Boy, we wish we could provide the final figures for review even 3 days before closing. That would be terrific. In fact, we have a bonus program here at TCS. If a member of our HUD Team produces a HUD two or more days before closing we pay a $10 bonus, split between the HUD preparer and our scheduler. We want to incent the "right" way to do business and assist buyers and borrowers who prefer time for review.
Hmmmmmm, you may be saying. How come we don't get our HUD-1 forms ahead of time on all transactions and aren't title agents required to provide it?
"Although real estate agents and consumers may believe that federal rules guarantee them the right to see the final closing numbers a day ahead of settlement, that's not completely accurate. Washington lawyer Phillip L. Schulman of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP, an expert on federal real estate regulations, said in an interview that the law requires a closing agent to provide a borrower the HUD-1 figures one business day in advance only "if the borrower requests" such a review. Equally important, said Schulman, the closing agent is only required to "provide whatever figures [the agent] actually has received up until that time" from other parties involved in the transaction."
The article by Ken Harney, published in the Washington Post, offers a good explanation.
You see, as title agents, we don't control all of the data required to complete the final settlement statement. We do the best we can. In the end, we always have to play the hand we're dealt. Until we figure out how to bend time and alter reality, well, you catch my drift..... ;)
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