and get the properties back into possession of financially stable owners.

Lowell Judicial Center delayed

Today’s Lowell Sun reports that the commencement of construction of the new Lowell Judicial Center will be delayed due to the poor economy. The new courthouse, which will house the Superior, District, Juvenile, Probate and Housing Courts, is to be the centerpiece of the city’s Hamilton Canal redevelopment district which is located less than a mile from the current Superior Courthouse. The new building was supposed to open in 2013, but this delay means that construction will not begin until the summer of 2013. With a construction period of 30 months, that would push the grand opening of the facility into 2015.

Even though the registry of deeds will not be moving to this new courthouse, its construction does directly effect us since our current “landlord” is the Trial Court. Once they move out of this building, we would be unable to continue operating here alone, so we’d either have to move out or have a new tenant/owner move in. In either case, that decision was just kicked a few years further down the road.

Enter Google

Last Spring my wife and I bought two really nice bikes...you know the kind with gears galore. We made our purchase in the colder side on Spring, but vowed once the warm weather came we would be out pedaling our way to better health and fitness.

Now, a little preface...I love biking in Florida. Why? because its flat...no hills. In the Sunshine state you can go for miles and miles and never strain. Not so here in Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, our cycling plan never fully developed...Oh yes, we tried, but Massachusetts is no Florida, as far as biking goes. The few biking treks (get it) we made quickly ended in exhaustion. Why? The hills...too many hills.

Enter Google...I know what you are thinking, "What does Google have to do with biking"? This morning the Internet giant released "bicycle directions for Google Maps".

Now I'm excited. Why? You ask again...because Google Maps plans the bike routes avoiding steep hills.

You can bet as soon as the warm weather comes my wife and I will be back at it...this time with a Google Map in hand.

National Lumber in 2010

On numerous occasions I’ve written about National Lumber v Lombardi, 64 Mass App 490 (2005) a case in which the Massachusetts Appeals Court held that a document was deemed to be on record when it was “delivered” to the registry of deeds, not when it was indexed and scanned by the registry. The members of the Massachusetts Registers of Deeds Association have been concerned that this holding could alter the longstanding practice that a document is “recorded” when it is entered into the registry’s computer system and not before.

Two bills pending before the legislature, House 1527 and Senate 1861, seek to remedy this problem. Both carry essentially the same language which is as follows:

“No deed or instrument shall be considered to have been received by the register or left for record until said deed or instrument has been approved for recording by the register and an instrument number or document number or book and page has been assigned to said deed or instrument”

Indications are that a compromise bill is now under consideration. It’s language would amend chapter 36 by replacing the existing section 14 with the following language:

Each register shall keep a record, in book or electronic form, into which the register shall enter recording information for all instruments accepted for record, in the order in which they are recorded. Upon recording of an instrument, the following information shall be entered into the record: the day, hour and minute when the register assigns an instrument number, and/or book and page number as the case may be; the instrument number and/or book and page number so assigned; the names of the grantors and grantees in the instrument; and the city or towns in which the land lies.

No instrument received by the register shall be considered recorded, until the register assigns to the instrument an instrument number, and/or book and page number as the case may be.

Any change or correction made to the record shall be accessible to the public through the computer system in that particular registry district. Such change or correction made to the record shall be maintained by the register and shall be available for public inspection at said registry district during registry business hours. Any change or correction to the record shall document the nature and date of the change or correction.

New "short sale" program to begin April 5

The New York Times reports today that the Obama administration will launch a new program that promotes the use of short sales to jump start the nation's real estate market. Because of the precipitous decline in value since the peak year of 2005, many homeowners now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, putting them "under water." The various mortgage modification programs attempted thus far have had little impact, so it's wise to try something new. Short sales - a situation where a lender agrees to take less than is owed on a mortgage to allow a homeowner to sell and avoid foreclosure - worked well back in the real estate collapse of the early 1990s, but they just haven't been employed much this time which is unfortunate. Under this program, if a homeowner brings a lender an offer to purchase that is lower than the balance of the mortgage, the lender must obtain an independent valuation of the property. If the property is worth the offered amount or less, the lender must agree to the sale and forego the balance of the debt. This program might be exactly what is needed to jump start housing.

E-Recording Update: The Worcester Model

Earlier this week I attended a meeting of the Massachusetts Registers of Deeds Association at the Worcester Registry of Deeds. One item discussed was the efforts by that registry in partnership with the Secretary of State’s Office and computer company ACS to develop a “governmental electronic recording portal.”

Currently, the four registries that are already doing electronic recording (Middlesex North, Hampden, Plymouth and Middlesex South) all use a model whereby the customer must sign-up with and submit electronic documents through a third party vendor. That vendor then passes the electronic documents through to the registry where they are recorded. The vendor is responsible for customer service and ensuring payment of all fees and excise taxes incurred by the customer.

Under the Worcester model, customers would be able to sign-up directly with the registry, by-passing the middleman. Or customers could continue to use the third party vendors (the “middlemen”) who would then submit directly to the registry just as any other customer would.

I’ll reserve judgment on this new system until I see it in operation which is not expected to occur until at least July 1, 2010.

Globe story on January foreclosures

Tuesday’s Globe carried a story with the encouraging headline “Mass foreclosures drop in January.” I had to read the article several times to be sure the reporter was talking about THIS January, because nothing that I’ve seen supports such a statement. The source of the story – Warren Group CEO Tim Warren – surely knows his stuff and he’s quoted as saying that January 2010 saw the lowest level of foreclosure petitions since December 2008. Now to be fair, “foreclosure petitions” means new cases filed in the Land Court so that would certainly be an early indicator. We, on the other hand, track Orders of Notice (which come shortly after the petition is filed in the Land Court) and foreclosure deeds which are recorded after the auction sale is held.

And what we’ve seen paints quite a different picture. The number of orders of notice filed in January 2010 (168) and in February 2010 (141) each exceeded the total recorded in any month during 2009. The closest was October 2010 with 117. The number of foreclosure deeds filed in January 2010 (59) exceeded any monthly total from 2009 and the number in February 2010 (45) exceeded every month in 2009 except January and October which both at 49. In just less than four days so far this month, we’ve already had 25 orders of notice and 11 foreclosure deeds.

I do hope the Globe report is accurate because it might be a sign of a rebound in real estate. Perhaps the Greater Lowell area is lagging behind the rest of the state in this regard. But I tend to think not, because everything I see points to a long, slow recovery of real estate prices.

Me, Stevie & Twitter

I am not sure what it is...but I don't like the direction Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is moving his company. In fact, I my opinion Microsoft's opposition to open source software has held back the information world. And there is no question in my mind that Ballmer made that decision.

But, all things change, at least that's what they told me in high school science class. Recently, I read something that has changed my opinion of Ballmer...Steve,or Stevie as I now called him, is a twitter freak...
Way to go, big guy…

Good old Steve and I are both twitter believers...
Hey Stevie, don't listen to them when they talk about this open source stuff, its over-rated.


Here is what I read about Ballmer...my new best buddy, Stevie is using a secret account to twitter on Seattle High School basketball games…
right back at yah, bro, fun idea.

Me and my main man Steve, we’re both lovin Twitter, the latest and greatest in communication...
Stevie, you know what...this monopoly thing between you and the Feds, its just a tempest in a tea cup. Hang in there my friend.

The big difference between me and Ballmer is he has the power and money to buy Twitter, I do not. But Steve an I, we're friends and we go back a long way...
So what do you say, buddy, want to put up a cool billion and buy this little micro-blogging toy?... we can have ball with it.

February recording statistics

At the end of each month I've started to compare the number of documents recorded with in the previous month and in the same month last year.

Comparing February 2010 to January 2010, we find that the number of deeds record is somewhat stable, with deeds in Lowell up 4% and those in the towns down 3%. Mortgages were also down overall, with Lowell mortgages dipping by just 3% but with the town mortgages slipping by 20%. The good news is that foreclosure activity is also down. Foreclosure deed recordings fell by 26% in Lowell and by 20% in the towns. Orders of notice dropped similarly; by 24% in Lowell and by 8% in the towns.

Comparing February 2010 to February 2009 presents a slightly different story. Deeds recorded in Lowell dropped 7% while deeds in the towns rose by 16% during that 12 month period. The number of mortgage recorded dropped precipitously during that same period, with mortgages in Lowell falling by 23% and mortgages in the towns by 43%. Foreclosure deeds in Lowell were even, with 25 in each of the two February's. But town foreclosure deeds rose by 54%, from 13 to 20. Orders of notice saw a very sharp increase, as well, with those recorded for Lowell up 280% and those in the towns by 573% (they rose from 11 to 74).

February has always been our slowest month, so in a way, the statistics for this year aren't as bad as they may seem. Still, the steady decline in the number of mortgages and deeds being recorded suggests that a real estate recovery has not yet commenced.

An innovative approach to the foreclosure crisis

In an Op-Ed column in Saturday’s Globe, Tufts professor Rachel Bratt proposed an interesting approach to our seemingly unshakable foreclosure crisis. Bratt begins by restating the obvious: there is “ample blame all around” for the crisis and none of the measure proposed thus far have worked.

What Bratt now suggests is that the 2008 Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which assisted municipalities in purchasing vacant and abandoned homes, be modified to allow non-profits to assume that role. Such involvement would consist of taking title to the property and then renting it back to the current homeowner, the very same person who lost the house to foreclosure. This approach would address the “moral hazard” concern of allowing borrowers to walk away from debts they knowingly took on - in this case, the borrower would actually lose ownership of the home and would not profit from any future appreciation. The benefit of this approach is that it would lend stability to neighborhoods and families and would ensure that local property taxes were paid and that buildings were kept in good repair.

While Bratt’s solution is not a simple one, nothing else has worked and the frequency of foreclosures continues to rise. It’s time for new and innovative approaches.

February 2010 recording stats

It's still a bit early - we'll be open for another 6 hours today - but here's an early glimpse at recording trends for this month.

First, will compare this February to February 2009. The 3913 docs recorded this month were a decrease of 18% from the 4756 from Feb09. Deeds and mortgages were also down: Deeds by 7%, from 314 in Feb09 to 292 in Feb10. Foreclosure deeds and orders of notice were both up: Foreclosure deeds by 13% from 38 to 43 and orders of notice by 436%, from 25 to 134.

Now we'll compare February 2010 to January 2010: The total number of documents recorded dropped by 13%, from 4511 in Jan10 to 3913 in Feb10. Deeds and mortgages both dropped, as well, with deeds falling 14% from 339 to 292 and mortgages by 23%, from 857 to 657. The good news is that foreclosure deeds and orders of notice also dropped, foreclosure deeds by 27% from 59 down to 43 and orders of notice by 20%, from 168 down to 134.

Check back on Monday for figures that include all of February and also break down the numbers between the city of Lowell and the nine towns in the registry district.

Early signs of a recovery?

Earlier today I was speaking with an experienced broker who often represents buyers in both commercial and residential purchases. This person told me that there is a surge in interest in commercial real estate in the Greater Lowell area and also mentioned that many residential deals are slowly falling into place primarily because both buyers and sellers are acutely aware of the Federal government’s very generous first time home buyer credit. (As I understand it, to be eligible for this credit, you must execute a P&S agreement by the end of April and close by the end of June).

While the registry of deeds is certainly the hub of area real estate activity, our view is mostly through the rear view mirror. We only learn of transactions on the day they are consummated and not before. Consequently, we would be late detecting early indicators of an uptick that would be more visible to brokers and other real estate professionals.

Even in the best of times February is pretty dismal for recording activity. Hopefully the low level of activity that we’re now experiencing is the normal seasonal lull that masks a more robust spring.

Why Not Lowell?

This is big news...

Google intends to build a high-speed Internet network for consumer use.
High Speed, how fast?
How about 100 times faster than anything available to consumers today. Once finished Google's fiber optic network will deliver information at an amazing speed of 1 gigabit per second.

Here is what Google says about its new network…

"Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic, streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the web, and discussing a unique condition with a specialist in New York. Or downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes. Or collaborating with classmates around the world while watching live 3D video of a university lecture. Universal, ultra high-speed Internet access will make all this, and more possible. We've urged the FCC to look at new, and creative ways to get there in its National Broadband Plan – and now we're announcing an experiment of our own."

Google will pay all expenses for the construction and installation of the network. Now, here is the verrrrryyyyy interesting part. Google is looking for a few cities to participate as trial locations for this new super network.

In its own words…

"Google is planning to build, and test ultra-high speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the country… As a first step, we're putting out a Request for Information (RFI) to help identify interested communities. We welcome responses from local government, as well as members of the public."

I ask...
Why wouldn’t a progressive community, interested in revitalization, apply to be a Google test city?
Actually, I ask...Why wouldn’t Lowell apply?

Below is a video submitted for Topeka, KS to Google.

Jury instructions re electronic communications

Here at the registry of deeds we’ve embraced all types of new technology including this blog and our Facebook and Twitter accounts as ways of better communicating with our users. But to our colleagues in the Trial Court, these omnipresent technologies that are meant to keep us in close contact pose a significant problem. In any trial, it is essential that the jurors decide the case based solely upon evidence that has been properly admitted during the course of a trial. If extraneous information comes to the attention of jurors, it could be grounds for a mistrial or a new trial if it is discovered post-verdict.

Because social networks and new media sources are so central to people’s lives these days, trial judges now find it necessary to specifically instruct jurors to refrain from accessing or using electronic communications during the trial. A proposed “model jury instruction” now being circulated can be read here and some relevant excerpts follow:

During your deliberations, you must not communicate with or provide any information to anyone by any means about this case. You may not use any electronic device or media, such as a telephone, cell phone, smart phone, iPhone, Blackberry or computer; the internet, any internet service, or any text or instant messaging service; or any internet chat room, blog, or website such as Facebook, My Space, LinkedIn, YouTube or Twitter, to communicate to anyone any information about this case or to conduct any research about this case until I accept your verdict.

Seems like a comprehensive list of devices and sites. Hope it works.

Google Buzz

Its called Buzz and it is Google's new social networking site designed to compete directly Facebook and MySpace. I've played with Buzz and like it. The problem is none of my computer friends are using it yet so there is little to attract me to it right now.
What I like the most about Buzz is its easy integrations with other google tools like gmail and YouTube.

Here is what Google itself says about Buzz...

Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It's built right into Gmail, so you don't have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works. If you think about it, there's always been a big social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings this network to the surface by automatically setting you up to follow the people you email and chat with the most. We focused on building an easy-to-use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately (so you don't have to use different tools to share with different audiences). Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing Gmail inbox,

And here is Google's offical video introducing Buzz...

Lowell Sun on rising foreclosure rates

Today's Lowell Sun has a front-page story by Erin Smith on the rapidly rising number of foreclosures in the suburbs of Greater Lowell. Much of the information for the article was obtained from this office. Here's a link to the article (although the Sun only allows access for a few days).

Visit by Middlesex Community College Students

Fifteen students from a Real Estate Law class in Middlesex Community College’s paralegal program came to the Registry of Deeds this morning for an orientation visit. The students’ understanding of Massachusetts real estate law and the registry’s role in it were already quite advanced, so they took full advantage of the opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at how we operate. In the sixty minutes available, we covered the recording process, electronic recording, our back-scanning of older record books, subdivision plans, registered land and our transition from paper to electronic records.

We frequently provide tours to people with all types of interests ranging from traditional real estate law to courthouse architecture. If you’re a member of a class, organization or group that would be interested in discussing such a tour (or a presentation about the registry given at your location), please contact Register of Deeds Richard Howe (me) at 978/322-9000 or by email at richard.howe@sec.state.ma.us

SOP in Process

Several weeks ago I started complying Standard Operating Procedure instructions for the main function in the registry. Last month I wrote instructions explaining how to do the Daily Deposit and the End of the Day procedures at the Recording Counter. These are the main two non-recording functions that take place at the Recording Counter.
Next up is the computer room. This week I started writing instructions on how to Reboot and Shut down our Web Server. Of course, our recent Internet problem pushed Web Server instructions to the forefront. Sometimes an Internet connection problem can be easily be solved by a simply reboot. A Standard Operating Manual at hand makes it possible for numerous registry employees to solve the problems and perform tasks.
Once the Web Server instructions are complete I’ll move along to the ACS 20/20 server.

Update on lowelldeeds.com

We continue to experience problems with communications between our website and the internet. The company that provides us with the DSL line has tested it remotely and here on-site and finds that while a strong signal is getting to our building OK, the wiring between the panel where the outside line terminates and our computer room - a distance of at least 100 feet along the basement ceiling - is causing static, noise and disruption. The technician from the company responsible for that wire is being dispatched but, given the weather now, might not be here until tomorrow morning.

Again, please visit www.masslandrecords.com directly to reach our searchable database.

Lowelldeeds.com back up

The registry's website, www.lowelldeeds.com, is back up as of 11:15 am on Monday. We're sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.

I first detected a problem late Saturday night and spent yesterday troubleshooting it. Because it was a long weekend, all of the steps that had to be followed in ruling out possible causes of the outage took a bit longer than they would have during normal working hours. We believe that this weekend's problem is unrelated to last weekend's outage, but I learned long ago not to attribute anything to a "coincidence" so we'll stay on top of this to try to ensure it won't happen again.

Remember, if in the future you have trouble getting to www.lowelldeeds.com, you can always go directly to www.masslandrecords.com to access the primary registry database.

More problems with LowellDeeds website

Last night I checked www.lowelldeeds.com and found it unreachable on the internet. Last weekend we had a similar problem, with the site being down from Friday until Monday morning. The problem was with Galaxy Internet Services, the company that provides us with a DSL line that connects our server to the internet. The site worked fine all week but it's the weekend and is now down again. I have a call in to Galaxy's technical support desk and am waiting for a call back. Check back here for updates through the weekend.

Presidents Day

The Registry of Deeds will be closed this coming Monday, February 15, for the Presidents Day holiday.

Imminent Wave of Commercial Foreclosures?

As part of the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Congress created the Congressional Oversight Panel to “review the current state of the financial markets and the regulatory system.” Yesterday, the COP (which is chaired by Elizabeth Warren) released its February report, “Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability.”

In the report, the Panel expresses its concern “that a wave of commercial real estate losses over the next for yours could jeopardize the stability of many bank, particularly community banks, and prolong an already painful recession.” Commercial real estate loans include retail properties, office space, industrial facilities, hotels and apartments. A total of $1.4 trillion in such loans will require refinancing between 2011 and 2014, yet many of them are underwater and will have difficulty obtaining new loans. The report goes on to observe that the foreclosure of commercial properties creates “a downward spiral” of economic problems such as job losses, office and retail vacancies and local bank failures.

The report is here.

First time buyers in the 2009 market

A new report by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors reveals that more than half of the homes sold in the Commonwealth during 2009 were purchased by first-time home-buyers. Some interesting facts from the report: the median age of buyers was 30; of sellers, 44. Half of the sellers were motivated by either a change in family circumstances (marriage, child birth, divorce) or by the need for a bigger house. Only 6% sold because they couldn’t afford the cost of the home.

A couple of observations: Regarding the assertion that only 6% who sold were motivated by the house being unaffordable, that figure is probably true but if the question was “how many find their homes unaffordable but are unable to sell because they owe more on their mortgage than the home is worth?” then the number would be much higher. The same phenomenon also helps explain the large percentage of first time home buyers: most people who already own a home are locked into it because of the lack of equity and so are unable to sell which is a precondition for buying a new residence. Still, it’s a positive sign that new people are entering the home market; it’s better than allowing homes to sit vacant.

The full MAR report is located here.

"Who" Dat Band?

I remember when The Who broke on to the scene in the sixties along with other British invasion bands. They were fabulous. Most of these bands are long gone now, but The Who is legendary. They were great in the sixties and as the year’s progress they got even better, culminating with Tommy, a groundbreaking Rock Opera. But time moves on for all, including The Who.

Check this out… The Who formed as a band in 1964…35 years ago! Lead singer Roger Daltry was born in 1944. He is 65 years old now! Rocker/composer Pete Townshend was born in 1945. He is 64, one year younger than Daltery!

As I watched The Who during the Super Bowl half time show I keep wondering…when is the NFL going to wake up and stop bringing America a bunch of has-beens. More people watch the Super Bowl halftime show than any other twenty minutes performance on TV…Why? Why would you give that time to an over the hill rock band whose singers can’t high notes anymore? My eardrums cringed when Roger Daltry strained then screamed out his very first note. Then when Pete Townsend tried to harmonize with Daltrey, I uttered “oh no” and said to myself..."this isn't The Who I remember".

I have seen many Super Bowl half time shows, but this years was the worst I can remember, even worse than The Rolling Stone’s 2006 disastrous performance.

Time for P. Diddy

Snow expected today

It's 10 am and the snow has yet to arrive in Lowell. We have no plans to close the registry early, but that could change if the weather deteriorates. Please check back here for updates through the day.

Hawaii Senate goes paperless

Two years ago, the Hawaii State Senate implemented a number of policy and procedural changes intended to reduce the use of paper. A recent analysis has concluded that this new way of business has saved $1.2 million and 8 million pages of paper during the past two years. Among the changes made were making documents available on CDs rather than in printed form, placing all bills, testimony and committee reports online, and providing all senators and key staffers with laptop computers, document-reading software and always-available wireless internet connections.

The Middlesex North Registry of Deeds has been very aggressive in making our operations paperless. We stopped printing paper record books back in 2001 at Book 12442. Since we are now on Book 23743, that means that the last 11301 record books created (representing 3,390,300 pages) exist only as electronic images. Reducing the amount of paper used to print documents in the registry was one of the primary reasons we have made all of our documents freely available on our website, www.lowelldeeds.com. Now, if a customer wants a paper copy of a document, the customer can print it with his own printer and paper. Our policy of scanning all newly recorded documents and immediately returning them to the customer has saved hundreds of thousands of thousands of envelopes (not to mention the cost of return postage). Finally, our five-year old commitment to electronic recording of documents is helping the legal profession and other entities in the real estate related private sector make the transition to paperless real estate closings, a practice that will increase efficiency in an environmentally friendly manner.

lowelldeeds back up

We were just informed that lowelldeeds.com is back up and running. Hopefully, this is a permanent solution to the problem which began last Friday.
If you experience a problem trying to access lowelldeeds again in the future please let us know right away 978-322-9000.
Remember...if the problem reoccurs you can still search our records by going directly to masslandrecords.com

lowelldeeds.com outage continues

It's Sunday at noon. I just got off the phone with tech support at Galaxy Internet Services which is the company that provides us with the DSL line that connects our webserver to the internet. On Friday, a problem developed with the DSL line and the problem persists. The Galaxy rep told me that the problem was more serious than they anticipated on Friday, that they're still working on it, and that it should be resolved tonight or tomorrow morning. In the meantime, be sure to go directly to www.masslandrecords.com to perform your searches.

Rise in foreclosures of FHA mortgages

Yesterday's Washington Post reports rising default rates on loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration which "foreshadow a crush of foreclosures" to come. In December 2009, the percentage of FHA mortgagees who had missed at least three consecutive payments had risen to 9/1%, up from the 6.5% of December 2008.

This reports corroborates our findings for new foreclosure filings in January 2010 which we found to to be up 66% when compared to December 2009 and 546% (from 26 to 168) when compared to January 2009.

Problem connecting to lowelldeeds.com

We started receiving telephone calls at about 11:30 a.m. today from customers unable to reach our website, www.lowelldeeds.com. After a variety of troubleshooting steps, we finally discovered that there is a problem in the DSL line that connects the lowelldeeds server to the internet. The company that provides that communications link is working on it now and hopefully will have it resolved soon. In the meantime, please go directly to www.masslandrecords.com to do any records search.

Coming soon - download old indexes from our website

In a blog post two weeks ago, I reviewed our efforts to make our pre-1976 grantor & grantee indexes available to registry users via the internet. Since then, with the help of the Secretary of State’s IT Department, we’ve made a breakthrough that will soon allow anyone with an internet connection full access to all of our indexes going back to 1620, (all done with existing resources and personnel).

First, some background: The searchable index that’s integrated into our computer system both here at the registry and on our website reaches back to 1976. For all the years prior to that, the index is maintained in a series of “electronic books” that are stored in PDF format. These “books” are organized by date range and letter of the alphabet. Many of them are also very large files. These files have been accessible at our computers in the registry for several years. Last year, when inexpensive flash drive storage devices reached 16GB storage capacity, we offered anyone who brought in a blank flash drive a full copy of the index at no charge. That’s where we stand now.

Here is how the new system will work: We have gained access to an FTP site that will allow anyone with an internet connection to login and download whatever index files that person might need, all free of charge. Customers will have to enter a username and password to gain access to this site, but we will post both on our own website for ease of use. Once you’ve logged in, transferring files from the FTP site (FTP stands for “File Transfer Protocol”) to your computer is as easy as copying the files from one folder to another. Unfortunately, the transfer rate is relatively slow: a 5MB file downloads in a little over a minute, but a 100MB file takes closer to 20 minutes to download.

Anyone who is a “heavy duty” user of the registry should still obtain a full copy of the index on their own thumb drive. This will allow you to copy the entire index to computer. This new service will most benefit those who need the old indexes only occasionally. Up until now, if these people were doing research at night or on the weekend, having to look in an old index has presented a substantial roadblock, at least until the registry opens for business. Once this new system is in place, however, such a user would be able to download the necessary index files 24/7 and press on with the search. I expect this new service will be fully operational by the middle of next week.

Googling Rockwell

There is a lot buzz about today’s "google logo"…especially here in Massachusetts. Today when you log on to the search engine you’ll see a beige colored square with an image of two children hugging on a bench gazing at a full moom. The moon acts as the second “O” in the word google. The image is actually of a famous Norman Rockwell painting called “Puppy Love”.
What's it all about?
Today is the birth date of Norman Rockwell.
Rockwell was born in New York on February 3, 1894 but he lived in Stockbridge, Massachusetts for over twenty-five years. His greatest fame came in the 1930's and 1940's. He created 321 paintings that became covers for the magazine, The Saturday Evening Post. His art depicts pure Americana.

Of all Rockwell’s work my personal favorite is his self portrait.

Thanks google for honoring this local genius.

Foreclosures continue to increase

January and February have always been tough months for real estate and the first 31 days of 2010 stuck with that trend. When compared to last January, the number of deeds recorded was up 5% while the number of mortgages recorded was down 4%. When January 2010 is compared to the previous month – December 2009 – the drops are more pronounced. Deeds were down 21% and mortgages were down by 19% with the declines spread evenly among the city of Lowell and the nine towns in the district.

The big – and bad – news, however, is the rise in foreclosure filings, especially orders of notice, the document used to commence foreclosure proceedings. When compared to January 2009, last month’s orders of notice were up an incredible 546%. While that number is a bit misleading due to a lull in foreclosures last winter, this January’s 168 orders of notice still represent a 66% increase over the 101 recorded in December 2009. Foreclosure deeds are up even more, rising 84% (from 32 to 59) for the district, 70% (20 to 34) for Lowell, and 108% (12 to 25) for the nine towns.

Because sales volume and prices remain stagnant, it’s almost certain that these new orders of notice will result in foreclosures in the months to come.

Computer Storage Room

One thing is for sure about computers...they get old fast. We are well aware of this, so we have updated a predetermined percentage of our cashiering stations, public stations and administrative computers every year. Our systematic upgrade plan has two benefits. First, it prevents us from running old inefficient computers and second, it distributes the replacement cost over a number of years...and smart spending is paramount in these budgetary times.
Of course, as we activate new computers the question becomes “what to do with the old ones?”. Currently, the retired computers are being stored in an old “dungeon style room” in the basement of the courthouse. The room is not very conducive for computer storage. It is has water pipes and heating pipes running through it...but it is all we have, or should I say had.
In the beginning of November we finished scanning close to four million images in a project that last about one year. Registry employees worked on this project in the two rooms once used as a "lower record hall". The completion of the re-scan project opens up one of these rooms for another use.
We have decided to convert this space into a multifunctional computer room. We are excited about the prospect of finally storing our computer equipment correctly. But the room lacks one major thing...proper security. Later today I have an appointment with a construction company to get an estimate on building a partition wall that will secure the new computer area.