Less than a month after the McHenry County Board’s Legislative Committee voted to support state legislation to require that property records remain readily available to the public, the committee is having second thoughts.
The committee has since decided to hold off on any action until it can get more information regarding the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, a privately operated system that records property records such as mortgages and mortgage assignments.
County Recorder Phyllis Walters told the committee she and other recorders fear that property titles could be at risk because of MERS. In cases of mortgages that are sold or assigned, Walters said, changes that are recorded in MERS but not in a county recorder’s office would not show up on traditional title searches, raising the possibility of title problems.
But committee Chairman Donald Brewer said several title company officials have told him they do not share Walters’ concerns.
“They’ve said they do not have a big problem with the concept of MERS,” Brewer said. “When they tell me they’re not worried, I take a different look at it.”
He said the committee wants to discuss the matter further with Walters before taking a stand.
Paul Madsen, manager of Ticor Title Co. in McHenry, said he does not worry about mortgage assignments not being recorded.
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“As far as mortgage assignments go, many of them already are not recorded,” he said. “That’s not a big problem. If Old Kent assigns a mortgage to Bob, and Bob assigns it to Bill, who cares? There’s going to be a payoff at closing, whether it goes to Bill or Bob.”