HUD Proposes RESPA Reform

by Jay Thompson on March 14, 2008

HUD = US Department of Housing and Urban Development

RESPA = Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act

The purpose of RESPA is (according to HUD):

The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) is a consumer protection statute, first passed in 1974. The purposes of RESPA are

to help consumers become better shoppers for settlement services and

to eliminate kickbacks and referral fees that unnecessarily increase the costs of certain settlement services.

All good things. RESPA is what drives things like Good Faith Estimates from lenders, and the standardized HUD-1 closing settlement sheet. (available for download on our site.)

Today HUD proposed reforms to RESPA.

HUD claims that simplifying and standardizing home buying disclosure forms could save the average buyer almost $700 at closing — chiefly by making it easier to “comparison shop” lenders and settlement service providers (typically title companies in Arizona).

If you really want the details of the proposal, including sample forms, you can download the 96 page PDF file here.

I do find it somewhat ironic that HUD releases a 96 page, three text column document that discusses “simplification”. But that’s the government for you.

.
[tags]HUD, RESPA reform, 96 pages to explain simplification[/tags]

Like, Tweet, share...

Other things you can do...

The Phoenix Real Estate Guy runs on AgentPress

AgentPress is a specialized WordPress theme for real estate agents and brokers, powered by the industry standard Genesis Framework. With AgentPress on your team, you're empowered to get the most out of WordPress for online marketing.

Genesis provides the secure and search-engine-optimized foundation that powers any successful website. And AgentPress provides the specific listing and lead-generation functionality real estate pros need to succeed.

Ken Smith

"I do find it somewhat ironic that HUD releases a 96 page, three text column document that discusses “simplification”. But that’s the government for you."

No question.

If it takes 96 pages to explain this then you know it's full of half truths.

share flag

spam
offensive
disagree
off topic

Real Estate In Cocoa

Many homebuyers will take the discount and do the work.

"I do find it somewhat ironic that HUD releases a 96 page, three text column document that discusses u00e2u0080u009csimplificationu00e2u0080u009d. But thatu00e2u0080u0099s the government for you."

Tucson Michael

The loan business is very complex new forms will help consumers but all things considered I bet less then 5-10% of the realtors in Tucson could effectively even explain a HUD and they are supposed to understand them. More or less a consumer, I guess thats only good news for those of us agents who actually know what we are doing.