Nov. 11, 2015


Texas Disclosure (Form T-64) Questions and Answers

Texas Land Title Association | Nov. 4, 2015
Thanks to TDI staff and TLTA volunteer Janet Minke, TLTA has compiled a list of questions and answers that we and others in the field have been getting about the Texas Disclosure (Form T-64). We have placed this information into one handy Q&A for your convenience.
 
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Click here to view Procedural Rule P-73 regarding this form.

TREC Approves New Forms Addressing TRID 

Texas Real Estate Commission | Nov. 2, 2015
As previously reported in Dateline Austin, the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) met on Monday, November 2nd to discuss and approve changes to existing TREC forms as well as adopt new forms. Starting on page 75 of the meeting materials, you can see the agenda item, proposed form changes and all of the comments submitted to TREC (including TLTA's letter). These forms were all adopted with voluntary use until January 1st, 2016, when use will become mandatory. The adopted changes reflect the feedback of TLTA and other stakeholders to earlier proposal drafts.
 
Click here to read TLTA's full summary of the changes.
Click here to read all the changes to the TREC forms.

Want to Brand Our TRID 101 Flyer With Your Company Logo? Now You Can!

Texas Land Title Institute | Nov. 11, 2015
Recently, TLTA provided you with a helpful TRID 101 flyer designed for you to provide it to realtors, lenders and your customers as an educational tool to explain all the new TRID changes. This has been a very popular resource, and we've had requests to brand it with your company name. So you are now able to customize it for your company's use if you would like.
 
We do ask that you follow specific guidelines about placement of your company name: please only add your logo underneath the "Provided courtesy of" line, and do not alter the content on the rest of the page. We've provided a sample here as an example.
 
If you have any questions at all about the use of this tool or how you can brand it, please contact Sarah Pratt, Communications Manager, at [email protected].
 
We want to once again thank the authors of this great tool: Marvin Stone, CFPB Program Manager at Stewart Title, and Dawn Lewallen, Senior Underwriter, Compliance Counsel at Stewart Title. We are grateful for their expertise and for their willingness to share it with us. Thank you, Marvin and Dawn!
 
Click here to download the customizable TRID 101.

Judge Dismisses Austin's Tax Lawsuit Against the State

Texas Tribune | Oct. 29, 2015
A Travis County district judge dismissed a lawsuit Friday by the city of Austin that challenged the state's property tax system.
 
At a hearing Friday, District Judge Tim Sulak agreed with challenges to the suit brought by some property owners, including one that the city lacked standing to challenge the constitutionality of the state's property tax system.
 
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Speaker Straus Releases Texas House of Representatives Interim Charges, 84th Legislature

Texas House of Representatives | Nov. 4, 2015
Fourteen months ahead of the next legislative session, House Speaker Joe Straus issued more than 150 interim charges last week, directing committees to study a diverse list of topics focusing on jobs, education and government transparency. (There were 194 interim charges for the 83rd legislative session.) Several of these charges will address issues relating to the title insurance industry, real property rights, access to records, property taxes, cyber security and access to public information.
 
TLTA has compiled a list of the key charges that will be of most interest to our industry.  Click here to read that list.
 
We are continuing to evaluate these charges in our attempts to spot issues that may impact our industry. TLTA will also be present at many of these hearings and closely monitoring all of these discussions.
 
Download the charges in their entirety here.
Read a summary of the charges in the Texas House's press release here.

Home-Loan Borrowers Bypass the Banks

Wall Street Journal | Nov. 4, 2015
Look out, banks. Home buyers are increasingly turning to independent mortgage companies for their loans.

In 2014, nondepository independent mortgage companies originated 47% of completed home-purchase loans and 42% of refinance loans, according to data from the Federal Reserve. That’s up from 43% and 31%, respectively, in 2013 and the largest share of the mortgage market held by non-banks since 1995.
 
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Lenders Are Rethinking Their Priorities in a Post-TRID World

National Mortgage News | Nov. 4, 2015
After years of plowing resources into compliance projects, mortgage lenders surveyed by National Mortgage News are foregrounding core business initiatives in their plans for the coming year. High on to-do lists are projects aimed at improving the customer experience and seizing new business opportunities.

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Have you registered for our wildly popular "TRID: Tales from the Trenches" webinar yet? If you're going to register or are already registered, send in your TRID questions so our team of experts can answer them! Email Kaylee Willems at [email protected] by noon on Friday, November 13th, and watch the November 20th webinar for the answers.
 
And don't forget to check out our other great webinars:

  • Funds, Fraud & Forgery: Fearsome Facts From the Front (Wednesday, Nov. 18th)
  • Money Pit 2015 (Friday, Dec. 11th)
  • Insured Closing Letters A-Z (Thursday, Dec. 17th)
  • Closing Table Hot Topics: Tales from the Dark Side (Tuesday, Jan. 12th)
  • Avoiding TDI Audit Violations – Compliance After October 3rd (Wednesday, Jan. 13th)

Bookmark our Webinars calendar – we're adding more great topics all the time!