The new TILA Respa Integrated Disclosure (“TRID”) regulations set forth by the CFPB has spawned many plays on the acronym.
You know, of course, that TRID spelt backwards is “DIRT” and that is possibly the most common one bantered around. The CFPB, of course, is not amused.
They call it the “Know Before You Owe” (KBYO, anyone??) program, to give it some dignity. The newest one that the escrow industry has come up with is: “The Reason I Drink”. Love it!
Already the stories have come out of Loan Officers and Lenders asking for the craziest things.
- “I don’t care, I still want a HUD-1.” (Okaaaaay….. let me check the regs….)
- “I don’t know how to read your estimate closing statement. How can I generate a Loan Estimate if you won’t help me put the exact numbers on the exact line item?” (This one does not even deserve a response)
- “I want the Closing Disclosure recorded at closing.” (What???!!!!)
- “Oh, I just put in a general escrow fee amount for you, we’ll adjust it later.” (Penalties! Penalties!)
After three years of work and the last 9 months of intensive scrutiny and education, I have to wonder, “Where have you been?” Even on Mars Matt Damon had a way of communicating with Earth!
Here is an article put out by Housing Wire titled: “Here’s how TRID is reshaping Title Companies” (and also escrow companies). Yes I am going to have another Drink.
PSST, WANNA BUY?
Now this is a story that I followed with a bit of curiosity. A luxury home in Alabama that was listed for $14 mil last year and could never get off the market was going on the auction block with a starting bid of $1.00 on October 31.
The original article drew my interest and so I followed it to see what the deal would end up at. The information on the house was impressive but, why wouldn’t it sell?
Maybe Alabamans just aren’t used to Monster Mansions like certain areas of California? Well, the auction was conducted and it sold for a paltry $4 million. OMG! What a deal for the lucky new owner!
I could not believe it. Maybe it was purchased by some Californian.
And right along the same type of topic you have the story of a Georgia real estate investor who was found guilty of rigging up bids at foreclosure auctions.
Well, I am sure that he would have enjoyed rigging this one, right in his back yard, so to speak. It is a good thing these bad people got caught first or that property would have sold for $15 mil.
GOING “UP”!
Remember that piece that I did back in the May 2015 issue regarding this little house in the middle of a commercial complex in which the owner refused to sell? I called it “The Spite House”.
Today we find that the story that I thought was “little” apparently caught the eye of Hollywood and they are now going to do a movie on this. So, we are moving “UP”! Such a nice story!
DRUG HOUSE ISSUES:
For all of you who are landlords, we know you try your best to be careful who you take on as the new tenant.
One of the things you have to watch for is that you are not renting to drug dealers or drug users. I don’t know if there is any way to tell, after all, they are not going to put down on the “occupation” line – drug dealer, and they probably won’t come in to meet you hazed up in a fog of drugs, but this could be a problem in the future.
Take this story:
New homeowners move in and find themselves ill and unable to occupy the property because the previous occupants manufactured meth in there. So here are the questions that follow (as every real estate agent knows).
As a Seller or a Landlord, are you liable for disclosure for something you did not know? Are you responsible for the ills that befall the future occupants? Do we think it really can’t happen if the property is in a “nice, middle income” area? What happens to your property? Can remediation be done or is it a total loss?
Just some food for serious thought.
AND IF YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD PROBLEMS…
Just find yourself grateful that you don’t live in Zimbabwe (that’s a nation in southern Africa that is stuck between Mozambique and Botswana) or even work and earn Zimbabwean dollars.
Hyperinflation has made the currency worth less than zero and a 100 trillion dollar note won’t even buy you a cup of coffee, Starbucks or not.
Okay, this article is dated June, 2015, but it is doubtful that things have changed much in the last 4 months.
This is from a country whose “finance ministry reported that they only had $217 in their treasury and were apply for donations to finance elections… that was estimated to cost $107 mil.” (Wikipedia).
You are probably wondering, “Where does Juliana get these articles from??!!” and my answer would be, “I have nothing to do but surf the ‘Net”. Right.
FIGHTING CYBERCRIME:
One last thing and I am done for the month: Cyber security, cyber crime are big topics at this time.
On October 27th the Senate passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which is supposed to help the government and companies share information regarding Cyber hacking crimes.
This after Target, Anthem Blue Cross, Sony, and the government itself became hacker paradise.
But is this a good thing?
If the companies share the info does that mean that my info was not only taken by hackers, but also given to Dept of Homeland Security under this new sharing act??? What will happen to our privacy rights? Be aware, not everything is as clear cut as we wish.
Here is one view on Wired.com.
And for my public announcement for the month.
You can do your share of sharing if you file your complaints of cybercrimes at this location – http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx set up with the FBI.
This includes all types of fraud – check fraud, identity them, phishing, investment fraud, and others. Check out this site and keep it for future reference.
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Have I used this quote before?
“As you climb the ladder of success, check occasionally
to make sure it is leaning against the right wall̴ Author Unknown ̴
I would hate to have done all that strenuous climbing to find out that it was the wrong wall. Ouch.
Give Thanks!
