Effects felt in the state’s red-hot real estate market are going beyond bidding wars, quick sales and surging prices.
As frantic Massachusetts residents scramble to scoop up a piece of property to call their own while the thriving economy allows them to, registries of deeds across the state have to record all of the transactions and keep hard copies of those transfers archived on site.
That, combined with older buildings with inadequate space to begin with, has registers across the state sounding the alarm that they are simply running out of room.
Some registries, like the one on Cape Cod, have managed to avoid space issues despite increased recordings. “We have no space issues. We’re in pretty good shape,” reports Barnstable Register John Meade.
But a number of others find themselves in a situation similar to that of the Plymouth Registry. Last week, Banker & Tradesman reported on a proposal to construct a new registry facility in Plymouth that had been vetoed by Gov. Paul Cellucci, forcing Register Richard Seibert to look for storage alternatives as his facility has only one half-empty book case left for records storage.
“I need space badly, as most registries do,” said Middlesex South Register Eugene C. Brune. Last year, the Cambridge-based facility handled 339,948 recordings, making it the busiest of the state’s 21 registries.
“I have over 40,000 books I have to store here,” he said. “By law you have to keep one hard copy [of each transaction] and two on microfilm. I do at least five books a day here, so it doesn’t take too long to fill up a bookcase.”
At the current rate of recording transactions, Brune estimates his registry has adequate space for about one more year; then he will have to start looking for alternatives.
“Every year we try to find new space,” he said. “One time, I took these four-shelf bookcases and noticed a lot of space between shelves. We made them five-shelf bookcases and on top I put a pair of metal bookends, so we got two more shelves out of each unit.
“But,” he added, “that only took care of a year and a half. After that we started moving out old furniture and putting more bookshelves along the wall. It closes in the room, but there’s nothing else to do.” For the future, Brune has looked at removing some of the tables where title examiners sit, but added that is an option he would rather not use.
The Middlesex South Registry shares a building with probate court, and funds have been appropriated to either build a new courthouse or renovate the existing one. If a new building is constructed for the court, Brune said the registry would most likely take over some of the space that has been freed up, solving some space concerns. “If probate [court] moved out, we’d have plenty of room,” he said.
In the meantime, Brune said he would continue to try to accommodate the crowds. “On the 1st, 15th, or 30th of the month, we have people waiting for tables to do their closings,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll squeeze in the lunch room, and on some occasions I’ll let them use my office. You try to accommodate the people that want to close [a real estate transaction]. I feel for them.”
Similar feelings are echoed in Springfield at the Hampden County Registry. “We had three closing rooms we got rid of because of a lack of space,” said Hampden Register Donald E. Ashe. “We have closings out on the main floor, but I’m sure this is something all registers are facing.”
With more than 107,000 recordings posted last year, the Hampden registry is the state’s eighth busiest.
“The real estate business is so busy now,” Ashe said. “Since I came in 1982, we’ve produced more books from 1983 to 2000 than we had from when the registry started in 1812 to 1982. And all those records have to go out there on the shelves.
“Space is dwindling away,” he added. “They didn’t anticipate the market would take off like this. I don’t see a slowdown in the record books unless the state does away with requiring us to keep a hard copy [of recordings] in storage here.”
As is the case in Cambridge, the Hampden registry also shares space with the courts at its building at 50 State St. in downtown Springfield. Officials there are exploring the possibility of building new space. If that eventually happens, the registry could take over the rest of the current building, or may be moved to a new location. Ashe is taking steps to create more space in the interim.
“We’re trying to convert an old basement room and move 30 years of older documents,” he said. Some documents have also been moved to an off-site storage facility, though Ashe said “anything stored off-site is not something the public would look at.”
‘To the Limit’
Space issues are not limited to just the biggest and busiest registries.
In rural Franklin County, Franklin Registry Assistant Register Sue Wolfram said things are getting tighter in her neck of the woods as well.
“There’s a new courthouse in the planning stages,” she said. “We do need the space. It’s hopeful that this will alleviate some of those needs. The plans are only in the committee stages now, though. They don’t know where to site it.”
The Franklin Registry had 18,144 recordings in 1999, just 5 percent of Middlesex South’s annual tally.
“Our plan room is [filled] to the limit,” she said, “and book storage is very cramped. We have no closing rooms. People have to do their closings in the main public office.
“The space we started with when the building was built back in 1934, I’m sure they said at that time that this would last for a thousand years,” Wolfram continued. “But records do accumulate. The courts are in tough shape. They’re packed to the limits, too.”
If a decision is made to add on to the existing facility rather than build a new one, Wolfram said the addition would likely be sited on the current parking lot, exacerbating the already cramped parking situation at the Greenfield-based facility. “It’s hard to know what will happen, but what can you do?”
In the northwest corner of the state at the Berkshire North Registry, Register Christopher Solari finds himself in the position of still enjoying the recent addition of extra space while at the same time worrying about space needs he knows will arise in the near future.
“Up until about three-and-a-half years ago, we had a big problem with space,” Solari said of his registry in the town of Adams. Located in the old town hall, the registry was able to gain square footage when other offices moved to a different site.
“We were able to expand and bring everything together on one level,” he said. “Cosmetically, things were brightened up a bit, too. That was a five- to six-year fix.”
The Berkshire North Registry reported 9,794 recordings in 1999; only the Nantucket and Berkshire South registries had fewer recordings.
“In the next two to two-and-a-half years I see a need for more space,” Solari said. “There’s talk of a new court facility in North Adams, and we might be able to gain space there to use for books and other records.
“Right now we’re in a good position, but soon it’s going to be not so good,” he said.
