As the world struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic, PRIA has developed some
helpful tips
for coping and communicating. PRIA has also been working closely with the American Land Title Association to track the operating status of recording jurisdictions around the country. These resources can be viewed at
www.alta.org/coronavirus
.
If you do have updates to the information in the county report, please email details to:
stevie@pria.us
.
PRIA has also put the following
articles
on their page: a) Recorders are Essential to the US Economy, b) Communications in a Crisis, and, c) Best Practices for Recording Queue Management in Times of Stress. There is also a list of up-to-date COVID-19 related resources available to you on this page.
For up-to-date, factual news about COVID-19, visit the
Center for Disease Control
or the
World Health Organization
websites. And to access additional resources specific to government leaders, click
here
. To stay informed about COVID-19, join the
mailing list
of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Health Security.
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PRIA is hosting the April webinar, entitled "Sovereign Citizens" on April 16 at 3 PM ET. The webinar will be presented by Nathan Garard, FBI Denver. The webinar is complimentary for PRIA Members and non-members.
Learning objectives for this webinar include:
- Explaining the profile of sovereign citizens
- Showing why you need to be prepared in your office
- Demonstrating how to interact with sovereign citizens
Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until all seats are filled.
This webinar will not be recorded and presentation materials will not be available after the fact.
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Things have changed considerably since we reported last month on our gathering at the
PRIA Local Workgroup Session in Austin at PRIA's 2020 Winter Symposium
. Why does that seem like years ago now? As mentioned in the lead article above, over the last couple of weeks PRIA has been creating
resources
that will assist you in your work to keep things going in the real property records world. We know it has been an extremely difficult time for you personally and professionally.
We recently reached out to existing and potential
PRIA Local
Co-chairs to discuss ways in which PRIA can help you during this virus crisis. One way that may help is for you to use the remote meeting platform of your choice and pull together your local business and government colleagues to meet regularly to work your way through this challenging period.
Just know that
PRIA Local is here to help you
set up a Chapter or help you host a meeting. We'll be having a webinar in the future to assist you with the details of how to get a Chapter going, and as always, we have many resources on the
PRIA website. C
heck the
PRIA Local Map
to find existing contacts in your area or
contact Carolyn Ableman
, PRIA Local Coordinator, at any time to get assistance.
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The PRIA Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to postpone the August Annual Conference until 2021. With the uncertainty of COVID-19 and many states under shelter-at-home orders with no definitive expiration dates, the board determined that the safety and well-being of our members is tantamount. In addition, we learned late last week that the Democratic National Convention was rescheduled from July to the week of August 17-20 in Milwaukee. These dates coincide with the 2020 PRIA Annual Conference dates. It's a double whammy!
If you had already made a hotel reservation for the 2020 Annual Conference, it has been automatically cancelled by the hotel and you should receive notification of such.
In the next few weeks, the board and planning committee will be considering alternative 2020 educational and training opportunities using a virtual platform. If you have a suggestion for a conference presentation or have a program you would like to present, either virtually or in person, contact
Mallory Robinson
.
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The Electronic Recording Technology Board (ERTB), housed in the Secretary of State’s office, has awarded up to $200,000 in emergency grants to Colorado counties that will enable them to purchase laptops that will facilitate remote recording. The emergency grants are designed to help stop the spread of COVID-19 while enabling Coloradans to continue to get the important services they need from their County Clerks.
“It’s important that county clerks have the resources to transition staff to remote work,” said Secretary of State Jena Griswold. “Emergency ERTB grants will help clerks purchase up to three laptops per county in order to continue their important work.” The grant requests are pre-approved and funding is distributed on a rolling basis as counties submit applications. (
Read complete article.
)
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This is a rapidly changing environment with new developments happening on a daily basis. With most of the country under stay-at-home orders and practicing social distancing, COVID-19 has become a major disruptive force for the indefinite future. One of the many business areas severely hindered by COVID-19 is contractual relationships between parties. Consenting parties to a new contract may agree that a PDF signature page sent by email suffices in these times, but what about statutory requirements that have to be satisfied?
Real estate deeds and mortgages generally need to be notarized to be accepted for recording and for title companies to insure them. A will or trust agreement drawn up during the pandemic may need to be notarized as well to be given effect. Usual notary requirements include in-person, physical presence before the notary. How does that work with social distancing?
The answer is remote notarization. There are different varieties, each with their advantages and disadvantages. Prior to the pandemic, the two main alternatives to traditional notarization were eNotarization (eNotary) and remote online notarization (RON). In typical eNotary, all of the signatures and notarizations are done electronically rather than with wet ink signatures. However, the traditional physical presence requirement remains—everyone simply gathers around the computer. That doesn’t work in a pandemic. (
Read complete article.
)
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CNBC recently reported
that a coalition of mortgage leaders sent a request to Federal regulators last weekend for “desperately needed cash."
The report from CNBC said the number for mortgage forbearance requests have been coming in at an “alarming rate,” but servicers still need to pay bondholders. A letter from the coalition, headed by the Mortgage Bankers Association, said the “scale of the forbearance program could not have been foreseen” by servicers or regulators and that the government should provide a liquidity facility.
CNBC quoted Jay Bray, CEO of Mr. Cooper, as saying, “there is going to be complete chaos” without federal help. Ginnie Mae announced
in March that it will create an All Participants Memorandum (APM) to address liquidity issues related to the impacts of COVID-19. (
Read complete article.
)
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excerpted from ALTA Advocacy Update by ALTA CEO/COO Diane Tomb, 3/30/20
"The past few weeks have been incredibly busy as we work to respond to and anticipate our members' needs during this unprecedented health crisis. At the end of March in Washington, D.C., the House of Representatives passed and President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. On March 30, ALTA hosted a "townhall" webinar titled the "ALTA COVID-19 Industry Update." On the webinar, we discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown on your business.
We talked about title agents getting creative and finding ways to help people close transactions while keeping the appropriate social distance through remote online notarization (RON), drive-thru closings and increased use of powers of attorney. We discussed the challenges with records access as county courthouses shut down or reduced services as well as the status of emergency legislation and orders promoting RON.
We also discussed how your ability to do business is impacted. We talked about ALTA's efforts in Washington, D.C., and what the state land title associations are doing to help. Recently the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) updated its guidance,
"
Identifying Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During COVID-19
"
to specifically declare county recorders essential. And at ALTA's request, CISA now has added the following to "other community or government based operations and essential functions": "Staff at government offices who perform title search, notary, and recording services in support of mortgage and real estate services and transactions."
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CONTENT DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed in the media, articles, comments, or links in this publication are those of the speakers or authors and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions held by PRIA or its members. PRIA does not warrant the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of the information contained in this publication. If you have a complaint about something you have found in this publication, please contact PRIA by email at
info@pria.us
.
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FAIR USE NOTICE
This publication may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. PRIA believes this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material in this publication is distributed without profit, to those who have expressed a prior interest in such information, for comment and nonprofit educational purposes.
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