Patent Publication Number: US-2005125349-A1

Title: Channel services method and system for an electronic real property conveyancing marketplace

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF INVENTION  
      The invention, in general, relates to a channel services method and system for an electronic real property conveyancing marketplace and, more particularly, to a method and system for electronically associating governmental representatives, professional services participants, financial advisors, lenders and purchasers of real property to form and maintain a significantly enhanced real property conveyancing marketplace.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to the creation of a channel services utility for the domestic property conveyancing market, such as that of the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, the U.S., and other governmental regions permitting the negotiated, free-market transfer of real property interests among individual, companies, and other legal entities. As used herein, the term “conveyancing” shall mean those actions by governmental bodies, financial institutions, solicitors and other attorneys, surveyors, purchasers, and others involved in performing business actions and taking legal measures for the efficient and legally recognizable transfer of real property and interests therein among different owners and rights holders.  
      In existing free-market real property conveyancing systems, modern lending institutions employ computer-based loan management systems which store and process information on loans to debtors. Known systems for managing loan amortization include a device for inputting data identifying a debtor, the amount of the loan to the debtor, the principal balance of the loan, the rate of interest payable on the principal balance of the loan and the term of the loan. In response to a time payment, a loan payment module receives the time payment signals and determines the appropriate allocation of the time payment between interest and principal in accordance with known amortization methods. A loan origination and administration module tracks the reduction in the principal by the time payment, and the reduced principal balance is stored in the memory. Conventional systems for managing the amortization of loans process signals indicative of each loan in accordance with fixed-rate loan processing methods or variable-rate loan processing methods.  
      In the art of mortgage loans and mortgage brokering, a relatively large amount of information, however, must be exchanged to conduct a loan transaction, such as a new home mortgage loan. In attempting to obtain a competitive loan for the borrower, or in attempting to maintain competitive rates for lenders to offer loans, this relatively large amount of information must be collected, compared, evaluated, and disseminated to possible counter-parties to the transaction. The parties in such a transaction may include a borrower and/or mortgage broker and the lender. Other parties can include appraisal agents, regulatory agencies, mortgage insurance companies, and secondary mortgage market participants.  
      In known practices, nearly all the information relating to a loan transaction is collected by hand, transmitted using paper applications, compared by human beings (whose responsibilities include loan evaluation, property appraisal, financial market evaluation, and setting of lending rates), and disseminated using paper “rate sheets” or similar advertising material. For example, a mortgage broker attempting to obtain a loan for a borrower might be required to interview that client, consult rate sheets from multiple lenders to determine appropriate lending programs which might be appropriate for that client, submit multiple applications (possibly on multiple different forms) to selected ones of those lenders, and await action on those applications before being able to advise that client. Similarly, a lender attempting to set lending rates might be required to examine the present interest rate market, determine the mix of qualified borrowers likely to apply, determine a set of lending programs and lending rates best suited to the market and the risk the lender is willing to bear, and periodically post rate sheets or similar advertising material to multiple mortgage brokers informing them of those lending programs and lending rates.  
      Upon receiving a loan application, the lender might also be required to independently evaluate the creditworthiness of the borrower and the value of the underlying property. As all of these operations are presently performed by hand, initiating loan transactions is relatively expensive.  
      Although some forms of automation are known, such as uniform credit scoring for loan applications and automatic generation of loan application documents, there are no known systems in the field of mortgage lending for providing relatively automatic and widespread dissemination of loan application information or lending program information for automated comparison in real time.  
      The fact that the majority of these operations are performed by hand, rather than with the aid of computer processing, also limits the flexibility of the parties to the transaction. For borrowers, it is relatively difficult to compare more than a relatively few lending programs. For lenders, it is relatively difficult to select anything but a relatively simple set of lending categories for prospective borrowers.  
      It is also practically impossible for lenders to experiment with new products without broadcasting knowledge of those new products to a wide population, including their competitors.  
      Banks underwrite loans and/or purchase loan portfolios of other banks or sell portions of their own loan portfolios. In doing so, banks customarily continually assess and reassess the quality of various loan portfolios, which quality depends on the interest rates earned on those loans, the customer payment history on the loans and other criteria. In any case, bank managers are responsible for managing loans totaling billions of dollars both as pure loan instruments and as products that require servicing.  
      In a larger sense, the UK property market has been heavily criticised for the way in which transactions are carried out. There is very little transparency in conveyancing services, vast sums of money can be spent for valuations and other surveys only for the purchasing consumer to lose the property at the last minute. In fact, the British government has been under pressure for many years to change this market. The urge to change such a situation is so acute, that it became a manifesto pledge of the current government to remedy the ills that afflict the property market. For example, in the UK, both the government and the industry have rejected plans to align the English and Welsh markets with the Scottish market, due to the complexity and costs associated with making such a change.  
      By looking at the governments plans for electronic conveyancing, it is not difficult to identify the benefits to government agencies. These may include a reduction in real estate tax avoidance, process improvement in operations creation of knowledge repository for property transactions, as well as other benefits. These benefits to those in the business of conveyancing real estate must be made clearer.  
      A need exists, therefore, for a method and system for facilitating the establishment of an electronic real estate conveyancing environment for conveyancing real estate.  
      A need also exists for a structure permitting electronic commerce in real estate documentation, authorizations, surveys, conveyancing data, and other data relevant to the efficient and electronic conveyancing of real property. In particular, there is a need for a channeling utility that effectively ties together all necessary participants to achieve an efficiently operating real property conveyancing marketplace.  
      A further need exists for a system facilitating the adoption of an efficient and user-friendly electronic real estate conveyancing marketplace. In fact, there is the need for the appropriate utilities in such a property conveyancing system that provide compelling economic motivation for all participants to enter and operate within the system for all property conveyancing tasks and responsibilities.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention provides a method and system for channeling communications and applications within an electronic real property conveyancing marketplace for the purpose of electronically associating governmental representatives, professional services participants, financial advisors, lenders and purchasers to eliminate or substantial reduce problems associated with existing real property conveyancing marketplaces and known attempts to form electronically enhanced marketplaces for the purpose of legally and profitably conveyancing real property.  
      According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a communications channeling method and system for channeling communications relating to the electronic conveyancing of property selectably presents on-line consumer layer property conveyancing software applications using a messaging hub web browser associated with a gateway. The web browser allows tailored access to the plurality of on-line consumer layer property conveyancing software applications. The method and system adaptably channel on-line service provider layer property conveyancing software applications from associated software service providers to the gateway according to selections relating to the intended use of the on-line consumer layer property conveyancing software applications. Communications channeling further interfaces the on-line service provider layer property conveyancing software applications with a plurality of back-end management software applications serving back-office service providers. The back-office management software applications augment back-office operations relating to the on-line service provider layer property conveyancing software applications.  
      A technical advantage of the present invention includes the formation of digitally-connected communities within the real property conveyancing marketplace. Through these efficiently channelling communications across these communities, both the number and quality of real property transactions can improve, while the community successfully lowers the individual and aggregate costs for such transactions.  
      Another technical advantage of the present invention includes facilitating the establishment of a critical mass of participants in the electronic real property conveyancing marketplace. This critical mass has the ability to establish de facto and, where appropriate, de jure standards for the electronically enhanced transfer of real property interests.  
      One aspect of the present invention includes providing a commercially attractive, electronically-enhanced real property conveyancing marketplace. By facilitating the messaging associated with a leveraged and flexible suite of widely accepted information technology applications, the present invention makes possible a significantly improved real property conveyancing marketplace.  
      Another technical advantage of the present invention includes the ability to significantly improve the management of a real property conveyancing marketplace. Due to the necessary governance and control of the transactions within an economy for transfer of real property, by more completely and effectively supporting the communication channel amongst those participants involved in the real property conveyancing marketplace, the responsible governing body, such as a land registry office, can more effectively monitor and manage the many segments of the property conveyancing marketplace.  
      Another particularly important technical advantage of the present invention is the establishment of an effectively channeled electronic real property conveyancing communications to provide a foundation for further technical improvement and enhancement of activities, transactions, and real property conveyancing reports. Through enhanced messaging layers between the purchasers and their agents on the one hand and the various applications of solicitors, lending institutions, solicitors/attorneys, and governmental officer on the other hand, the present invention sets the stage for an ever improving electronic real property conveyancing marketplace.  
      Another technical advantage of the present invention is that by virtue of allowing the electronic conveyancing of real property and the more complete information than such a system makes available, the present invention makes it possible for banks to understand and know more completely their cash outlay requirements relating to real property transfers. As a result, the present invention improves the ability of a financial institution such as a lender to understand or to make the appropriate cash calls or resource allocations for property conveyances drastically increases. Thereby, the present invention can generate significant savings in an electronically enhanced property conveyance market. That is, the present invention reduces delay, imprecision, uncertainties relating to cash requirements in the conveyancing of real property.  
      Still another technical advantage of the present invention is that it provides to the customer more complete information concerning the transactions, the transaction cost and the actual conveyance of real property from a buyer to a seller.  
      Another technical advantage of the present invention is the fact that by virtue of improved messaging and communications, the entire real property conveyancing marketplace has more complete information at all points. Accordingly, a reduced likelihood of fraud in the conveyance of real property arises. This benefit may significantly reduce the overall infrastructure costs for servicing and maintaining a real property conveyancing marketplace.  
      Other technical advantages are readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following FIGUREs, description, and claims.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      For a more complete understanding of the present invention and advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description which is to be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numbers indicate like features and further wherein:  
       FIG. 1  illustrates a general purpose computing system that may be part of a network of such computing systems for employing the method and system for conveyancing property of the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  shows an electronically connected network illustrating an environment capable of accepting the method and system of the present invention for electronically assisted conveyancing of property;  
       FIG. 3  presents a conceptual illustration of a the present invention method for providing a messaging and applications hub within an electronic property conveyancing environment according to the teachings of present invention;  
       FIG. 4  depicts one view of how the present invention creates value in processes supporting the conveyancing of property in an electronic property conveyancing marketplace forming a community of digitally associated lenders, attorneys, and businesses;  
       FIG. 5  shows one configuration of a plurality of transaction channels through which the present invention enables the electronic conveyancing of property;  
       FIG. 6  illustrates a variety of transactional and support services and related functions provided by the electronic property conveyancing system of the present invention;  
       FIG. 7  provides a conceptual view of tracking, middleware messaging, and information sharing messaging for establishing the electronic property conveyancing environment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 8  shows the functional and structural interfaces for a lending organization participating in the electronic conveyancing method and system of the present invention;  
       FIG. 9  presents the functional and structural interfaces for an employing organization participating in the electronic conveyancing method and system of the present invention; and  
       FIG. 10  depicts the functional and structural interfaces for a surveying organization participating in the electronic conveyancing method and system of the present invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      The preferred embodiment of the present invention and its advantages are best understood by referring to  FIGS. 1 through 10  of the drawings, like numerals being used for like and corresponding parts of the various drawings.  
       FIG. 1  illustrates a general purpose computing system that may be part of a network of such computing systems for employing the method and system for conveyancing property of the present invention. By associating a network of general-purpose computers  10 , the present invention is useable in establishing a fully automated and interactive environment, including all necessary security, privacy, verification, and operational tools for significantly increasing the conveyancing of property, such as real estate or other properties. In such an electronic conveyancing environment as established by the present invention, at least two such computers may be operated at different locations within a given geographical or similarly bounded area.  
      With reference to  FIG. 1 , general-purpose computer  10  may be a personal computer, a laptop, palmtop, or other set top, server, mainframe, and other variety computer, and include processing unit  12 , system memory  14 , and system bus  16  coupling various system components including system memory  14  to the processing unit  12 . Processing unit  12  may be any of various commercially available processors, including Intel x86, Pentium® and compatible microprocessors from Intel® and others, including Cyrix®, AMD® and Nexgen®; MIPS® from MIPS Technology®, NEC®, Siemens®, and others; and the PowerPC® from IBM and Motorola. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures also can be used as the processing unit  12 .  
      System bus  16  may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of conventional bus architectures such as PCI, VESA, AGP, Microchannel, ISA and EISA, to name a few. System memory  14  includes read only memory (ROM)  18  and random access memory (RAM)  20 . A basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines helping to transfer information between elements within the computer  10 , such as during start-up, is stored in ROM  18 .  
      Computer  10  further includes a hard disk drive  22 , a floppy drive  24 , e.g., to read from or write to a removable disk  26 , and CD-ROM drive  28 , e.g., for reading a CD-ROM disk  30  or to read from or write to other optical media. The hard disk drive  22 , floppy drive  24 , and CD-ROM drive  28  are connected to the system bus  16  by a hard disk drive interface  32 , a floppy drive interface  34 , and an optical drive interface  36 , respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, etc., for computer  10 . Although the description of computer-readable media provided above refers to a hard disk, a removable floppy and a CD, those skilled in the are may appreciate other types of media which are readable by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, and the like, being used in the exemplary operating environment.  
      A number of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM  20 , including an operating system  38 , one or more application programs  40 , other program modules  42 , and program data  44 . A user may enter commands and information into the computer  10  through a keyboard  46  and pointing device, such as mouse  48 . Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit  12  through a serial port interface  50  coupling to the system bus, but possibly connecting by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor  52  or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus  16  via an interface, such as a video adapter  54 . In addition to the monitor, computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers.  
      Computer  10  may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer  56 . Remote computer  56  may be a server, a router, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the computer  10 , although only a memory storage device  58  has been illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The logical connections depicted in  FIG. 1  include a local area network (LAN)  60  and a wide area network (WAN)  62 . Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.  
      When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer  10  is connected to the LAN  60  through a network interface or adapter  64 . When used in a WAN networking environment, computer  10  typically includes a modem  66  or other means for establishing communications (e.g., via the LAN  60  and a gateway or proxy server) over the wide area network  62 , such as the Internet. Modem  66 , which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus  16  via the serial port interface  50 . In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer  10 , or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device  58 .  
      Those skilled in the art may appreciate the network connections shown as exemplary, wherein other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.  FIG. 1  only provides one example of a computer useful for employing the teachings of the present invention. The invention may be used in computers other than general-purpose computers, as well as on general-purpose computers without conventional operating systems.  
      The present invention provides to different participants in real property conveyancing process a communications channeling and applications software interface for enabling the establishment of an electronic conveyancing marketplace. The tasks within the conveyancing marketplace are those associated with the mortgage value chain. The present invention streamlines these tasks, in part, by eliminating the need for the various participants to repeatedly state their name, their positions relative to the conveyancing of real property and their respective roles in assuring that the conveyancing takes place appropriately.  
      The channeling utility of the present invention, moreover, relates to the overall real property conveyancing marketplace, as opposed to focusing on simply an individual transaction. However, by virtue of the communications channel support services and functions that the present invention provides, individual transactions are significantly facilitated, validations and verifications occur more efficiently, and those participating in the conveyancing of real estate on either the government side, as it relates to deeds, and property ownership and transfer documents, or the service provider side, such as solicitors or attorneys, surveyors, lenders and borrowers, a significantly more efficacious platform results than has heretofore been available.  
      In a governmental system intending to put forth an electronic conveyancing marketplace, the present invention has significant application. This may be, for example, such as proposed of late by the land registry in the UK or in other governments where there is sufficient interconnectivity and sophistication in the computer systems that an electronic conveyancing environment may be established. Such an electronic conveyancing environment or marketplace is described in  FIG. 2 . In such an environment there may or may not be a secure governmental gateway into the marketplace. However, such is not necessary for the implementation of the present invention nor is it required that such an electronic conveyancing marketplace have such a gateway.  
       FIG. 2 , therefore, shows an electronic real property conveyancing marketplace  80  capable of employing the communications channel utility of the present invention. Conveyancing system  80  of  FIG. 2  may employ the teachings of the present invention and include a government zone  82  which includes central electronic conveyancing system  84  that associates with different applications and functions of government zone  82 . This may include, for example, valuation office functions  86 , companies house functions  88 , and inland revenue operations functions  90 . In addition, land registry data functions  92  interface central electronic conveyancing system  84 . Land registry office electronic discharges &amp; charges functions  94  also interface with central electronic conveyancing system  84 . Other interfaces with central electronic conveyancing system  84  may be EFT system  96 , transaction chain monitoring system  98  and system access security functions  100 . Land registry direct functions  102  and land registry online functions  104  also interface with land registry data resources  92 . Land registry on-line functions  104  also interface, for example, citizen functions  105 . Between the government portions  82  of conveyancing system  80 , a number of channels  106  interface and provide communication to government portion  82 . These channels may include, for example, channel  1   108  which interfaces a seller&#39;s bank  110 , channel  2   112  which interfaces a buyer&#39;s solicitor  114  and, perhaps, buyer&#39;s lender  116 . Channel  3   118  may interface buyer&#39;s bank  120  as well as seller&#39;s solicitor  122 . Moreover, channel  4   124  may interface seller&#39;s lender  126 .  
      Different offices  128 , which include the previously identified buyer&#39;s solicitor  114 , seller&#39;s bank  110 , buyer&#39;s bank  120 , buyer&#39;s lender  116 , seller&#39;s solicitor  122 , and seller&#39;s lender  126 , represent different offices or different functions that may interface with government portion  82  or conveyancing system  80 . Note that a direct connection may exist between land registry direct functions  102  and seller&#39;s lender  126 , as well as between land registry office discharges and charges functions  94  and seller&#39;s lender  126 . Seller&#39;s solicitor  122  may interface through national land information service channel  130  to national land information service hub  132 . Through land registry online function  104 , the citizen  105  may interface with government portion  82  of property conveyancing system  80 .  
       FIG. 3  presents a conceptual illustration of the communications channeling method and system of the present invention for conveyancing property. In  FIG. 3 , automated property conveyancing environment  136  includes, as was the case in  FIG. 2 , government zone  82  which includes previously described interfaces and components, as well as certifying authority for electronic signatures functions  138  which interfaces value/intermediary zone  140  provided by the present invention. A significant component of value/intermediary zone  140  is messaging hub  142 . Messaging hub  142  provides an interface with certifying authority for electronic signatures  138 , transaction chain monitoring faculty  98  and system access security module  100 . In addition, messaging hub  142  interfaces channel  1   108 , channel  2   112 , channel  3   118 , channel  4   124 , channel  5   144 , and channel  7   146 .  
      In electronic conveyancing environment  136 , in which the present invention operates, channels  106  are external to and not regulated by the governmental zone of the electronic conveyancing environment. The present invention provides the value/intermediary zone  140  by which the various participants within the private or access zone  162  interface through messaging hub  142  to government zone  82  and significantly increase and reduce cost associated with the conveyancing of real property.  
      Similar to the interfaces presented in  FIG. 2 , channels  106  provide interfaces to panel solicitors  148  via channel  1   106  as well as lender A  150 . Channel  2  may interface lender B  152 , while channel  3   118  may interface BPO service provider  154 . Channel  4   124  may interface surveyors in the environment, while channel  5   142  interfaces print agency  158 , and channel  7   146  interfaces solicitors  160 . Within access zone  162  the different service providers  164 , as previously described, may serve in an electronically augmented environment which may include a number of specific applications and services that, through channels  106 , interface with value/intermediary zone  140 . Moreover, individual associations, such as BPO service provider  154  associates with lender C  166 , as well as lender B association with lender B proprietary hub  168 , which also may interface print agency  171  and panel solicitors  148 . Furthermore, a proprietary hub such as lender B proprietary hub  168  may interface with surveyors  170 . Furthermore, solicitors  160  may interface national land information service or NLIS channel  172  to provide access to NLIS hub  174 . In  FIG. 3 , NLIS hub  174  provides information including whether or not the property is in a flood basin, any legal information relating the ownership or transfer of the property, as well as any other legal or environmental concerns that would relate to the existing property.  
      There are certain aspects of stakeholder buy-in, such as acceptance by the land registry office that the present invention addresses. The present invention makes easier the work of the land registry office employees, while presenting to them the opportunity of using a number of value-added services within a registry office. Externally, when stakeholders all participate fully in an electronic conveyancing vision, the transactions chains may include a combination of electronic conveyancing and conventional practices. Conveyancing professionals and the banking community can appreciate the transparency provided by the present invention. Mortgage lenders can appreciate that they have full title to properties on which they have provided mortgages. Successful implementation, therefore, may obviate the need for sellers packs since the new system will it itself speed up the house buying process. Moreover, citizens or individual purchasers will be able to monitor their transactions and, thereby, impose full price transparency in support of choice and competition in the real property conveyancing market.  
      By efficiently channelling communications in an electronic conveyancing marketplace  136 , the present invention supports the creation of a conveyancing digital community that functions effectively using messaging hub  142  outside the government offices. Messaging hub  142  also reduces the volume of transactions and data processing within the governmental zone  82 . This de-risks the actions and responsibilities of a land registry office within government zone  82 . Messaging hub  142  also alleviates issues of data integrity and data repair. This, in turn, reduces the level on maintenance that the land registry office must apply to the central electronic conveyancing system  84 , in the event that they choose to maintain electronic conveyancing within. The higher the volume of transactional flows that passes through the central electronic conveyancing system  84 , the greater the onus on data integrity and security. The inclusion of messaging hub  142  means that the land registry office only receives data that they and other interested government zone  82  participants require. Accordingly, for example, the land registry office databases will therefore hold only relevant historical data.  
      There may be different ways of implementing value/intermediary zone  140  to achieve the needed critical mass that drives a sustainable revenue model for vendors and application software suppliers. This applies to both the participants cooperating to establish value/intermediary zone  140  and messaging hub  142 , as well as those participants in governmental office functions of government zone  82 . When considering the role of channels  106 , therefore, the various business model options vary. Messaging hub  142 , thus, may sit outside of government zone  82  or, alternatively, multiple channels  106  may interface directly with governmental zone  82  to central electronic conveyancing system  84 . However, when such a direct connection exists, the government zone  82  must appropriately address the associated increased security and data integrity risks and full back-end integration concerns. However, value/intermediary zone  140  of the present invention can advantageously couple components to those participant in access zone  162  who are prepared to share the risk and rewards of operating the within electronic property conveyancing marketplace  136 .  
      Within electronic conveyancing marketplace  136 , management of the electronic funds transfer system is a viable and attractive option to third party suppliers, who may operate in association with a consortium of banks, for example. Messaging hub  142  provides a viable and attractive option that allows for the creation of additional value-added services. This could make value/intermediary zone  140  self-financing for long-term operation and maintenance. Electronic conveyancing marketplace  136  also creates potential opportunities for increases in the scope of value-added activities within or associated with value/intermediary zone  140 .  
      In electronic property conveyancing marketplace  136 , the complexity of having multiple suppliers in access zone  162  all contracting with a land registry office increases the risk in government zone  82 . However, value/intermediary zone  140  may mitigate this risk by providing a program management component. Messaging hub  142  may also alleviate a significant portion of the complexity of the land registry office&#39;s responsibility for channel licensing by itself bearing the responsibility for channel licensing into government zone  82 . Messaging hub  142  may provide the platform for maintaining data content, data format consistency, data update frequencies and general data quality. In addition to this, messaging hub  142  may support the management of change requirements from all participants in electronic conveyancing marketplace  136 . The land registry office within government zone  82  may audit and regulate messaging hub  142 , as well as the transactions passing through value/intermediary zone  140  from the channels  106 .  
      Based on the potential solutions forming electronic property conveyancing marketplace  136 , an environment may arise wherein multiple vendors, with differing architectures and business processes, values and commercial interests join together to deliver a target operational architecture for messaging hub  142  and value/intermediary zone layer  140 . With a clear understanding of business requirements that define all participating stakeholder groups, the present invention provides for both business requirements and technology inputs from a wide array of stakeholder groups. Such groups may include, for example, citizens&#39; bureaus, mortgage customer advocacy groups, commercial mortgage lenders, bar associations and law societies, vendors and solution providers, independent financial advisors, governmental offices and departments, the banking community, and surveyors.  
      Messaging hub  142  of value/intermediary zone  140  may require end-to-end telephony and systems support. Where technical issues arise that can be attributed for example to a channels  106  service provider, channels  106  service provider may provide sufficient support to users, perhaps on an ISP basis. Where the technical issues cannot be pinpointed to channels  106  connectivity, such as in areas of data quality, integrity, non-receipt of data or transaction failures, electronic conveyancing marketplace  136  may require a central support function.  
      Messaging hub  142  reduces the security risk/number of accesses to the central electronic conveyancing system  84 . Because, business continuity is a major consideration to all aspects of electronic conveyancing marketplace  136 , this reduction in security risks has clear advantages. Also relating to continuity is the requirement to provide adequate capacity through messaging hub  142  for the electronic government gateway. For example, there may be radical volume fluctuations due to seasonality between the summer and winter months. There may also be rapid changes in citizen preferences, such as increases in the volume of transactions that may occur on the last Friday of the month. This, too, messaging hub  142  can accommodate.  
      By supporting electronic conveyancing marketplace  136 , the present invention helps to address the ills of the current real property conveyancing system, without causing damage to either the industry or the economy. The present invention also may address more specific issues surrounding unfavourable practices such as gazzumping or conveyancing races that may occur within a real property conveyancing marketplace. Electronic conveyancing creates greater transparency in property transactions at a low or acceptable price to conveyancing professionals or the general public. Establishing an electronic conveyancing marketplace may occur with no cumulative price increases in the conveyancing marketplace. Electronic conveyancing, therefore, delivers tangible benefits and improvements to the industry and the citizen, without disrupting the property industry.  
       FIG. 4  depicts one view of how the present invention may create value in the processes supporting the conveyancing of property by interfacing with a digital community supporting in the processes and systems relating to property conveyancing. In particular, as referenced in  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 4  shows that messaging hub  142  provides both direct access features  176  as well as value added services  178 . For the direct portion of these services  180 , direct access messaging hub permit interfaces  182  to the land registry office as well as interfaces  182  between a lender and the land registry office and  184  between a solicitor and a the land registry office. Moreover, indirect functions  186  provide, through business-to-business or B2B interfaces  188  the ability to interface with interfaces such as lender to the land registry office interface  182  and solicitor to the land registry office interface  184  and a variety of value added services  178  within messaging hub  142 .  
      The present invention provides supply chain transparency between the different participants in the real property conveyancing market. The partitioning of messaging hub  142  allows lenders and solicitors, who may have a greater appetite for integration and more advanced technology maturity models, to submit the exact data requirements to central electronic conveyancing system  84 . With the present invention, channels can be owned and operated by commercial entities, and enrolment mechanisms can be made unambiguous to all parties. Messaging hub  142  assumes responsibility for the authentication, validation and translation of data prior to transmitting such data to the central electronic conveyancing system  84 . The central electronic conveyancing system  84  would, for the short-to-medium term be a static system, with all alterations (change requirements from channels or channel service providers) being made in messaging hub  142 . Messaging hub  142  could also be considered as a transactional utility for ensuring that smaller solicitors offices in rural areas are not disenfranchised for not being technologically advanced. Conveyancing professionals involved in a chain may send electronic messages to each other via the messaging hub without significant investment in infrastructure. Messaging hub  142 , therefore, significantly reduces conveyancing costs as well as transaction cycle times.  
      Business process outsourcing is common place in the conveyancing industry. With messaging hub  142 , organizations transacting business on behalf of lenders may, for example, interface with messaging hub  142  on behalf of lenders. This ensures that all interested parties may provide input into a transactional history for a particular conveyance or set of conveyances. Still, however, lenders may themselves retain an interface to the electronic funds transfer system, as needed.  
       FIG. 4 , therefore, addresses forming digital communities to support the electronic real property conveyance processes of the present invention. The present invention provides for the creation of a standard in the conveyancing of real property. As a result, within a governmental or geographical region the ability to establish an electronic conveyancing environment for conveyancing real property provides a platform for transacting business. Those not participating in the electronic conveyancing environment that the present invention facilitates will find themselves unable to perform the types of real property transactions that they desire to conduct while those participating in the electronic conveyancing environment will enjoy the benefits of the increased efficiencies, reduced transaction costs, and increased transaction volume that the electronic conveyancing environment makes possible.  
       FIG. 5  shows one configuration of a plurality of transaction channels  106  through which messaging hub  142  of the present invention enables the electronic conveyancing of property. Thus, within the contextual framework of  FIG. 4 ,  FIG. 5  shows the various channels  106  and interfaces, such as banking community gateway  97  with electronic funds transfer or EFT system  96 , as well as messaging hub  142  and system access security functions  100 . Through channels  106 , the various service providers  164  may have an on-line interconnected electronic system for managing electronically and automatically, as appropriate, the process of conveyancing real property.  
      The present invention also supports the commercial sustainability of electronic property conveyancing environment  136  by supporting the creation of a critical mass of participants in the conveyancing transaction chain. This is, in part, due to the transparency in the conveyancing transaction that the present invention promotes. By supporting the timely submission of data to central electronic conveyancing system  84  within government zone  82 , messaging hub  142  helps to reduce delay in the chain by facilitating document processing at the various the stages of the conveyancing transaction.  
       FIG. 6  illustrates conceptually some of the different functions and services  220  that may be useful in supporting messaging hub  142  within electronic property conveyancing marketplace  136 . In particular, functions and services that value/intermediary zone  140  may employ include different ways of interfacing different entities as blocks  222 ,  224  and  226  may indicate. These functions are supported by a number of underlying services such as standard services  228  and extended services  230 . Moreover, delivery and transport services  232  and consulting services  234  may support, respectively, standard services  228  and extend services  230 . Such services may further be supported by support services  236 .  
      Standard services  228  may include such services as any-to-any translation services, transaction history services, store &amp; forward services. Moreover, security, data transformation and web self-help services may be provided as standard services. Finally, these services may further include business rules validation services, disaster recovery services and basic web enrollment services. Extended services may be more complex in nature and particular to different types of business processes. This may be, for example, ERP adaptors, status messages, expedited processing services, as well as advance reporting, advanced security, and long-term archiving services.  
      Content hosting, application hosting, and EAI adaptors, may also be part of extended services that would interface with and establish the electronic conveyancing services market of the present invention. As described above, delivery and transport services  232  may provide a variety of different hardware and software functions such as VAN, Internet, OFTP, ISDN, XML, and TCP/IP hardware and software services. In addition, VPN, Fax, X.400, eMail, EDI, and X25 services may be part of the delivery and transport services  232  that would support and be part of value/intermediary zone  140 .  
      Furthermore, there are different consulting services  234  that may be appropriate for implementation with value/intermediary zone  140 . This would include assessments, web form development, and planning, as well as mapping integration, TP management and TP rollout. Finally, support services that would be part of and integrated with the electronic property conveyancing system of the present invention would include services such as, 24×7 help desk, billing reporting, service level management, message tracking and management, customer databases, caller tracking systems, global support, tools and methods, as well as message brokering. Within a consolidated integrated environment such as the one described in  FIG. 6 , all of the functioning and reports of information and validation users can be provided and support the concept of a fully electronic property conveyancing environment  136 .  
       FIG. 7  more completely details value/intermediary zone  140  that the present invention provides for channeling communications within electronic property conveyancing marketplace  136 . Within an associated web value/intermediary zone  140  appear consumer layer  238 , middleware messaging layer  240  and application layer  242 . Application layer  242  interfaces information-sharing or messaging layer  244  which itself interfaces the various services environment  220  as described in  FIG. 6 . Thus, consumer layer  238  may include a mortgage processing tracking facility  246 , an SPL processing tracker  248  and an HIL processing tracker  250 . These may interface individually or collectively with middleware messaging layer  240  to an application layer.  
      Within application layer  242  are variable tools and applications which may include survey tool  252 , conveyancing tool  254 , solicitors direct tool  256 , surveyors direct tool  258 , deeds tool  260 , and training tool  262 . Application layer may further interface with a number of information-sharing and other standard and extended services such as described in functions and services environment  220  of  FIG. 6 . These may include, specifically, event logging functions  264 , billing functions  266 , authorization and security functions  268 , traffic monitoring function  270 , subscriber management functions  272 , and service level management function  274 .  
       FIG. 7  shows that the present invention may provide a portal suite of products available on demand to lenders or other conveyancing professionals. The conceptual view of  FIG. 7  shows that value/intermediary zone  140  provides tracking at consumer layer  238 , middleware messaging at middleware layer  240 , engaging applications at applications layer  242 , and sharing information at information sharing layer  244 . In a web-based system, a user can either access a lender or a database online. Thus, when a user interacts with the lender, the data may be captured by the user interface at consumer layer  238 , which connects to respective lender at application layer  242 . The user interface at consumer layer  238  may also access a state agency for the purpose of identifying a property that the user desires to purchase, also at application layer  242 . The information relating the user&#39;s enquiry can then be reviewed and captured at information sharing layer  244 . If the user obtains information as to whether there is or is not a mortgage relating to a particular piece of property, that fact can be made part of the electronic conveyancing dataset relating to that potential purchaser and/or the particular piece of property at functions and services environment  220 .  
      Once the information that a buyer has an interest in a particular piece of property and the related mortgage information concerning the property is collected, this information may be transmitted to one or more lending organizations or agencies via information sharing layer  244 . From that information, the agency may respond to the enquirer via middleware messaging layer  240  for the purpose of generating or making the potential buyer aware of one or more financial instruments that may be useful for establishing a new mortgage or replacing an existing mortgage at applications layer  242 , in the event that the buyer or potential buyer decides to purchase the property.  
      At the appropriate point in the conveyancing transaction, the information relating to the potential financial instrument may be electronically conveyed to the solicitor or attorney that has the charge for creating the conveyancing documents such as title transfers and loan sales documents and the like for effecting the conveyancing transaction at applications layer  242 . A principle benefit of this approach will be that the potential buyer will provide the information into the system only once at consumer layer  238 , as opposed to the numerous times that the existing conveyancing system requires.  
       FIG. 7  shows that through consumer access layer  238  a consumer receives a window into the loan process for an individual loan requirement. The present invention, through middleware layer  240  facilitates the management of the various applications in application layer  242  for interfacing consumer layer  238 . The present invention, through middleware layer  240 , permits the consumer at consumer layer  238 , to not only know where the individual transaction may be in the various application layers  242 , but also to track its progress as the conveyancing transaction moves within conveyancing environment  136 .  
       FIGS. 8, 9  and  10  depict the various links that the present invention establishes within the value/intermediary zone  140  for linking lenders, employers and surveyors within the automated electronic property conveyancing environment. Referring to  FIG. 8 , conceptual diagram  280  shows the various interfaces that value/intermediary zone  140  makes possible through the various channels  106  (see  FIG. 3 ) for lenders  282 , which may be such as lender A  150  or lender B  152  of  FIG. 3  within access zone  162 . Lenders  282  interface lenders link  284  for connecting with other lenders  286 , in order that other lenders  286  can process applications for second charge questionnaires or previous lenders references. Currently these requests are sent on paper and chased manually by telephone. The present invention would reduce processing cycle time and back office costs of all lenders  282 .  
      Value/intermediary zone  140  provides for secured members an area for secondary charge questionnaires to provide a means for participating lenders  282  to access a specific screen for requesting a lender to enter relevant details and such as described above and then submit that lender via a gateway which would be the gateway provided by value/intermediary zone  140 . Then, in lenders ling  284  each submission from a lender&#39;s area may be accompanied by a unique electronic signature which would confirm the authenticity of the submission. This appears in region  284 .  
       FIG. 9  presents in diagram  290  the functional and structural interfaces for an employing organization participating in the electronic conveyancing method and system of the present invention. Employers link  292  acknowledges that employers currently spend a vast amount of time processing references on behalf of their employees. The volume of reference requests received means that delays to the mortgage cycle are caused by backlogs and human resource professionals being on vacation. Depending on the level of integration chosen by the employer, the provider of electronic conveyancing marketplace  136  could provide either direct access to the portal thereby enabling employee validation direct into the lenders back office systems, or the request could be sent via the messaging hub  142 . Messaging hub  142  would, then, integrate with the employers HR ERP systems to provide automatic validation of employee data.  
      In  FIG. 9 , therefore, conceptual diagram  290  similarly shows the construct by which employers may link with lenders  282  through value/intermediary zone  140  to constitute forming part of region  292  to various employers  294  for providing authentication of data relative to a particular individual or set of individuals.  
       FIG. 10  depicts the functional and structural interfaces for a surveying organization which participates in the electronic conveyancing method and system of the present invention. Surveyor link  302  represents the act of processing surveys, which is the most expensive part of the mortgage process. For the aspect of the conveyancing marketplace, the present invention may provide an “underwriter alert” utility for effectively scanning the valuation/survey for key words in certain sections. These key words (e.g., subsidence, trees, etc.) would alert the system to the requirement of manual intervention. Where these words are not located, the valuation will be considered to be clean, the lenders back office system will be advised as such and an image copy of the survey will be sent to the lender. Lenders will be able to configure their module of Underwriter alert to whatever specification they require (as is required by their risk and securitization policies).  
      Conceptual diagram  300  of  FIG. 10 , therefore, shows surveyors link  302  that may exist when value/intermediary zone  140  interfaces with various surveyors such as surveyors  306 , which may include, for example, surveyors operating on behalf of Abbey PLC, Halifax Bank of Scotland, and others. Through value/intermediary zone  140 , surveyors&#39; link  302  may channel a particular request or search for information as block  304  indicates within surveyors link  302  to interface with gateway or messaging hub  142  and DMPS underwriter alert  310 . This interface would associate with various CS managed client back office systems such as region  312  indicates.  
      Accordingly, the embodiments of the invention herein described, it should to be understood, are merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. For example, although the messaging hub  142  and value/intermediary zone  140  of present embodiment employ one or more versions of those systems made by EDS, such as that company&#39;s EBX or Electronic Business Exchange System, others may also employ one or more embodiment of the present invention. In addition, the approach used for the channeling utility of the present invention could be extended to other electronic commerce systems and tools. Reference herein to details of the illustrated embodiments, therefore, is not intended to limit the scope of the claims, which themselves recite those features regarded as essential to the invention.