State of eRecording 2026: Building a Reliable Real Estate Recording Workflow

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Annie: Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's webinar, "State of eRecording 2026: Building a Reliable Real Estate Recording Workflow." My name is Annie Triboletti, and I will be your moderator kicking things off today.

So joining us today are Andy Singleton and Musa Khan. Andy is a sales engineer in the Real Estate Services Group at CSC, and Musa is a national real estate account manager for the Electronic Document Recording Division at CSC as well. So with that, I would like to welcome Andy and Musa.

Andy: Thank you, Annie. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Before I begin with our presentation, I just want to, for those of you that might not be familiar with CSC, just wanted to go over a little bit about CSC and the various services that we provide. We're a global organization. We have offices and we do business in five continents. We provide a number of services beyond just the eRecording and real estate services that we provide. And I'm just going to touch base on some of them for a brief moment, just in case you're not familiar with the other things that we provide here.

Moving on to the next slide here, just to illustrate our global footprint, we have nearly 70 locations throughout those 5 continents and cover just about everything on a global standard.

This slide here will provide a breakdown of the different solutions that CSC offers, again beyond the eRecording and Real Estate division that Musa and I are connected with. We provide business administration and compliance services, transactions and lending, domain security and brand protection, fund solutions, capital markets, and other services as well.

So CSC's tagline is "We're the business behind the business." You have a need to do business transactions and a number of different corporate and compliance needs, CSC can be your go-to one-stop solution for all things beyond eRecording.

Musa: All right. Well, my name is Musa. As Andy had mentioned earlier, we would like to welcome all of our audience here to this eRecording webinar. We're going to look at why CSC is the right option for a lot of our customers, a huge chunk of the market when it comes to eRecording services. A bunch of reasons come to mind, but I'm just going to cover a few of those.

Of course, to begin with is the unmatched networking coverage. We provide access to almost 2,500 jurisdictions nationwide, which covers approximately 90% of the U.S. population. And this makes CSC a very reliable partner for companies operating across multiple states and industries.

And another reason that comes to mind is the speed and efficiency that we offer, which specifically if you're not using eRecording, by replacing that traditional recording method with eRecording, users will be able to achieve, for the most part, same-day turnaround times. And this would basically significantly reduce what I would like to refer to as the gap time between the closing and the recording of the document.

And our system also includes smart validation. Basically, it's a check and balance that we provide in the system that checks the required indexing fields. If there are any formatting errors, if there are any margin line issues, the system has been designed keeping in mind all the requirements for each jurisdiction. So you don't have to do the hard work here. This would, of course, decrease sharply the likelihood of rejections by the county recorder's offices.

And security, huge thing in 2026. And as we go beyond, security is a huge thing. We provide access to a platform that's SOC compliant. We offer enterprise-grade encrypted and secure document transmission.

We also offer a lot of workflow integrations as we directly integrate with major title production systems for those of you in the title industry, and I can name a few, SoftPro, ResWare, RamQuest, AccuTitle, and a bunch more. This would basically allow users to submit documents without leaving their existing software. We also have the ability to work on building custom API integration. So it's a small segment of customers that require that, but if there is a need, feel free to reach out to us.

And expert support, super important. Now unlike certain vendors in today's day and age, who rely solely on automated systems, we offer the live customer service aspect of it, the human connection. And again, this is all from industry-trained professionals that provide expert assistance for complex, or maybe if there's a rejected filing, they can cover all of that.

A couple of others, cost-saving. We want to make sure that your experience is not only, when it comes to eRecording or using eRecording, wonderful in itself and the system, but also monetarily easy for you as an organization. There's instant confirmation, immediate knowledge. As soon as it, of course, gets recorded, you get immediate acknowledgement that your document was accepted or rejected.

And we are ideal for all sorts of firms. Whether you have documents, volumes in excess of a few thousand to maybe 20,000, 30,000 40,000, or if you have a couple dozen documents that you want to record, CSC should be able to handle everything. And then, of course, to top everything off, the originals remain in your hand at all times.

We'll move on to the next slide. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the content, let's talk a little bit more about some of the reasons why we are the number one choice of thousands of customers across multiple industries. I think I already mentioned that we have a nationwide eRecording network, and we were the first ones in the marketplace to bring eRecording since 2002. And our network, as I mentioned earlier as well, covers over 90% of the U.S. population, and we have over 10,000 customers, which is evidence of the enormous positive impact that CSC has had over the years.

Awesome. So we're going to shift gears and look at eRecording as a service, the basics of it. There are, I would say, three main ways to record your documents, which is the traditional, you mail the documents out or you hand-deliver them, and then comes eRecording.

First part, of course, is the Level 2 eRecording, which is also referred to as mainstream eRecording. Users will have the ability to scan and upload a fully-executed document. Whether it's a deed or a mortgage, deed of trust, an affidavit, or even a release or an assignment, you can scan them into the system as a PDF or a TIFF image. And depending on the county, you may be required to fill in some indexing fields, for example, grantor, grantee information, consideration amount. And then at that stage, the system would allow you to look at the document itself with all the checks and balances that I mentioned earlier. After which, you could send the package directly to the counties. CSC fronts all the cost, which includes all the jurisdiction fees and taxes.

Another way eRecording can be leveraged is by utilizing our Level 3 eRecording system. Now I do want to mention that this is specifically for everyone in the audience today that is associated with the mortgage industry, because what we've done is we've maintained templates. We work with counties, in fact, to maintain these templates for assignments and releases of mortgages, I believe for all 3,600 or so jurisdictions throughout the country.

And again, you index some fields to have your, say hypothetically speaking, release prepared, and you get everything in real time prepared and in front of you. After which you should be able to digitally sign and notarize your documents and then submit for eRecording. Another advantage of the Level 3 recording is that imagine if a county does not accept eRecording, you will still have the ability to prepare your release or your assignment, and then you can print it or, how we like to call it, render it, and then you can wet-sign and wet-notarize it and then traditionally submit your document.

Andy: Thank you, Musa. It was a great general summarization of the various eRecording services that we provide. I want to shift gears here for a moment to discuss other services that our Real Estate team provides beyond just the traditional eRecording methods.

This is what we call our comprehensive digital solutions for ePrepare, which includes full-service lien release processing, borrower notification letter service, or BNLs. Within our application, we have custom email notifications. We also provide property search services, eTrustee services. We have a fee calculator that's available on a subscription basis. And then just within the past year, we've developed a certified copies process. Comes in handy, quite frankly, in Florida with any of you that might be on the call in the construction and contractors that oftentimes have to get certified copies for their notice of commencements. But it's beyond that as well. Any document can be certified, if required, within the counties that we have that service available in.

Another thing that's not listed here, but it's more for the application within ePrepare, we have a Report Hub or Reports Hub that you can go in, and Musa will show you this later on during the presentation. But there's a reports hub where any user can go in and generate a host of different types of reports regarding the details of your document submissions within ePrepare. So you can set those reports on a frequency level at your choosing, weekly, monthly, bimonthly, whatever it may be. You can custom design your own report. There's a lot of functionality with respect to the Report Hub. And I felt compelled to include that right here because that's at no additional cost, right? That comes with the application, within ePrepare, that you'll be able to access at any moment here.

So I'm going to go ahead and turn it back over to Musa.

Musa: Thanks, Andy. Let's switch gears now to discuss another service that we offer. Now we discussed eRecording, the Level 2, Level 3 eRecording. CSC also offers another solution, which is popularly known as paper recording. Again, this is self-service in the sense that you get to create orders within the system, and I can explain that in a little bit detail as to how the process would work.

There are various times when customers have reached out to us, and they've had a need to record documents in counties where eRecording is not yet accepted, and they have a lot of documents being submitted there. Or perhaps they're looking to record a bunch of documents related to a project, or they might want to outsource their entire recording process. CSC, through this paper recording option, also known as the complete or full-service option, we can handle that seamlessly.

We have a dedicated team based out of Florida. So what they will do is they'll receive your unrecorded documents. Of course, they need to be fully executed. They will examine them for jurisdictional acceptance, and then they will submit your documents for recordation to the respective counties. Not only that, but the documents are scanned into the system to ensure that you're able to track the status of each document, like a paper document being tracked electronically. I think it's pretty incredible. And if there are any cover letters or supporting documents that need to be prepared, all of that is taken care of as well. And they work with you in a timely manner to make sure that in case the document gets rejected, that proper communication is established to get that taken care of.

I believe some of, I would say, the benefits of this service would be that we, again, calculate all the jurisdiction fees and taxes and front them on your behalf, and there is a very convenient and consolidated billing cycle, of course, usually on a monthly schedule. And you get like white-glove service and support. And to top things off, you'll also have a dedicated account manager, by the way, as is the case for eRecording as well.

Andy: Thanks, Musa. Just real quick, I wanted to touch on this for those of you that perhaps know of CSC and our UCC service and those of you that currently eRecord but are unaware of our UCC service. We do have that. We have a team dedicated for comprehensive UCC services, search, prepare, file, monitor, and track state-level UCCs. I thought it was good to bring that up because oftentimes our eRecording clients and prospects oftentimes have a need there. It's kind of a crossover, if you will, of overall collateral solutions, and wanted to bring that up.

Any of you that are on the call that may have a need for UCC services, let us know, and we can certainly put you in contact with our excellent UCC team. It's a great product. It's a great service that we provide. And again, it's oftentimes a crossover between real estate and eRecording services and the UCC team as well.

It encompasses about 91% of the U.S. population. Some of the larger counties that we recently went live with included Charleston, South Carolina, St. Clair, Michigan, Sumter, Florida, Coryell, Texas, and Lake, California.

We like to gather statistics and try to see where things are going in the eRecording space and the real estate space in general. In 2024, there was a total of 16.6 million documents recorded in about 100 counties, and those 100 counties encompass about 63 million of the U.S. population. So it's a good parameter, we feel, or an accurate representation of across the entire nation. And 16.6 million documents were recorded overall, 12.1 million of which were submitted through eRecording, or roughly 73% of all documents in 2024.

In 2025, those same counties reported 20.4 million total documents recorded, of which 15.5 million were submitted through eRecording or 76%. This represents a 3.8% increase in total documents recorded, of which nearly 4% were eRecorded, an increase in eRecorded documents. And what this illustrates is that digital adoption continues to outpace overall volume growth, and we certainly anticipate that to continue moving forward.

Musa: Thanks, Andy. But let's just look at some of the challenges that basically come with the daily workflow of any individual who has anything to do with real estate documents, which is, of course, to record them to public record. Again, hopefully this is in a timely, efficient, and correct manner so rejections can be avoided. Now the responsibility that I mentioned about recording documents, it will bring with itself some challenges that we're going to be discussing in this slide. Let's look at these one by one.

Number one, rising multi-jurisdictional document volume. And as organizations grow and as the footprint increases, there is an ever-increasing need to record documents across multiple jurisdictions and states. Highly decentralized county requirements. And of course, with that expanding footprint, or with, say, a need to record in multiple jurisdictions somebody has national coverage, having the accurate knowledge of each county's requirements is super imperative. And every jurisdiction is different in what they require in terms of indexing, attachments, even county-prescribed margin lines. There's no like one size fits all. So it's definitely a challenge to consider.

Resource constraints. And as the point suggests itself, the challenge of resource constraints drives more and more companies towards eRecording. I don't want people to be alarmed that this system would replace the personnel by itself. You will still need someone to wield the hammer. But instead of having three or four people do the job or have a runner to send the documents over or handle physical mail, prepare it, and send it to the counties, eRecording will streamline your process very eloquently.

And of course, looking at increased scrutiny on data accuracy and compliance. And again, this is something that has been the focus of a lot of jurisdictions or counties. Of course, this is for all document types across multiple industries for various reasons. And one thing, of course, that comes to mind as to why this is happening is fraud prevention.

Counties are adding additional layers of verification before someone can start eRecording. And I think when you do decide to start with eRecording, for some jurisdictions, of course, you will need to fill out additional agreements. And of course, they're referred to as MOUs, a memorandum of understanding. The state of Tennessee has, I would say, some limitations on who should be able to record documents, and there's a small acknowledgement form. Santa Barbara County, California, there are additional questions before you can submit your documents. So that's definitely a challenge as well.

And then there's a growing demand for faster, digital first recordings because more and more counties are now moving towards eRecording and away from traditional methods because eRecording is quick, it's efficient, it's secure, and eliminates a lot of paper. People sometimes do not like to handle stacks of papers. And in recent years, some states have adopted legislation to require their jurisdictions to have a method for electronic submission in place as an option. It's not mandating eRecording, that that's the only method that can be used, but the mandate is that, hey, eRecording must be in place as an option.

Andy: Hey, Musa, if I can chime in real quick to that point, we are seeing that more and more, especially the past couple years, there are actually states that are adopting legislation, to your point, again, not requiring eRecording per se, but they're requiring some measure, some method of electronic recording submissions to be offered. States like Kentucky, West Virginia. Ohio is making a push for all of their counties to have some method of electronic submission or recording in place for real estate documents. So it just proves that point that there's a growing demand in the county. The states recognize that, and they're doing what they can to move the industry in that right direction.

Musa: Absolutely, Andy. I agree. I think it's becoming an ever-increasing focus for counties, of course, to be able to start utilizing eRecording. And I believe this will drive a lot of the folks in the industry to want to adopt it. Again, as I did mention earlier, it's quick, it's efficient, it's secure. So there's always the advantage of getting the edge with technology, such as eRecording.

All right. We discussed some of the challenges. Let's look at now the framework for building a reliable workflow. All of these are listed here, one through five.

We're going to look at the first one, standardization. And I'm sure for the audience and for everyone in attendance, it's important to note that uniformity of process is always a winning strategy. And there are different needs for different areas or departments within one organization, and having a one-stop shop solution for document submissions will help increase the overall efficiency of the organization but also put standardization at the forefront. And, of course, it provides a structure for you all to be able to operate from, to be able to take on more business, I would say, in a sense.

Andy: Thanks, Musa. The next step that we've identified in building a reliable workflow framework is automation. That's where the industry is going. That's where the world is going is automation. How can we move everything, make things a lot more efficient and an automated process? And we're starting to do that ourselves. We've already had some level of automation built into our platform. For those of us that are currently using CSC, especially in the title and settlement world where, as Musa mentioned earlier, we're integrated with a lot of different title production or title software services out there, such as SoftPro, RamQuest, ResWare, the AccuTitle brands, and things like that. So we have integrations in place, established that allow for more of an automated process to get your documents submitted electronically.

For our larger volume submitters, we have custom API integrations that allow you to push data and images into our platform to further automate the process. Within our application, we have a document type recognition. So when you upload a document into our system, our system will scan that document, identify the type of document it is, and ultimately begin providing the indexing details for that document.

For our Level 3 eRecording customers, there, again, that's for the lien releases and assignment customers, mainly banking, mortgage, loan servicing, credit unions, things like that. We have a batch upload feature, pretty much a spreadsheet. It allows you to fill out all the details relative to the documents that you want to prepare, including all the details, grantor, grantee, mortgagee, mortgagor, etc. And it'll auto-generate the lien releases and assignments based upon the data that you've provided us through that batch upload feature.

And then within ePrepare, again, we have various tools, if you will, that allow you to expedite the indexing of your documents. We have party prefill capability where if you work with entities or individuals on a consistent basis, you don't want to hand key that data every single time. You can create a party prefill where they'll be displayed in a dropdown for you to select.

We have an OCR, or optical character recognition, essentially a copy and paste that allows you to go over to the image of the document and pull those indexing data points into the indexing field. So it's all geared around less hand-keying, which ultimately can lead to rejections. But it's also more geared for the automation aspect of it and speeding things up.

We're always developing, right? We're always improving our product. And we're in the middle of an advanced OCR method, basically a data extraction. In addition to identifying the document type, when you upload the document, if the county requires certain indexing fields, grantor, grantee, for example, it'll also scan the image that you've uploaded, identify the grantor, grantee, or any indexing requirement, and automatically pull that data into those fields for you to do a final review and verify before moving along. So we recognize where things are going, and we're doing what we can to automate our processes within our ePrepare application.

Musa: Thanks, Andy. Let's look at jurisdictional intelligence as part of the framework for building a reliable workflow. And again, it goes without saying that developing or maintaining a process that oversees any information or intelligence, if you want to say or you want to call it, related to counties and their requirements, of course, is a giant effort if done manually. We provide resources within our platform, ePrepare, so users can access any and all information or requirements. For example, document indexing or supporting attachments, jurisdiction fees, and taxes. And if there are any regulatory compliance requirements that you need to fulfill, you'll see those red alerts within the platform. And whenever we activate a county for recording, we receive county requirements for all document types. Everything is tested with the counties to identify and resolve any potential issues before a county goes live.

And some of the points here that I've listed, county requirements, document indexing, supporting documentation, all of this I discussed on this slide. So I'm going to hand it over to Andy.

Andy: Thanks, Musa. So the next piece, if you will, to the reliable workflow is quality control and rejection reduction. So the most common rejection, I get asked often, "What's the most common rejection? What happens? Why do documents get rejected?" Really, the most common rejections are very minor and clerical errors. It's the submitter having inaccurate details. Something as simple as a misspelling. Perhaps the notary, there's something wrong with the notary that the county has identified. Oftentimes rejections can be controlled right from the start. Right when you're preparing your documents. So you can identify common rejection reasons right from the start, before you're preparing your documents.

But within our application, we have image utility tools that allow you to improve the image of the document once it's in our system. If you need to darken an aspect of the document, perhaps someone signed in blue ink, or the notary seal is a bit faded in the scanning of the document, we have the ability to darken aspects of the document. If something is falling outside of the margin lines, for example, using our image utility tools, you can pull or shift everything inside the margin lines for you. So there's a lot of technology within our ePrepare that allows you to clean up the document if need be. If someone spilled a coffee on a document, we can move the coffee stain using our image utility tools if need be.

But we also have, when we go live with a county, they tell us what all of their requirements are for each and every document that they accept electronically, if there are attachments that are required. Think of New York, for example, where there may be 12 different attachments that have to be attached to the deed or the mortgage or any other document type, for example. Our system is going to call that out. They're going to prompt you to either attach respective documents. Or if it's not needed, you can hit the "I don't have this" or "I don't need this" checkbox, and it'll allow you to proceed with moving on to the preparation of your document.

But again, as I mentioned earlier, we have those tools, the optical character recognition that allows you to go over to the image and pull the data into the required fields. We have the party prefilled for those that you work with often. So you can select them from a dropdown and not have to hand-key it.

But the point being is that oftentimes rejections can be cut off at the front, making sure that you're reviewing the documents before you're uploading them. If you're using some sort of title software production, make sure that the data is accurate in that system before pulling it into our ePrepare system.

So at this point, I'm going to turn it back over to Musa.

Musa: So we're going to discuss visibility and reporting. And I did want to point out that for any organization, it's super important to have a 30,000-foot overview when it comes to numbers, honestly, for any area of the business, specifically for recordings. We offer ePrepare for our customers or submitters to have the ability to track packages end-to-end. From the time you prepare the package to when it's recorded, you could track everything. And as soon as you're notified of rejection, you can immediately jump to have a document corrected and resubmitted.

And we also, I would say, in a way act as a repository for recorded documents. We don't purge our system. You could see what others in your group are working on. There are audit history reports. There's a library of report capabilities that Andy touched on, also refers to the Reporting Hub. Now this, of course, can be customized in a way where you create your own reports, or you could schedule them at a frequency to be sent to yourself and other people at the same time.

Now after looking at some of the challenges and a framework for a solid recording workflow, time for some self-assessment. I want you all to think of what your current process is and keep that process in mind as I go through these slides.

So let's look at this first question to ask yourself. How do you stay informed of the latest county recording requirements? There's a bunch of things, image standards, indexing updates, doc requirements, fee adjustments. The counties change the fees at all times. Do you have a way where you could help reduce rejection rates by staying informed on everything that I just mentioned? If not, CSC ePrepare is highly recommended. I'm going to let Andy speak to the next slide.

Andy: Yeah, thanks, Musa. Kind of what I alluded to earlier, can rejections be prevented proactively right from the start? It goes back to thoroughly reviewing documents to ensure their completeness before uploading them into ePrepare. If you are using some sort of title software production, or if you're a large volume submitter using an API integration, ensuring that the information is accurate before pushing those details and data into our system.

But once in our system, once in our environment, making sure you're taking advantage of our image utility tools, where permitted, to enhance the image quality. Use those tools that I previously mentioned, like the OCR, the party prefilled templates. And that data extraction component that we're going to be introducing here later on this year will be helpful as well. There again, that'll pull the data from the image as it reviews it and accurately pull that data in for you to do a final review and verification.

Musa: Another important question to ask yourself is, "What areas would I," instead of you, I'd replace you with I, "like to improve in my recording process?" Now, if you have not yet implemented eRecording for your organization and want to start doing it, eRecording will be a huge step towards process improvement. We get this feedback all the time from anyone who's shifted from traditional paper recording methods to eRecording. And even if you have an electronic process in place, well, it's well and good. However, I think it's really important to mention that the vehicle you choose to record your documents or eRecord your documents will definitely determine your organization's edge, of course, in the marketplace. And ePrepare efficiently helps close any gaps in that process. Again, CSC ePrepare is highly recommended. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Andy.

Andy: Thanks, Musa. And the final part of your own assessment is, do you have centralized visibility across all jurisdictions? Using ePrepare, using CSC and our eRecording system called ePrepare, it's a one-stop shop. One location for all the eRecording counties. We provide one location for all the document types. Your recorded documents, we have the repository there, rejected documents, so on and so forth. One billing method. You don't have to navigate multiple billing transactions and writing checks and things like that. Everything is centralized through ePrepare.

There's no need to navigate through individual county websites and try to determine every county what their requirements are. You can rely on us. We've already done the hard part. We've already done all the legwork to identify all of those things for you. And it's now just taking advantage of our system and the work that we put in to ensure that all of our submitters are compliant and are up to date with every county's unique requirements and billing methods and things like that.

Musa: Thanks, Andy. Now let's look at some potential constraints when self-recording. There are internal bill challenges. There's maintaining jurisdictional intelligence in-house. There are resource strains. There are technology investment costs. A bunch of these are challenges specifically, of course, when you have not implemented eRecording in your process or in your workflow.

Imagine having to build a network or a connection with a county directly. The effort that it takes technologically, monetarily, of course, resources as well, manpower, all of that, of course, is something to consider. Not only that, because of the fact that it's such a complex, I would say, in a way complex thing when it comes to county requirements, you have to maintain the jurisdictional intelligence in-house. Imagine doing all of that.

Resource strain, I think I already mentioned on that earlier. You have to consider monetary costs. You have to consider the hours spent developing all of that infrastructure. And then, of course, if you have to invest in technology and investments you have to make into that system, all of that, of course, is a potential constraint when eRecording.

Now how can you scale beyond constraints with CSC? There are lots of benefits for it. Again, we're going to go through these real quick. There are benefits of working with CSC. Of course, you have the benefit of working with a specialized recording partner. There's one location for all eRecording counties. One billing component, one repository of recorded documents, and lower rejection rates.

And then there's expertise available for you. We've established a massive jurisdictional network, close to 2,500 counties across the country. There's high-volume optimization, which means we could handle volumes in excess of . . . well, there's no limit. So whatever, of course, it is that your organization can produce, we can handle that.

There are industry-leading experts, of course, that are available. As I mentioned, we're first to the marketplace. We have experts that have experience specific to specific markets as well even, if we want to go down to that level as well. There's centralized compliance intelligence.

And CSC, again, this has been a theme throughout the presentation that we've established county requirements, indexing, and attachment, and we have a robust system which is powered by automated tools that allow you to have all the necessary validation checks. And this will, of course, enhance your compliance and reduce your risk.

And then tech-enabled workflows. We ensure that you are ahead of the game with a system that uses digital tools and automation to enhance the efficiency, the accuracy, and the speed with which your documents are recorded. Now this will also ensure that there is still the human oversight of the entire process. I mentioned earlier in the webinar, you need someone to wield the hammer, and our system will allow you to fully be equipped with all the tools and features. And, of course, this will add not only a ton of efficiency, but it will solve a lot of problems for a lot of people, especially when it comes to managing rejections.

Andy touched on the advanced OCR feature and doc type recognition, which are a couple of the main features that I wanted to mention, which automate your process.