Ahhh, the joys of the new rule.  These are crazy times.

HUD has once again added more content to its RESPA Rule list, with new items bolded. View the updated January 28th version of HUD's RESPA Rule FAQs here.

We're hearing from many loan originators that they do not love the new GFE form. We've seen blogs stating that the new form is deficient by not including some of the information that was included on the old form, such as estimated cash needed at closing or annual taxes and insurance amounts. We've also heard from many originators that they will give borrowers (either at pre-qual or at application) some sort of "cost worksheet" that shows a breakdown of costs.  In fact, many have said that this form, though renamed, will look very familiar - as it is for all intents and purposes to the old GFE form. I thought you might be interested in this article from the Washington Post discussing the intention of reform and how some originators are using these worksheets.
 

Did you see this article in the WSJ about RESPA Reform?  I thought it was interesting that it echos what we've been saying for months: the whole point of this reform is intended to keep negative surprises from occuring at the closing table.  I also was glad to see our additional costs associated with compliance acknowledged, along with a nod to the notion that those costs will likley be passed along to consumers.  I didn't agree with all of their descriptions - especially the tolerance issues - but I thought it was an overall good piece. 

Last Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a long awaited statement regarding the impact of RESPA. View the VA RESPA Impact Statement here!

To close out 2009, HUD released a few additional FAQs to its RESPA Rule list. New items are once again bolded for easy viewing. Click here to view the latest RESPA Rule FAQ version from December 30th!

The Texas Department of Insurance has issued its long awaited RESPA Reform guidelines (linked here).  For those of you who don't live or do work in Texas, just know there are 49 other states ... and then there's Texas!

HUD has released an updated version of its FAQs, with new items bolded. Here's the link to their most recent version!

Here's a link to the latest batch.  Updated items are bolded.  Did I mention it's crunch time?

With HUD's announcement on Friday, lenders and other settlement providers are asking "What does it all mean?”  I think it means we have to remain diligent and committed to making this extraordinary change.  The effective dates remain in place; there's no waiver whatsoever for the implementation date.  I think what HUD is saying is simply, if you're working hard to become RESPA Ready and you've done your due diligence, we will meet you halfway and allow some additional time for you to get operational bugs worked out.