SIDNEY — The Shelby County Recorder’s Office is the home of Shelby County’s land records. Deeds, mortgages and various documents which pertain to real estate are recorded in the Recorder’s Office and are all public records. The only record maintained by the recorder which is not considered a public record is a Veteran’s Discharge. Due to the personal information contained within these (social security numbers), they are not considered a public record.

“The revenue generated from the Recorder’s Office has fluctuated up and down over the last decade,” said Shelby County Recorder Jodi Siegel. “Although the revenue for 2016 is up 11 percent from 2015, it is also down 12 percent from 2006. Like every year, the interest rates and the economy will be a large factor in the number of recordings and the amount of revenue generated from the Recorder’s office this coming year.”

Her report continues:

Technology has been instrumental in giving companies in the real estate market another option for recording documents. Although E-filing is not new to the Shelby County Recorder’s office as it has been available for three years now, it has obviously become more popular and is no doubt going to continue to become more and more popular.

The first year E-filing was an option in Shelby County, 10 percent of recordings were filed electronically. In 2016, this number grew to 20 percent. There is reason to believe that this percentage will continue to grow each year as there are several benefits to filing document electronically. Recording documents electronically can save one both money and time.

If a document is sent electronically as opposed to mailed, it will be received nearly instantly and the submitter will have the recorded document back the same day. If there are issues with the document, it could be sent back to the submitter and returned by submitter for recording all in the same day.

When mailing documents, you may be looking at a one week delay if being sent in the mail and needs to be sent back unrecorded due to one issue or another. Next day delivery is also an option, but the cost involved with sending documents this way is also quite a bit more.

Technology was also instrumental in another change in the Recorder’s Office in 2016. Indexes have been available on the web for several years, but you are now able to also view many documents on line. Documents from 2001 forward (with the exception of large plats) are viewable and printable on line. This allows title searchers the opportunity to work from remote sites and in some instances completing all of their work without visiting the Recorder’s Office. This also allows individuals the ability to obtain copies of their recorded documents (depending on when it was recorded) from home.

Please feel free to visit the Recorder’s office to research any real estate records and we will be happy to assist you. Our office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to noon on Friday.