Who said anything about federal employees? Public employees suck, and federal employees suck the most!
Recording of title NEEDS to be local.
Why?
Once there's an accurate description of a property, who owns it is just a database problem. That's what MERS was after, but they took too many shortcuts. Nonetheless, something like MERS is ultimately the right solution. (Oh, and BTW, MERS is not federal, state, nor local. It's a private entity).
You should not be in the real estate market. The bankers are going to see a sucker coming a mile away when you walk in the door.