Join us for HUG 2014 in October!

Join us in sunny San Antonio this fall for the 2014 HALFILE USERS GROUP conference.

Prepare for the hal 4.0 rollout with our training sessions on new and existing features, connect to other halFILE users, and enjoy the backdrop of the River Walk, the Alamo, and all San Antonio has to offer.

• Who: halFILE Users
• What: HUG Conference
• When: October 1-3, 2014
• Where: San Antonio, TX

Full agenda and registration information coming soon

2013 Land Title Conferences Update

The spring, summer and fall months offer multiple opportunities to catch up with valued clients and network with potential clients at industry trade shows.   Unfortunately, conferences often overlap which limits the number we can attend, but here are a few recent or upcoming shows in the land title industry that are included in my plans:

ALTA

Dave and I exhibited at the ALTA Business Strategies conference in Oklahoma City March 13-15.  The format gave attendees several opportunities to interact with the exhibitors in addition to learning more about ALTA’s Best Practices and the National Title Professional designation program. It gave us the opportunity to showcase halFILE version 4. Congratulations to Marianne with FNF who won our raffle prize (a Kindle Fire).  To learn more about ALTA, visit www.alta.org

Iowa Land Title Association:

ILTA’s annual conference will be held May 3-4 at Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino Hotel in Altoona.   Visit www.iowalandtitle.org for details.

South Dakota Land Title:
The annual conference will be held June 5-7 at the Highland Center in Mitchell.  Visit www.sdlta.org for details.

ATIM
Are you familiar with the Association for Title Information Management (ATIM)?

Since 1985 ATIM (a non-profit association run entirely by volunteers) has organized an annual meeting that enables land title professionals to learn from each other, share best practices, and brainstorm solutions to industry issues and challenges. 

A typical conference agenda includes six to eight topics affecting the land records / title insurance and abstract industries. Discussions are facilitated by industry experts.  Past topics have included discussions on title plant best practices, open records issues, privacy/redaction concerns, outsourcing (both off shore and domestic) and industry trends.

Attendees typically include title/abstract company owners, managers and examiners; software application developers, title plant and other land records data providers, outsourcing vendors, vendor managers, underwriters, consultants, lenders, county clerks and recorders, plus others parties with an interest in land records.

The format is one general session. The casual atmosphere supports active participation from everyone.  The host city varies from year to year based on input from participants.  The registration fee is designed to cover costs and is minimal.

I think you would benefit from attending and I know the group would benefit from your participation.  The 2013 conference is in Boston on August 5 and 6. Please visit the web site after May 1^st for registration forms, hotel information and the agenda: www.atim.org.  Feel free to contact me with any questions.

 Kathy Taylor

ktaylor@halfile.com

 

PRIA Winter Symposium

Over 120 people attended the PRIA Winter Symposium last week in Washington D.C.  Here are some highlights:

 

ü  The Washington D.C. Recorder of Deeds Office hosted a visit that included an office tour along with a fascinating presentation on the history of the office and office holders/Recorders.

ü  Updates on everything “e”:  sessions on eRecording from a submitter’s perspective, eMortgages, eSigning, and a discussion on the ultimate e-Recording wish list.

ü  A panel discussion on a National Mortgage database.

ü  A panel presentation on title plants – what they are & how they operate (my favorite session!)

ü  PRIA Committee working sessions.

ü  Breakfast roundtable discussions along with several other networking opportunities.

 

To obtain membership information, visit the PRIA web site:  www.pria.us

The Colorado PREP Chapter is meeting on March 21^st from 9:00 – 11:00 and will include a presentation on GIS and Land Records.  Contact me for details if you are interested in attending.

Next week (March 13-15) Dave and I will be exhibiting at the ALTA Business Strategies conference in Oklahoma City.  Stop by our booth and take a peek at halFILE version 4.0!

 

Kathy Taylor

ktaylor@halfile.com

 

Season's Greetings

Season's Greetings from hal Systems
 

click here

If you work with public land records, check out PRIA and PREP

hal Systems is a  member of several professional trade organizations.  PRIA and PREP have provided me with several educational and networking opportunities over the past few years, so I wanted to pass along some basic information in case you are not familiar with these forums:

PRIA (Property Records Industry Association) is a group of professionals from both government and business sectors with a shared interest in the integrity of public records.  They work together to address common issues and concerns.   

PRIA officially launched in 2002.  It evolved out of a task force initially created for a specific time frame and purpose.    The PRIA web site contains a wealth of information, including white papers outlining standards and best practices that have been developed through a collaborative effort by PRIA members.    Several documents are devoted to eRecording and include how to prepare, business requirements, and XML standards along with an implementation guideline.   You’ll also find information on GIS integration with land records, notary essentials and practical considerations with regard to privacy and public land records.  Current projects include papers on redaction and eRecording portals.

PRIA holds conferences twice a year.  These events combine educational seminars, business meetings and networking opportunities.  The 2012 annual conference was held in Memphis, August 28-30, where I attended sessions on MERS, Title insurance 101, Cloud technologies, GIS, and eRecording excellence.

 PREP (Property Records Education Partners) is a PRIA initiative that strives to foster relationships, enhance communication, and create networking channels and educational opportunities on local levels.  There are PREP chapters in AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IA, IL, MD, MI, MN, NE, ND, NV, OK, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA and WI.

PRIA has several membership categories available for both government and private sectors.  There is no cost to participate in PREP, and you do not have to be a member of PRIA to participate in PREP. 

Feel free to contact me with questions and visit the PRIA web site for additional information (www.pria.us). 

 

Kathy Taylor

ktaylor@halfile.com

 

Auto Complete - halFILE 4.0

We have been hard at work adding the finishing touches to a new feature in 4.0 called Auto Complete.  This feature has been requested by many of you over the years and we hope you enjoy using it.  This feature allows you to perform key ahead retrieval of information that already exists in a database field.  This is especially useful in fields that contain names as it allows you to see how that particular name was indexed previously and improves keying accuracy.  The example below illustrates how I can start keying  a name and I see anything that matches currently in the database:

As you can see this is helpful both at index and search time as it allows you to pick from a list of previously indexed items.  It can also be beneficial in locating and identifying existing typos in the database.  This all happens in real-time so if you find a typo, search for it, and update all existing entries then the next time you use the auto complete feature the typo will not appear in the list.  If you already have halFILE 4.0 you can access this feature by pressing F4 when the cursor is blinking inside any multi-entry field.  If you are not already using halFILE 4.0 be sure to send James an email at jtabor@halfile.com and he will get you on the list!

halFILE 4.0 Release - July 17th, 2012

We are very pleased to announce that we will officially be releasing halFILE 4.0 tomorrow morning.  At the end of day we will have 50 desktops functioning with the new version.  Many thanks to our Beta testers both internal and external that have provided feedback on the new release.  We hope you enjoy the new features and hope to continue to add new functionality based on your input as we continue to grow with this new version.  Don't forget to prepare your desktops for 4.0 by going to http://update.halfile.com and installing the prerequisites.  This will greatly assist us in migrating you to the new release.  Be sure to e-mail James Tabor if you want to get on the list to obtain 4.0.