Coast Guard Training in the Commonwealth Room

Secretary of State Galvin and Register Vigliotti are proud to announce that the First Coast Guard District , Intelligence Branch of Boston will be using the Commonwealth Room in the Registry of Deeds tomorrow, December 5th, for a day long training session.

This training session is another in a list of many other activities that are hosted in the Commonwealth Room. These events are not only great for the nonprofit and government groups using the facility but also for bringing people into Downtown Worcester and CitySquare. For more information on the Commonwealth Room, please contact Linda Curran.

Notary Service Now Available in Fitchburg

The Registry of Deeds is now offering free notary service at the Fitchburg Satellite Office, located within the Worcester North District Registry of Deeds. As always, notaries are available in the Registry in Worcester. This service is particularly helpful for homeowners looking to record a Declaration of Homestead, which offers protection on primary residences. Now, homeowners recording a Homestead at the Satellite Office can obtain the form, have it notarized, recorded, and returned to them at once, just like in the Registry in Worcester.

Upcoming Holiday Events - Festival of Lights

As the Holiday Season approaches, we will be posting information about holiday events in the Worcester Area.

The City of Worcester Festival of Lights - The Festival of Lights will be on Friday, November 30, 200 from 5-8 P.M. on the Worcester Common. There will be Horse drawn hayrides, musical performances and children's activities in City Hall, Worcester Windows Art Show, food fun and much more! The event is being sponsored by the City of Worcester and the Worcester Cultural Coalition in collaboration with WTAG/WSRS and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Thanksgiving Reminder

Just a reminder that the Registry of Deeds will be closed on Thanksgiving, Thursday November 22, 2007. We will, however, be open the following day, Friday November 23, 2007.

Commonwealth Room Update

As you may have seen from several previous posts here on the Worcester Deeds Blog, our Commonwealth Room has been used quite often for Registry and Community Events. The next event is on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 7:30 A.M which will be a Fallon Clinic Board Meeting. Look here for future events such as meetings of the WCBA Real Estate Section.

Presidential Primary

Like many other states, Massachusetts is looking to increase the significance of its Presidential Primary. Originally, the Massachusetts primary was to be held on March 4, 2008. However, it looks as if the primary will be moved forward to February 5th, also known as Super Tuesday. Massachusetts would join 22 other states holding primaries that day. This plan has backing from Secretary of State William F. Galvin, Governor Deval Patrick, and Speaker Salvatore DiMasi. This election cycle has seen a general trend in this direction, could this be a foreshadowing of a national primary in the future?

For more information on this issue:

Mass may get in on early primary action - T&G 11/9/07

Users Group Meeting

Tomorrow there will be an ACS Users Group Meeting at 10 AM in the Registry. For those who are unaware, these meetings offer an opportunity for the Registries that use this software to work together with the vendor, ACS, to share ideas in an attempt to better utilize this technology and further develop its capabilities.

Happy Birthday

On behalf of the staff of the Registry of Deeds, Happy Birthday to Register Vigliotti.

Mechanics Lien Seminar

The Mechanics Lien Seminar held last night at the Registry was very successful. Approximately 35 people attended the seminar. We will post the materials from the seminar shortly.

Veterans Day Closing

Just an early reminder that the Registry of Deeds will be closed Monday, November 12, 2007 in observance of Veterans Day. However, you can always access our records online at www.WorcesterDeeds.com

Mechanics Liens for the Real Estate Lawyer Seminar

The Worcester County Bar Association Real Estate Law Section will meet on Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 4:30 PM at the Registry of Deeds. The main presentation will be Mechanics Liens for the Real Estate Lawyer.

It will be presented by Attorney David Wilson of Corwin and Corwin LLP of Boston. The seminar will include: a short overview of the statute; steps, documents, and a clear timeline necessary to obtain a mechanics lien; common recording issues with documents; Subordination and waiver of liens; methods of releasing, dissolving, or bonding liens; priority of liens over other encumbrances including mortgages; and Title Insurance issues. Attorney Wilson is an experienced construction lawyer and has lectured on this topic in a number of forums.

Sad News

Sharon Henault, the Assistant Register of Deeds of the Berkshire Registry of Deeds in Pittsfield, recently suffered a brain aneurysm. We wish Sharon a full recovery and ask you to please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

2008 Formatting Standards

The Massachusetts Registers of Deeds Association has adopted new Document Formatting Standards that will go into effect on January 1, 2008:

DOCUMENT FORMATTING STANDARDS

Documents recorded after January 1, 2008 must meet the following requirements:

1. Be on white paper of sufficient weight to reproduce in registry scanners.

2. All document pages and attachments must be on paper that is no larger than 8.5 inches by 14 inches.

3. Printing shall be on one side only; double-sided pages will not be accepted.

4. Documents that contain printing, writing or other markings must be sufficiently dark in appearance to be legibly reproduced on standard registry scanners.

5. All printing and writing on a document must be of sufficient size to be legibly reproduced on standard registry scanners.

6. Margins on all sides of all document pages must be of sufficient size to be legibly reproduced on standard registry scanners.

7. The first page of all documents must contain a “recording information area” in the upper right hand corner measuring three inches from the top edge of the document and three inches from the right edge of the document that is free from all writing or printing.

8. Documents that do not comply with Formatting Standard 7 above may still be recorded when attached to an official registry Document Cover Sheet or through the use of some other method adopted by the registry.

As January 1st approaches look to this blog and worcesterdeeds.com for more information on the new standards.

Volume Low, Activity High at the Registry

While the volume of documents at the Registry has remained fairly low (652 Documents recorded on Tuesday), activity at the Registry has been high. Tuesday the Registry hosted two conferences in the Commonwealth Room. The First American Title Company gave a presentation on "Tracking the Missing Discharge" which was well attended by forty people. Also, the Registry hosted a users group meeting for registries using the ACS 20/20 Software. This meeting focused on future systems, upgrades to current systems, and a demonstration of our Queuing system.

Finally, the Worcester Registry of Deeds would like to wish a Happy 60th Birthday to John Harvell of ACS.

Commonwealth Room Events

This past Friday the Fallon Clinic sponsored a Welcome Lunch for the Employees and Title Examiners in the Commonwealth Room. Dr. Stephen Pezzella was the speaker at the event. We would like to thank the Fallon Clinic very much for their hospitality.

This week we will be hosting more events in the Commonwealth Room.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at !0:30 AM is a Massachusetts Registers of Deeds Association Legislative Meeting.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007, Noon to 1:00 PM is Part One of a two part seminar sponsored by the Worcester County Bar Association Real Estate Law Section on Liens Explained and Defects Removed presented by Chicago Title Insurance Company underwriters.

Thursday, September 20, 2007, Noon to 1:00 PM is Part Two of the seminar on Liens Explained and Defects Removed.

Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 4:30 PM is the Worcester County Bar Association Committee Chairs Meeting.

Check back here for more updates for events in the Commonwealth Room. If you are interested in holding an event in the Commonwealth Room, please contact Linda Curran at Linda.Curran@sec.state.ma.us

New Court House Opens

While the Registry of Deeds is no longer be located within the Court House, it is still important news that the new Worcester Regional Justice Center at 225 Main Street is now open. Currently, only Juvenile and Housing Courts have moved from the old Court House at 2 Main Street, while the rest will follow along in the near future.

For more information on the new Court House's opening, click here.

Grand Opening Video

Below is the long awaited video from our Grand Opening Celebration. We apologize for the delay as there were some technical bugs to work out to make the presentation compatible with YouTube.



Also, Many thanks to Bob Gerencser who has posted his photos of the Grand Opening event online

Photo Album

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.

Property Owner Beware...

It has come to the Registry of Deed’s attention that companies such as National Deed Service, Inc. are mailing letters to residents of Worcester County offering to obtain certified copies of their deed for a cost of $59.50.

The only way for an individual to obtain a certified copy of a document recorded at the Registry of Deeds is to come to the Registry in person. The fee for this is $1 per page. However, you can obtain a standard copy of any of our records at no charge from our website, www.worcesterdeeds.com. If you have any questions about your deed or how to obtain it, please contact our office at (508) 798-7717.

IMPORTANT: Address Change

Please take note as the mailing address of our new location has changed. It is now as follows:

Worcester District Registry of Deeds
90 Front Street
Worcester, MA 01608

Newspaper Article

The Worcester Registry of Deeds was featured in Saturday's Telegram and Gazette. The article highlights our move to a new location on 110 Front Street in City Square. To read the article, click here.

Front Street or JFK Boulevard?

A recent question on the blog pertaining to the zip code of the new Registry, which will remain the same at 01608, inspired me to post about the name change of Front Street to John F. Kennedy Boulevard, as reported in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette on June 5 (Read Story Here). If this change does in fact occur, it will not take effect until July 1, 2008. Luckily, the Registry was able to decrease the amount of letterhead we had ordered with the Front Street address to anticipate this change. Also proposed to be renamed is Central Street from Summer Street to Main Street, which would become MLK Jr. Boulevard.

Our Move

The Registry of Deeds is currently in the process of developing a new office as our current location, the Worcester County Courthouse, is closing. The new Registry will be located at 110 Front Street, Worcester, MA. This location is part of the City Square development in downtown Worcester. In addition to our office, City Square, managed by Berkley Investments, will house commercial and residential space. We are very excited to be part of this new vision for the development of Worcester, while remaining as close as possible to the new Worcester Regional Courthouse on Main Street.

The new Registry will be one of the most technologically advanced Registry of Deeds in not only Massachusetts but in the United States. In the next few weeks, the final touches will be completed. The new Registry will have an electronic queue to manage workflow, a substantial amount of public access terminals, and a multitude of closing tables and closing rooms. The project is on-time and operations will begin at the new location on July 2nd.

New Location

The Registry of Deeds will be moving to a new location at 110 Front Street on July 2, 2007. The new location will usher in improvements in technology, accessibility, and customer service. These improvements bring us one major step closer to our vision of a paperless Registry.

The new location will continue to offer wireless internet, and many other conveniences not currently available at our location in the Court House.

Welcome

Welcome to the Worcester District Registry of Deeds Blog !