New Deed System Cuts Records Wait

John Disney/Daily Report

It's taken a long time for Fulton County to get it where we want it to be,"

say Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court
Juanita Hicks.

If Fulton County Superior Court Clerk Juanita Hicks has her way, a title search won't mean an automatic trip downtown to pore over ledgers in the deed room.

Thanks to the new $7.6 million "virtual" deed room in the Superior Court Building.  Hicks says her office has begun to streamline access to real estate records.

"It's taken a long time for Fulton County to get it where we want it to be, " she told a crowd of about 100 during an unveiling ceremony last week. "But this project shows you where we are going and what can be done"

It marked a change in the way Hicks' office handles the millions of real estate records it tracks and maintains every year.  In addition to photocopying them into a digital archive.

The project was funded by $7 million from Fulton County and about $600, 000 from the state.  Because of that money, those who need to conduct searches of real estate records may access the at one of 60 new terminals in the deed room Hicks says.

The office still has some work to do expand the system. The first item on her agenda, Hicks says is to expand the system to the courthouse's north and south annexes.

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