Guilford County Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen has been chosen by the Greensboro Regional REALTORS Association as the winner of the association’s 2018 Public Service Award. The honor was announced at a ceremony on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at the association’s headquarters at 23 Oak Branch Drive in Greensboro.
Thigpen said afterward that this award was especially appreciated because it came from people who work closely with the deeds office. The members of the association and their attorneys frequently use the services of the Register of Deeds office. Thigpen said that, to him, this award was an indication that his staff was being effective when dealing with the real estate community and the attorneys who serve the agents.
“In general, I think it says we’re doing a good job working with them,” Thigpen said. “We work with their attorneys a lot and I think they think we go above and beyond what’s required – and we do.”
Thigpen said his staff works hard to resolve issues quickly and he added that both real estate agents and attorneys are happy to see more records going online. That’s something Thigpen has made a priority since first being elected Register of Deeds in 2004.
“We’ve gotten up to about 70 percent of our records online and I think people are happy about that,” Thigpen said.
The award, which last year went to State Rep. Jon Hardister, is meant to “honor a public servant who has contributed consistent and outstanding service” to the local real estate industry. It goes to the recipient that the association believes “has provided his/her time, talents and enthusiasm to benefit the real estate industry and has had an enduring effect not only on our association, but also upon the Guilford County community-at-large.”
At the awards ceremony on Monday, the presenter read from a Rhino Times article earlier this year that stated Thigpen “has taken the most boring job in the world and made it into something interesting and innovative.”
When Thigpen accepted the award, he shared a story with the group about a customer who had collapsed of a suspected heart attack in the deeds office one day earlier. Thigpen praised the way his staff had jumped in and worked together to help save the man’s life.
Thigpen told the group that that was his idea of public service: People coming together with their gifts and skills in a united effort toward a worthy common goal.
