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Opinion: Title and settlement fees aren’t a barrier to homeownership

Housing Wire

In 2023, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced plans to make it easier to buy a home and close the racial homeownership gap in the United States. Specifically, title and settlement fees have been characterized as a high-burden and regressive (costing proportionally more for low- and moderate-income borrowers) cost to borrowers.

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Opinion: Improving housing affordability without exposing homebuyers to more risk

Housing Wire

Any proposal to increase access to homeownership and improve affordability should be evidence-based, sustainable (avoiding quick fixes) and not come at the cost of consumer protection. For example, recently, Fannie Mae has focused on expanding alternatives to title insurance as a way to supposedly increase homeownership affordability.

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Yes, Cash Buyers Pay Closing Costs, and Sometimes Even the Seller’s Fees

HomeLight

Closing costs are assumed to be part of doing business in real estate, but do cash buyers pay closing costs? Yes, you can expect charges for attorney hours, taxes, plus title and recording fees to still apply, though the use of cash can greatly reduce a buyer’s closing costs with the elimination of mortgage fees.

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How hybrid title and valuations help increase lending efficiency

Housing Wire

Add the fact that lenders are not only dealing with a remote workforce these days, which is an operational challenge in itself, they are also facing a major shortage of qualified appraisers, underwriters and other operational staff in certain markets, which could cause even longer closing delays.

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Selling a Home in Arizona? Here are the Closing Costs You’ll Pay

HomeLight

Arizona home sellers hoping to exchange the front door keys for a net gain on the sale should be aware that there are several closing items they’ll be responsible for, even as a hot seller’s market rocks the Sun Belt state. Most people don’t really concern themselves with the sell-side costs,” Wexler says. Closing Cost.

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The title insurance industry prepares for battle

Housing Wire

Many in the title insurance industry reported record years in 2021, but while experts were predicting things to slow down in 2022, the suddenness at which the market cooled was unexpected, or as Jodi Ketchersid, a Destin, Florida-based Corcoran Group agent said: “It was like, ‘Holy cow! What happened to the market?’”.

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Top Tips and Considerations For Buying Land

Realty Biz

Can you imagine buying a lot only to discover it has crept too close to the neighboring lot line? Understanding how big an acre is will be a good start for what you need for land. Being a real estate agent for the last thirty-eight years, I have had numerous experiences selling land. I have sold small building lots to large parcels of land.

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