Real Estate Settlement Resources

for people who do real estate closings

Real Estate Closing Procedure

Streamlining your closing practice

J. Mark Murphy's article "Streamlining Your Closing Practice" was written for his Continuing Legal Education seminar of that name. This article sets out in some depth how to organize a law firm's real estate settlement practice. It provides a clear, step by step survey of the closing process, with a wealth of practical suggestions. It might serve double duty as an excellent job orientation for the closing secretary or paralegal assistant. Presented here by permission of the author.

Note: The above article and documents can be read using the free Acrobat® .PDF reader.

Closing checklist

ICLE provides a fairly comprehensive Closing Checklist for the typical residential real estate settlement transaction.

1099-S reporting and exceptions

1997 Taxpayer Relief Act reduces 1099S reporting

Effective August 5, 1997, real estate settlement agents are generally not required to file form 1099-S to report gross proceeds on home sales of $250,000 or less ($500,000 for qualified joint filers).

Rules for exception from 1099-S reporting

IRS Revenue Procedure 2007-12 specifies the acceptable format for certifying the sale or exchange of a principal residence is excepted from the 1099-S reporting requirement. Rev. Proc. 2007-12 supersedes Rev. Proc. 98-20 and is effective for sales or exchanges of a principal residence occurring after January 22, 2007.

Like Kind Exchanges

Generally, if you exchange business or investment property solely for business or investment property of a like-kind, no gain or loss is recognized under Internal Revenue Code Section 1031. This is a highly technical and specialized subject. The general practitioner may be well advised to associate a specialist.

Haven Exchange Inc. claims expertise in this area, and provides a wealth of information at their website, www.havenexchange.com.

RESPA, Truth in Lending, and related regulations

Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)

HUD provides the full text of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, also known as RESPA, (12 U.S.C. 2602) and of Regulation X online for your convenience. The U.S. House of Representatives Office of Revision Counsel also provides the Act online.

For your convenience, we refer you to the instructions for filling out the HUD-1 Form Settlement Statement, found in Appendix A to Regulation X, and to the following legislative history.

21 Jan 98 HUD issues a final rule amending RESPA

The rule deals with four issues: (1) Annual vs. Installment Escrow Disbursements, (2) Escrow "Payment Shock," (3) HUD-1 and HUD-1A Single Item Analysis With Aggregate Adjustment Problem, and (4) Lead-Based Paint Disclosures.

Full text of the rule is available in the Federal Register, Vol. 63 p. 3213 available at HUD's RESPA site.

HUD proposes new disclosure rule

HUD's proposed RESPA rule published July 29, 2002, would significantly affect the way lenders and mortgage brokers disclose mortgage costs.

For an enlightening discussion of these proposed rules, see Sheldon E. Hochberg's article "HUD'S RESPA Regulations: the Proposals, the Comments, the Future" which appeared in the American Land Title Association's TITLE NEWS and can be accessed in the archives of the Real Property Lawyers Discussion Group (DIRT).

On March 11, 2003, HUD issued a press release in which it asserted that it is in the final phase of what it describes as the most sweeping reform of RESPA since the law was enacted in 1974.

Regulation Z and the Truth in Lending Act

The Truth in Lending Act can be found at the online law library of Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute.

Regulation Z can be accessed online at the United States Government Printing Office in either text or the free Acrobat (pdf) format.

It can also be found here in the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR).

Senate Hearings on RESPA and Truth In Lending

On July 9, 1997, the U.S. Senate held hearings on problems surrounding the mortgage origination process. The hearings brought forth a variety of viewpoints on mortgage brokering, yield spread premiums, truth in lending and RESPA. Lenders, realtors, title insurers, and consumer advocates were all represented in the hearings. You can read transcripts of what they had to say here:
RESPA / TILA hearings

Reference

Real Property Law

State real property laws can be accessed at Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute's Topical Index of State Statutes on the Internet.

Surveyor's Resources

The Land Surveyors Reference Page provides reference materials that are useful in the practice of Land Surveying. LSRP also promotes communication within the surveying community globally.

Discussion

Real Property Lawyers Discussion Group (DIRT)

Hosted by Patrick Randolph, a professor at University of Missouri Law School. This is the popular DIRT law mailing list. For details and to subscribe, visit the Dirt web page.