FHFA Reviews Transfer Fees
To end the practice of developers charging a transfer fee each time a property changes hands, FHFA issued a proposed guidance [No.2010-N-11] on August 12, 2010, that would restrict FNMA, FHLMC and the FHLB’s from investing in properties with transfer fee covenants; this includes mortgages on such properties.
Here Comes the Big Dog
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Big Dog of oversight for the Real Estate Industries including mortgage bankers, appraisers, real estate agents and title companies, will soon be put into practice. Under the new law, Tim Geithner will set a “transfer date” when key legal and regulatory authorities shift from such agencies as the FTC, HUD and the Fed to the new consumer protection bureau. In effect, that date sets the beginning of the bureau oversight (with initial funding projected at $500 million a year,) a staff and full set of teeth. By law it must be no later than Jan. 21, 2011. The new agency will assume control of a RESPA, the GFE, HUD-1 and appraisal management among other things. All daunting tasks.With the complications between state laws, federal laws and multiple multiple state and local bureaus, let’s hope this aligns the process, making it more transparent and less complicated. Well we can hope anyway… I would settle for a Dog that can simply define where his yard ends and our yard starts…
Read More at Lexology.
Read more from Ken Harney at the Chicago Daily Herald.
Fannie Returns to Good Old Fashioned Quality Review
National Mortgage News Reports that FNMA has launched a new directive “that has the look and feel of a bygone era. They want lenders to know who they are doing business with, know where borrowers intend to live and have a clear picture of the borrower’s ability to repay the obligation. Sounds like somebody’s been traveling back in time, doesn’t it?” Read more at National Mortgage News
Home Closing 101: An Educational Initiative of the American Land Title Association
