Land Records

Circuit Court Clerk Frank M. Conaway is asking the Baltimore finance department to more quickly process land records, including the transfer of tax checks that go uncashed for long periods, he said.Conaway, a Democrat running for City Council president, said backlogs in the city's land records office have caused weeks of delays in the recording of deeds."It takes the city weeks to do simple clerical tasks that are done in a matter of days in most counties," said Conaway, who was elected in September.

The New York real estate firm that purchased Harborplace in November paid close to $100 million for the iconic Inner Harbor shopping center, according to Baltimore land records. Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., through an affiliate company called AAC HP Realty LLC, spent $98.5 million to buy the two shopping pavilions from General Growth Properties, records show. AAC borrowed $76 million from UBS Real Estate Securities Inc. to finance the transaction, records show. Although news of the sale of Harborplace did not become public until last fall, Ashkenazy and General Growth, according to land records, entered into a sale agreement in March.

Hours have been cut at Baltimore County's land records office, a move that the head of a key county bar association committee described as "catastrophic" with interest rates declining and the demand for mortgage refinancing rising. Circuit Court Clerk Suzanne K. Mensh instituted the new hours Oct. 22, expressing concern over security and what she termed acts of vandalism that have occurred in the office. Mensh cut the daily closing hour from 9 p.m. to 6 p.m. and eliminated the Saturday hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The office opens at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday.

In terms of its size and composition, Harper's Choice isn't all that different from other villages in Columbia. What sets it apart from other places in town is its location: The Village of Harper's Choice was built on the first tract purchased to make up the land that eventually became Howard County's biggest city. That assemblage is now marking a key milestone: 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the year Maryland developer James W. Rouse secretly began buying up properties. Although Columbia officially marks its beginning as June 21, 1967, the day Wilde Lake was dedicated and opened to the public, years of behind-the-scenes planning led up to that event.

Baltimore County Circuit Court Clerk Suzanne K. Mensh agreed yesterday to extend the hours at the county land records office after cutbacks last month sparked an outcry from real estate abstractors and lawyers. The abstractors, who research property deeds, joined others in the real estate industry in complaining that the hours had been reduced during one of their busiest times. Interest rates near record lows have spurred property sales and mortgage refinancings. Mensh reduced the hours of the land records office after employees in her office reported that personal items had been stolen and computers tampered with after they left for the day. The clerk's office, which handles civil and criminal records, and marriage licenses, is on the second floor of the circuit courthouse, along with land records.

NEWARK, N.J. -- On its face, it seemed a simple computer error, albeit an incongruously beatific one. A recent search of Middlesex County's computerized land records showed that the Virgin Mary owned about 365 parcels in the county that on closer examination actually belonged to such earthbound entities as Public Service Electric and Gas and the Hungarian Boy Scout Association. But the appearance of Mary's name is just part of the county's larger problem in carrying out its move from the ancient realm of dusty, paper-filled halls of records to the new era of computer-stored images of documents.

Q: How do I get a copy of the deed to my house? The mortgage on the house has been paid off but the original deed has been lost.Anna Shumway, ArnoldA: Congratulations on being able to pay off the mortgage on your house. Since most mortgages run for 30 years, this is a long-cherished dream of most homeowners. Since Maryland is a "record-notice" state -- your deed must be recorded in the land records of the county in which you live -- the fact that you've lost or misplaced your original deed should be of no consequence.

The New York real estate firm that purchased Harborplace in November paid close to $100 million for the iconic Inner Harbor shopping center, according to Baltimore land records. Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., through an affiliate company called AAC HP Realty LLC, spent $98.5 million to buy the two shopping pavilions from General Growth Properties, records show. AAC borrowed $76 million from UBS Real Estate Securities Inc. to finance the transaction, records show. Although news of the sale of Harborplace did not become public until last fall, Ashkenazy and General Growth, according to land records, entered into a sale agreement in March.

Dear Mr. Gisriel: How do I get a copy of the deed to my house? The mortgage on the house has been paid off but the original deed has been lost.Hannah ThompsonGlyndonDear Ms. Thompson: Congratulations on being able to pay off the mortgage on your house.Since most mortgages run for 30 years, this is a long-cherished dream of most homeowners.Since Maryland is a "cord-notice" state, your deed must be recorded in the land records of the county in which you live -- the fact that you've lost or misplaced your original deed should be of no consequence.

Dear Mr. Gisriel: I am currently negotiating to buy a house. I've noticed that some mortgage lenders are advertising mortgages with "no points, no closing costs." How is this possible?Is there something that needs to be put in my purchase contract that would qualify me for these mortgages?Robert PriceSeverna ParkDear Mr. Price: Any mortgage lender can, and many do, offer a variation of the "no points, no closing costs" mortgage. Here's how it usually works:The purchase contract with the seller of the house must first be negotiated so the seller will be paying all the transfer taxes, documentary stamps, and loan points, if any.The other normal closing costs and fees are paid for by the lender -- which charges a slightly higher interest rate to make up for the closing costs.

A House committee went to work Friday on rewriting portions of Gov. Martin O'Malley's $14 billion budget proposal, rolling back the governor's most significant cuts by chopping elsewhere and raising roughly $67 million in fees. Lawmakers worked into the night on a plan produced by the Democratic House leadership that would increase the cost of titling cars and trucks, registering land records and getting a vanity license plate. The extra revenue would go to three groups that have objected most to O'Malley's spending plan: the counties, state workers and school systems.

The Howard County Circuit Court in Ellicott City has alleviated some of its severe crowding by adding 5,200 square feet - in Columbia. Starting today, nonjudicial functions of the court, including land records, marriage licenses and business licenses, will be housed at the county-owned Thomas Dorsey Building, off Bendix Road. The new office will include cashiers to handle licenses and title filings, scanning and indexing departments to manage records and a public area with computer terminals for document searches.

Howard County's title searchers want the county executive to find a closer, more convenient alternative to a plan to move local land records from the Circuit Courthouse to a Howard-owned building five miles away. In a letter sent to County Executive James N. Robey this week, the searchers insisted that the county does not need to split the documents they use daily - land records, court judgments and estates - between two distant buildings to fix the problems that have troubled Clerk of the Circuit Court Margaret D. Rappaport's cramped offices for years.

Howard Circuit Court Clerk Margaret D. Rappaport is planning to move land records out of her offices in the county's cramped courthouse and into a government-owned building five miles away -- a move that title searchers and others who ply their trade among the records say will create a "logistical nightmare" for them. But Rappaport told the title searchers, who forced their way into a meeting on the issue last night, that she had no choice, especially after she learned that renovations planned for the recently vacated state's attorney's office included little new space for her expanding needs.

A Severn business consultant and Democratic activist who says he wants to bring innovation to the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court is hoping to unseat the incumbent clerk of the court next week. "We need to do a better job down at the courthouse," said Michael J. Serabian Sr., the Democratic hopeful, who said he would like to bring a modern business approach to the office. Robert P. Duckworth, a Republican seeking his third term as clerk, said he has led the office though eight years of improvements and hopes to make more.

Folk-rocker Lis Harvey was one day into the road trip of a lifetime, all 50 states in 61 days, and her station wagon had already had enough. A tire was flat, the struts were shot and the air conditioner died. Hey, if it was going to be easy, it wouldn't be a world record. These days, Harvey, 24, is rolling toward her Maryland stop - where she'll really appreciate the air conditioning - behind the wheel of a borrowed car. It's a token of true friendship (Harvey warned her buddy the trip could cover 20,000 miles)

Q: I believe that my neighbor has built a shed over his property line onto my property. How can I find out exactly where the property line is and whether or not the shed is indeed on my property?Charles Hall, TimoniumA: If the shed is actually on your property, then that is called an encroachment and you can force your neighbor to remove the shed from your property. If he refuses to move it, then after proper notice you can remove it yourself.The only accurate way to be sure of the actual location of the property line between your two properties is to have a boundary survey done.

A glitch in the computer at county land records office virtually shut down real estate transactions in Carroll for more than a week, causing headaches for title searchers, banks and homebuyers.Technicians from Government Systems Inc., the New Orleans company that installed the computer system, scrambled from Aug. 7 until yesterday repairing the computer crash that locked down all Carroll land records that had been recorded since late November -- deeds, mortgages and liens against property.

Baltimore County Circuit Court Clerk Suzanne K. Mensh agreed yesterday to extend the hours at the county land records office after cutbacks last month sparked an outcry from real estate abstractors and lawyers. The abstractors, who research property deeds, joined others in the real estate industry in complaining that the hours had been reduced during one of their busiest times. Interest rates near record lows have spurred property sales and mortgage refinancings. Mensh reduced the hours of the land records office after employees in her office reported that personal items had been stolen and computers tampered with after they left for the day. The clerk's office, which handles civil and criminal records, and marriage licenses, is on the second floor of the circuit courthouse, along with land records.

Hours have been cut at Baltimore County's land records office, a move that the head of a key county bar association committee described as "catastrophic" with interest rates declining and the demand for mortgage refinancing rising. Circuit Court Clerk Suzanne K. Mensh instituted the new hours Oct. 22, expressing concern over security and what she termed acts of vandalism that have occurred in the office. Mensh cut the daily closing hour from 9 p.m. to 6 p.m. and eliminated the Saturday hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The office opens at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday.