What's the deal with the New GFE and HUD 1

Did you know that no where on the new GFE is there a place for the PITI. In fact for you to show that you need to have another sheet of paper which will disclose it. Unfortunately, you can not call it a GFE addendum, however you may call it worksheet.
For the life of me, and for all of the complaints of other people including loan officers, the old GFE at least provided this.
The change as taking effect on Jan 1, 2010 is significant. There are several areas that put the loan officer at grave risk to assume things to be a certain way. There is both an area for a 0% and 10% tolerance for certain fees. Most notably they are dealing with the escrows as well as the transfer and recording taxes. It's ironic how the loan officer who in his attempt to provide all of the information to the borrower must be aware of all of the fees which he has little or no control of. In addition, this also affects the Title Company who has to get the numbers correctly or they can be held liable.
This is another attempt by the large financial institutions, the Wells Fargo's, the Bank of Americas' and others to regulate who actually may originate a loan. After all due to their size and lobbying capabilit their loan officers are exempted from being licensed whereas the independent lender who is more fleet of foot and usually can provide a higher degree of service needs to be licensed through the new National Mortgage Licensing System for starters. After this they must take licensing exams for whichever state that they wish to originate loans in.
The only thing a loan officer who originate loans for a big financial institution needs to be is registered. Who would you believe will be more knowledgeable and stay more compliant?
Who ever said or believed bigger was better for the consumer. In fact it definitely fosters less competition and I maintain their is more price fixing as well as less value being delivered to the general public.
I hope that things will change but I fear not and unfortunately I believe that within the next decade there will be significantly less choices of people who you will be able to do a loan with.

What will Congress Do?

Well Congress is deliberating exactly what they are going to do about extending the First Time Home Buyer credit and as well as what they the limits should be in terms of who qualifies. It's really very interesting to see since at least the administration was able to take care of something which was on it's agenda from the onset.
In addition, the government is in no hurry to do anything while we are still in October. Typically because things do slow down in real estate as we head into the holidays and end of year, there isn't the sense of urgency that many realtors believe there should be.
My bet is that it will be re-enacted with little change except that it may allow people to qualify who make a little more money.
As a residential mortgage professional who is trying to survive the market by attracting realtors and their clients, it is a difficult challenge to in tell people they must take action when I truly believe that although the incentive is nice, it is by no means the reason why someone should buy.
My thoughts are that when you are ready do it because you can afford it, however, like all things you may be surprise where you wind up residing, meaning the amenities may be less and the traffic may be worst. Although rates are low and you think you may be able to get the place of your dream for a song and dance, be prepared to empty your bank account and be prepared to stay in your place for no less than 7 years.