How Delaware County, PA Modernized Records Management with eRecording and Property Fraud Alerts

Nestled between the Philadelphia and Wilmington metropolitan areas, Delaware County, PA is in a densely populated region with historical records dating back to the American Revolution. In recent years, Delaware County has launched multiple initiatives to modernize systems and bring innovative new services (like eRecording and property alerts) to the community. Before modernizing records management, every piece of paper had to be physically delivered to the office, and work stacked up.

The Delaware County Recorder of Deeds, Robert A. Auclair, Esq., will tell you that his office started at zero. “There was no ‘online’ five years ago for our office,” he explains. “Now, we have more than 12 million records available online, and eRecordings account for more than 86% of all submissions. We went from three months to turn a deed to recording it and having it ‘of record’ in three days.”

His office has overseen a massive modernization effort aimed at bringing public land records online and reducing the time it takes to record a deed. “Once we hopped on the train, we just kept moving.” With awareness of deed fraud on the rise, the office is rolling out fraud alerts to residents at no cost, delivering value across the County.

When Director Auclair took office, there was a lot he set out to accomplish, but he started by addressing some of the most pressing needs. “Our land records were still not online, and we were one of the largest counties in the country that was not set up for eRecording,” he explained. “Everything, including title searching, was handled entirely in the office.” 

Recognizing the need to increase access to online services and decrease the processing time for recordings, Director Auclair began the search for records software that would enable them to bring all public land records online and streamline the recording process from start to finish.

In only a short time, Director Auclair had already set things in motion to introduce much-needed innovation into existing processes. Following extensive research to find the right records management solution for Delaware County, he narrowed down his search.

“We toured surrounding counties that use Neumo, and after a thorough and formal vendor evaluation process, we requested approval from County Council.” From there, more innovation followed. “eRecording came shortly after, and since then, we’ve added additional services. The training and how intuitive the system is are what distinguish certain vendors from others.”

Since the launch, Delaware County has brought more than 12 million records online. eRecordings now account for 86% of all submissions, and the new process has significantly reduced the total time it takes to record deeds from 3 months to 3 days, and staff has the capacity to meet increasing demand. 

“The workflow is a lot easier to handle now. If interest rates dropped today and we saw double the number of closings, we wouldn’t need to run out and hire someone to help manage the increased workload; we could handle the surge ourselves. That’s where the software has been so helpful.” 

“Moving to eRecording has significantly reduced the amount of traffic in the office. There are big cost savings all around—financial benefits to everyone concerned—and a lot less hassle for our customers.” 

Other initiatives led by the office include:

Image Integrity Project

Millions of historical images were reviewed by Neumo as part of the Image Integrity Project. “This marked the first time in the history of our office that we were taking a close look at everything to ensure the integrity and accuracy of our records. During the process, Neumo reviewed almost 5 million images, and we discovered hundreds of old books and images on microfilm that had never been inventoried.”

Conversion of Historical Records to PDF/A

PDF/A, a standardized file format that allows faster archival cloud storage and retrieval, is an alternative to impractical and costly microfilm storage. “The cost of transporting it in addition to the storage fees was not practical in the long term. With Neumo, we set up automated services to archive all our day-forward records to PDF/A. We are now confident our records are archived consistently and any added images are archived as well.”

Property Record Fraud Detection

Delaware County now offers automated property alerts to help residents safeguard themselves against property record fraud. “The service appealed to us because it empowers citizens by giving them a way to proactively monitor their records and protect against fraud. We’ve been working hard to get the word out so citizens know this free service is available.”

Records Search

Most recently, the office launched Neumo Search to make millions of public land records easier to access. “Residents can also use the system to purchase certified copies along with documents and index prints from the comfort of their home or office. All our documents will be processed for optical character recognition (OCR) to allow users to search the text contained in the documents in addition to the readily available index data.”

For more information about Neumo products, visit neumo.com/products.