TIL - GFE - APR ... it's so much gibberish

If you're a real estate professional and you're just plain frustrated that the government decided to step in and make our industry even more complicated this year for your buyers, you are not alone. There have been a myriad of changes to the lending laws, disclosure requirements, and our ability to get these loans approved and closed.

First, barring a perfect file and property, loan closings in 30 days are basically a goner. The government stepped in and made appraisals harder and added time, and added more time to get disclosures out the customer and get the customer to the closing table. Look for 45 days a whole lot more this year.

I bumped into this good description of what an APR is, and will give kudos where they are due to Tom Marquis since I'm pointing my readers there ... hey come back after you read his article. The new Good Faith Estimate law is in full effect, and basically your clients are going to be shocked and scared, but nothing in these new documents helps your client or projects them. More do gooding from HUD and the Federal Government that will accomplish nothing. I'll do a full post on the GFE requirements this week. But to put it bluntly, we're all being treated like we're trying to hurt the customer ... more later.