Philanthropic Opportunity

From now on we will be occasionally posting charitable events that are presented to the Registry by members of the local community.

The first such event is the "RAC IT UP" pool tournament sponsored by the Friends of Worcester Neighborhoods in conjunction with Charter Communications, the Worcester Sharks, Boston Billiards, and WSRS/WTAG. The benefit hopes to raise between ten and twenty thousand dollars to keep athletic programs running in Worcester's high schools, which are currently being threatened by budget cuts. The event will take place on Wednesday, September 26 from 5-10pm at Boston Billiards.

For more information please contact Amy Plante, aplante@worcester.edu or Ruth McClure, rmcclure@worcestercu.com

Proposed Redistricting of Registry of Deeds

Massachusetts House Bill Number 3877 proposes to redistrict 14 of the 55 cities and towns currently belonging to the Worcester District Registry of Deeds to the Worcester North District. This bill, filed by Representatives Harold Naughton and Robert Rice of Clinton and Gardner respectively, displays a general lack of understanding of the operation of both the Worcester and Worcester North Registries of Deeds and the goals and efforts made by the Registers of Deeds and the Secretary of the Commonwealth since the failure of the County system and the establishment of the Registry of Deeds as a division of the Secretary of the Commonwealth in 1998.

Here is some more information about the Registry of Deeds and this bill in the news.

"Deeds Reshuffle" - T&G 8/24
"Lines Drawn over Changes in Registries" - T&G 8/21

Grand Opening

Last night the Registry of Deeds celebrated its Grand Opening at our new location at 90 Front Street. The reception was very well attended and the program included remarks from Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin, Worcester City Manager Michael V. O'Brien, Young Park of Berkeley Investments Inc., John Shea, President of the Worcester County Bar Association, and Philip Feinzeig, Chairman of the WCBA Real Estate Committee. This was followed by a video presentation detailing our move and the transformation of the Worcester Outlets Food Court into a cutting edge Registry of Deeds. The video will be available on youtube.com shortly. Once again we thank all of the vendors and our staff without whom this would never have been possible.

Origin of Title

A story on titles that everyone who has ever bought a house will enjoy.

A New Orleans Lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client who lost his house in Hurricane Katrina and wanted to rebuild. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to the parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the Lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply:

"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."

Annoyed, the Lawyer responded as follows:

"Your letter regarding title in the Case No.189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 204 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particulary those working in the property area, would not know that Louisianna was purchased by the US from France in 1803, the year or origin identified in our application.

For the edification of uniformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to the US ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came into the possession of Spain by the Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the priviledge of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Isabella. The good queen Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus' expedition. Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisianna. God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it and the FHA.

I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our loan?"

He got the loan

Visit to the Lowell ROD

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Lowell Registry of Deeds and meet with Register Dick Howe. We discussed the Worcester Deeds website and the possible relocation of this blog to Word Press, creating electronic versions of the Grantor/Grantee indexes, and electronic recording. Each of these topics are important in realizing the goal of both the Worcester and Lowell to create totally paperless registries. Currently the Lowell (Middlesex North) Registry is accepting documents for recording electronically, something we are looking to do in Worcester in the near future.

I highly recommend checking out the Lowell Deeds Blog. (Click Here) It offers more information about the scan and return process, electronic recording, and the paperless registry.