March 21, 2024
In This Issue:
- Action Alert: We Need Texas Title Agents to Submit Personal Comments to FinCEN on Their Proposed New Reporting Requirements for Title Agents
- UPDATE: White House Pilot Project to Waive Requirement for Lenders' Title Insurance on Certain Refinances
- Gov. Abbott Wants the Texas Legislature to Rein In Investors Behind Large-Scale Home Purchases
- What a $418 Million Settlement on Home-Sale Commissions May Mean for Housing Market
Action Alert: We Need Texas Title Agents to Submit Personal Comments to FinCEN on Their Proposed New Reporting Requirements for Title Agents
TLTA | March 21, 2024
On Feb. 7 FinCEN issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on new reporting and compliance requirements that would have a significant impact on you and your business when handling cash transactions.
While TLTA will be submitting comments and communicating with our Congressional delegation about our opposition to these new regulatory requirements, FinCEN needs to hear directly from you. To that end, TLTA's Advocacy Team is producing instructions on how you can submit comments and share your perspective on this troubling and onerous proposal that will negatively affect your customers and your business.
Please watch your inbox for instructions and be prepared to submit your comments by the April 16 due date. If you have questions, please send them to
Aaron Day or call Aaron at 512.810.8800, thank you.
TLTA has set up a page on our site dedicated to this issue, where you can review
TLTA's initial analysis of FinCEN's proposal and more.
UPDATE: White House Pilot Project to Waive Requirement for Lenders' Title Insurance on Certain Refinances
TLTA | March 21, 2024
Here's the latest news on the pilot project to waive requirement for lenders' title insurance on certain refinances that President Biden announced during his State of the Union speech earlier this month:
President Biden’s new housing fight »
Lawmakers challenge FHFA’s title insurance waiver plan »
TLTA Actively Engaged in Opposing This Policy Shift and Will Keep You Updated
"We maintain our opposition to this pilot program and any other program that undermines the importance of title insurance in all real estate and mortgage transactions," said Rodney Anderson, President of Texas Land Title Association. "We will be actively engaged in the effort to educate lawmakers and regulatory officials about the value of title insurance, the misinformation surrounding the touted benefits of this pilot project, and our strong opposition to this latest policy change which will negatively affect consumers and homebuyers, adding risk to their transactions without the purported cost savings."
If you have questions, please send them to Aaron Day or call Aaron at 512.810.8800, thank you.;
Information from White House on Pilot Project
Read more in White House Fact Sheet »
Statement from FHFA Director Thompson
Read more of Director Thompson's statement »
Statement from ALTA
Read more of ALTA's statement »
Gov. Abbott Wants the Texas Legislature to Rein In Investors Behind Large-Scale Home Purchases
Texas Tribune | March 15, 2024
Gov. Greg Abbott called on state lawmakers Friday to try to limit Wall Street’s presence in the Texas housing market.
As the nation’s housing affordability crisis continues unabated, lawmakers and housing advocates have increasingly concentrated scrutiny on so-called institutional homebuyers, meaning investors big and small as well as corporations who buy single-family homes to rent them out. They accuse corporations and hedge funds of playing an outsized role in the homebuying market and outbidding would-be first-time homebuyers, even though estimates show investors own only a small percentage of the nation’s overall housing stock.
A spike in investor activity in the housing market in the COVID-19 pandemic era has since prompted lawmakers to try to curtail or even ban it as a means to bring down home prices and give first-time homebuyers a leg up in the market.
Gov. Abbott joined the fray Friday.
Read More »
What a $418 Million Settlement on Home-Sale Commissions May Mean for Housing Market
CNBC | March 20, 2024
A landmark class-action lawsuit may change the way Americans buy and sell homes.
The National Association of Realtors agreed to a $418 million settlement last week in an antitrust lawsuit where a federal jury found the organization and several large real-estate brokerages had conspired to artificially inflate agent commissions on the sale and purchase of real estate.
The NAR’s multiple listing service, or MLS, used at a local level across areas in the U.S., facilitated the compensation rates for both a buyer’s and seller’s agents.
At the time of listing a property, the home seller negotiated with the listing agent what the compensation would be for a buyer’s agent, which appeared on the MLS. However, if a seller was unaware they could negotiate, they were typically locked into paying the listed brokerage fee.
The proposed settlement would have the commission offer completely removed from the NAR’s system and home sellers will no longer be responsible for paying or offering commission for both the buyer and seller agents, said real estate attorney Claudia Cobreiro, the founder of Cobreiro Law in Coral Gables, Florida.
“The rule that has been the subject of litigation requires only that listing brokers communicate an offer of compensation,” the NAR wrote in a press release.
“Commissions remain negotiable, as they have been,” the organization wrote.
However, some of these changes may take time to materialize, experts say.
Read More »
Read Texas Realtors' Statement on the Settlement »