Gabe's Blog

Happy New Year!

As we kick-off the new year, we are also kicking off yet another set of changes to our lending environment.

Most of these changes went into affect on January 1, 2010, and I wanted to share them with you.

The first is known as Regulation X. It affects the process in which disclosures are handled for loans on both home purchases and refinances. This change is affecting banks, brokers and mortgage bankers, such as myself at RPM Mortgage, all the same. As part of Regulation X, we have an updated GFE (Good Faith Estimate) 2010. The importance of the GFE and the accuracy of it, have never been so crucial. Any "change", such as the interest rate, closing costs, contract extensions, final sales price, credits, etc... or anything for that matter that may affect the APR of the loan could impact our ability to close the loan on time.

With changes like these to our regulations, it has never been more important than now to partner with reputable knowledge and trust worthy professions in the lending, escrow and title profession. This is not a market for rookies! You have the choice of who you work with. Make sure your team includes the best that you can hire. When working with your real estate partner, it is crucial to set realistic timeframes. This may seem intuitive but the turnaround times of 2009 are no longer achievable. Any changes to a transaction will set into effect a need to reissue a new set of disclosure documents. Rush situations will no longer be in the control of the lender to accomadate but will be regulated by Regulation X.

The new laws which have gone into effect are said to be the biggest change to the mortgage lending industry in over 20 years. RPM Mortgage has hit the ground running with significant training and education to keep us at the front of the pack.

My promise to you is to keep you informed of these changes and the impacts on you. I guarantee that we will do everything in our power to educate you and your clients and to insure as smooth of a lending process as possible.

We are committed to our clients and know that 2010 will be an overall very good year for Real Estate in the Bay Area. If you have any specific questions, please let me know how me and my team can help you.

Thanks,

Gabe