The Tech Edition
April 09, 2008
Find property transfers easily on county websites
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Access deeds and other records at
www.capemaycountygov.net, through the “County Clerk” webpage
or the |
By CAROLE MATTESSICH
Correspondent
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE -- Are you one of the millions of American
“property junkies” who regularly scan print media reports of
property sales to see who’s selling, who’s buying, for how much,
and for what kind of properties, in your community?
You may be surprised to learn that this information is available
to you electronically, via the Internet, using Cape May County
websites. Up-to-the-minute information on property transactions
– whether for a specific address, or on a town-wide basis during
a particular time period – is only a few clicks away.
Cape May County Clerk Rita Fulginiti is a recognized leader
among New Jersey county clerks for her office’s innovations in
electronic record-keeping and records management. And that
includes a lot of deeds; last year alone, Fulginiti’s office
recorded a total of 7,857.
In a recent interview, Fulginiti noted that Internet technology
has presented “exciting” opportunities for county offices.
“When I started here 23 years ago,” Fulginiti noted, “all
correspondence and documents were in written, hard-copy
documents.”
But today, she said, communications occur “primarily through
e-mail,” with topics running the gamut from lawyers sending
documents for filing, to residents posing questions about deed
recording.
Deed Basics
When you buy or sell property, the primary legal document that
transfers the real estate is your “deed.” Deeds may be as short
as two pages or as lengthy as 30, but they always will contain
basic information sufficient to describe the property transfer –
items like Buyer and Seller names, the price for which the
property is sold, and a legal description of the property
(usually expressed quite precisely, in a surveyor’s metes and
bounds).
Deeds have been used for centuries as a method of keeping track
of land ownership. Obviously, if everyone kept deeds solely in
their own possession, there would be much confusion over who
owned what land. So, from earliest days, deeds were “recorded”
in central repositories where interested parties could have
access to details of land ownership.
In New Jersey, deeds are recorded at the County Clerk’s Office.
Cape May County deeds date back to the 1600s, and are collected
(in the order they were received by the Clerk’s Office) in large
volumes known as “Deed Books.”
So how did the Internet get involved in this ancient process?
Until electronic recording and retrieval became available, if
you wanted to research a particular property transfer, you had
to visit the Clerk’s Office and manually search through the Deed
Books.
With the advent of electronic record-keeping, the Clerk’s Office
began to “scan” written deeds into electronic memory, making
perfect copies of the written deeds accessible on computer
screens for those who simply reach into the memory bank and ask
for a particular document.
Some 12 years of deeds (dating back to 1996) are now available
for review from the comfort of your computer.
Accessing a deed
Follow these easy steps for accessing deeds on the Clerk’s
Office site.
Access www.capemaycountygov.net , and click “County Clerk” in the
menu at the left of the screen.
Click “Search and View Public Records” at the center of the
screen.
At the next screen, click “Free Access” in the small white
window at the left of the screen, then click “Click here to
access CAPEVIEW” (also at the left of the screen).
That last step provides your main menu for your property
transfer search. Choose the option that applies to you. For
example, you can search for a deed by party name or address.
Experiment a bit with variations to create the fields of
information most interesting to you. For example, you may wish
to review all sales recorded for property in Avalon during a
given time period. Simply search by “property address” and,
instead of entering a particular street address, designate
Avalon as the town to be searched, as well as the specific time
period to be searched.
A list of all deeds responsive to your search request will be
provided, and you can then review either an abstract of the deed
(listing names, prices and property addresses) or view copies of
the actual documents.
Alternate site
If you prefer to search for information by block and lot, or if
you desire information about a property in addition to that
provided in a deed, check out the high-tech county Internet Map
Server (IMS) site.
Again, there are several easy steps.
Access www.capemaycountygov.net , and click on the icon labeled
“MAPPING SERVICE” (located about half way down the main screen).
Click “Maps” on menu at left of screen, and click “Agree.” Then
click “Parcels” and don’t be put off by the “Disclaimer.”
Toward the bottom of the screen that pops up next, click the
green lettering that says “Search Menu.”
Select the type of search you want to perform, and when you
arrive at the search menu, enter the appropriate information.
Your search result will contain a number of options at the top.
Click “Report” at the top right of the screen, and you will be
provided with the very interesting information that the County
Tax Board maintains about the property you are researching. This
includes the year(s) in which improvements were built, the
acreage, and the mailing address of the owners, among other
items. To the left of the property information screen, you even
will see a map of the property, placing it among neighboring
blocks and lots.
“Extras”
Deeds comprise only one of the many types of documents available
online.
Other documents available, from the Clerk’s Office site alone,
include judgments, liens, mortgages, easements, and many of the
other critical written records maintained by that office.
Professionals in the real estate industry – lawyers, settlement
officers, and so forth – also have the option of transmitting
deeds and other documents for recording via an electronic portal
on its website. This eliminates much time and expense from the
process of recording, which used to require a physical visit to
the office.
Fulginiti’s office also is in the process of rolling out a
program called the “RIM Portal,” which will assist the county
and municipal governments in records management tasks. Aimed at
providing assistance in areas like records inventories and
document destruction practices, it even will permit
municipalities to begin scanning and storing many of their
records electronically.
This newest technological effort is being funded through the
Public Archives and Records Infrastructure Support Program
(PARIS), for which Fulginiti serves as project manager.
“Again,” Fulginiti noted during her interview, “our goal is to
move away from managing papers and toward electronic
record-keeping.”
“Technology creates efficiencies for everyone involved,” she
said, with a smile suggesting not only that she is a true
believer but also has seen real results.
Carole Mattessich can be e-mailed at
gazette@catamaranmedia.com
or you can comment on this story by calling 624-8900, ext. 250.