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[December 11, 2009]

Deed filing goes tech: Forsyth County now accepts online filing of real-estate papers

Dec 11, 2009 (Winston-Salem Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Attorneys, real-estate agents and title companies can now file deeds and other real-estate documents with the Forsyth County Register of Deeds Office online.

The register of deeds, Norman Holleman, said that even though the change marks an advance in the office's functions, it is not groundbreaking -- in fact, he said, many counties in North Carolina already use an online filing system.

Holleman said he established the new procedures in an effort to make sure the local Register of Deeds Office has up-to-date technology.

"The attorney can submit the documents electronically," he said. "We are looking at it on a computer screen versus a paper." Attorneys and others taking advantage of the system do so through third-party vendors to whom the person filing the land document submits it electronically through a Web interface. The third-party vendors then submit the documents to the register's office.

Holleman said that when his office accepts a document, it is stamped electronically and sent back to the submitter so it can be viewed online.

Earlier in the year, Holleman's office began offering free Internet access for title searches and other real-estate searches. That process has since been sped up, he said, by having workers scan documents immediately on filing so that they can be quickly viewed.

Holleman said that the new online-filing procedure didn't require any new technology. The online filing is being done through Business Information Systems, the software company of the register's office. No fee change is associated with the online filing system. Statewide, fees for a number of registration services were raised on Oct. 1 by action of the General Assembly.

Dave Plyler, the chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, said he has heard positive comments from attorneys about the technological changes being made at the office.

Holleman was elected register of deeds last year, edging out incumbent Karen Gordon by about 6,000 votes among 157,000 ballots cast.

Holleman's win returned the office to the Democrats, who held it from 1912 to 1996, when Dickie Wood became the first Republican to hold the post in modern times.

wyoung@wsjournal.com 727-7369 To see more of the Winston-Salem Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.journalnow.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

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