Photo Credit: fitsnews.com

On 30 July, changes to the Truth In Lending Act regulations came into effect.   These changes can significantly alter the amount of time it takes to finance a home purchase.

This video – from ThinkBigWorkSmall.com, explains the parts of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) that established new requirements for lenders and mortgage brokers for Good Faith Estimates (GFE) and Truth In Lending (TIL)disclosures.  The video is geared to mortgage brokers and Realtors, so a lot of the content will be gobbledegook to most of you – but the salient points come through clearly.

HERA is Not Your Hero In RE

In Georgia, these changes may not have the extensive effect the video implies – mainly the additional 14 days it may now take to get a mortgage – because our contracts already have built-in due diligence periods and financing contingencies that should accommodate these changes with little impact.

The regulations can affect YOUR closing – whether as a Buyer or a Seller – if the Buyer decides to change loan products or the rates change and the Buyer wants a lower rate.  The margin of error is small – if there’s a difference of more than .8% in the GFE/TIL from the initial application and the FINAL costs to the Buyer – then the three day disclosure period comes in to effect, which WILL mean you cannot close until three days after the Buyer physically gets the new GFE/TIL.

Anyway – hope this is of use to some of you!  Let me know if you need any more info – and as always – I relish your comments!