The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1913-10-20
CHARGE THAT
I. ,ABSTRACTORS
DELAY BUSINESS
aeal Egt2te Men Tell Supervis-
On a. Necessity for County
+ Index
CALL DETROIT LAND
! SALES CUMBERSOME
8egigter of Deeds Stoll Says Pro
posed Phn Would Add to
Efficiency

Charges that 1t takes Detroit alb
stract companies from three to .siz
weeks to Investigate titles while the
same work II done In other cities
In - many days, and that this OBJ
struction Of the transfer OF land 10
seriously interfering with the growth
ef the city, received vigorous APP
plause from more than 100 real e.
tate men who gathered In the ofices
Of the county auditors. Saturday
morning. to urge upon the ways and
means committee of the supervisors.
the installation Of geographical in
dex to all land titles and transfers
| In Wayne county.
It was an open hearing on the
merits Of the proposed reform. The
speakers included Edward A. Love-
| ley, president Of the Detroit Real Es-
tate board; Frank H. Bessenger.
| vice-president: e. b. Tyrrell, ex-
ecutive secretary; Charter Commits
I doner Judson Broadway, and others.
. They all declared that the index 10
not only advisable for the benef1t OF
all whoShave occasion to sell or buy
property, but that something Of the
sort 10 absolutely necessary to re-
lieve an .intolerable condition which
IL said to be calling the attention OF
commercial interests all over the
country to the cumbersome process
Of making land sales In Detroit.
A feature of the meeting was q
strenuous argument between men in
favor of the plan and !. T. Cowles.
of the title guarantee and abstract
department Of the Union Trust Co.
Mr.. Cowles said that while It takes
a long time to get abstracts in this
city, the reason lies in It's very rapid
growth and in the fact that more
complete records are made out here
than elewhere.
In answer to a question put by
Supervisor Vernon, as to whether his
company would use an index main
tanned by the county. he said: "As
long as the present political system
of electing officers continues, we
could never feel sure that the books
were in the hands of Efficient men
and for that reason we could not"
This was resented by the real es-
tate men In strong terms.
"I'd like to know what there is In
an abstract that isn't put there BY
county. ofYicers." commented one Of
them. 1T is nothing but copy Of
county records"
Mr.. Lovely said; what we are
asking Of you IL not an experiment.
1t has been tried In other places and
been found more than satisfactory"
He told how It has worked In Chi
cago and In Milwaukee.
~And further" he continued. 1--WE
are not asking you to put in any
specific system or adopt anybody's
plan. How and by whom II shall be
done. whether under the direction of
the register of deeds or by private
contract, il for you to say. The
whole thing Is simply this--to main
tain a complete account OF titles and
the changes In them, together with
membranes. indexed by reference
to the plots themselves. that IL.
geographically, and not by the names
OF the owners, for that sort Of index
II Of no use in looking up the rec
ords OF any particular plot.
Real estate Is considered a slow
asset and the longer II takes to make
transac lions and verify titles, the
longer 1t takes to raise money upon
II. The result Is that the condition
now existing in Detroit Is bound to
be at times big handicap CONNER
cially."
Otto Stoll. register of deeds. told
the committee that such an index
would greatly increase the efficiency
of his office and would enable him to
answer many inquiries which he can
not now.
Mr.. Bessenger, who was sent by
the Real Estate Board to investigate
similar systems elsewhere. said that
the one in Milwaukee was introduced
for about $4,000. He said that Of
hcials In both Milwaukee and Chi
cago had assured him $3.50, 900 would
be amply sufficient for system for
Wayne county.
The committee took the matter
under advisement.