A Declaration of Homestead is a type of protection for a person’s primary residence. The Declaration of Homestead is a form that is filed at the Registry of Deeds in the county where the property is located, referencing the title/deed to the property. It allows homeowners in Massachusetts to protect their property up to five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) of the value from civil attachment.
National title insurance underwriters are now setting policies and procedures for transactions involving Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or any other cryptocurrency (collectively, “Cryptocurrency”).
Title insurance companies prohibit their agents from accepting funds in Cryptocurrency or holding Cryptocurrency in escrow. Additionally, title insurance agents (closing attorneys) are not authorized to make payoffs, commission payments, or any other payments in Cryptocurrency in insured transactions. Title insurance companies will not accept payment for services or title premiums in Cryptocurrency.
Because title insurance companies will not allow their closing attorneys to conduct escrow services in Cryptocurrency, completing such transactions would necessitate utilizing outside escrow services or no escrow services at all (i.e. a direct transaction between the parties), and necessitate additional safeguards, including confirming receipt of payment, obtaining authorization to close/record, etc. Cryptocurrency transactions also raise concerns about IRS 1099-S reporting obligations, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) reporting obligations, transfer tax calculations, and other issues.
Title insurance companies will insure real estate transactions in which Cryptocurrency is converted to U.S. dollars prior to closing so that the closing may be conducted entirely in U.S. dollars. However, cash transactions must be processed according to existing rules governing true “cash transactions.”
In contrast to the coin and paper money of the United States, Cryptocurrency does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction in the United States. Nevertheless, Cryptocurrency has become increasingly popular in recent years due to price appreciation, novelty, anonymity and a decentralized governing structure.
Although Cryptocurrency has legitimate uses, it can also be used to finance illegal activity or evade anti-money laundering laws and regulations. As such, Cryptocurrency poses additional challenges for title insurance and escrow service providers beyond the often- cited problems of:
Furthermore, like many taxing authorities, private parties, and lenders, most title insurance companies and attorneys lack the infrastructure necessary to receive or disburse Cryptocurrency. Recently, several news organizations have reported about Cryptocurrency real estate listings and successfully completed Cryptocurrency real estate transactions. However, many of these transactions utilized unusual or complicated maneuvers, such as converting the Cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars prior to the closing or transferring the sale proceeds outside of escrow. Although “true” Cryptocurrency real estate transactions are conceptually possible, they are extremely rare at this time.
Rest assured that title insurance companies and the title industry will continue to work to meet the demand as the operational, legal, and regulatory landscape surrounding Cryptocurrency evolves. But for not buying a home with BitCoin will be somewhat of a challenge.
You may have heard the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) has made new rules regulating the mortgage industry. No one, including the CFPB, is quite sure when the new rules will take effect, but the industry has been assured that it will be in 2014.
One of the most noticeable changes that real estate agents, loan officers and buyers and sellers will see is a new form. The good old Housing and Urban Development Form-1, known to most as the “HUD-1” or Settlement Statement is going the way of the dodo bird. (more…)
The Fed publishes meeting minutes 8 times annually — three weeks after each scheduled Federal Open Market Committee get-together. The Fed Minutes summarizes the FOMC meeting.
The Federal Reserve released the minutes from its August 9, 2011 Federal Open Market Committee meeting Tuesday.
The Fed Minutes contained no surprises and, as a result, mortgage rates across Massachusetts and nationwide have idled.
Although it gets less press attention, the Fed Minutes is every bit as important as the more highly-publicized, post-meeting statement from the FOMC. With its detailed record of conversation, the Fed Minutes highlights the discussions and debates that shape our nation’s monetary policy.
For example, here is some of what was said at the Fed’s August 2011 meeting :
In addition, the Fed talked about whether a third round of asset purchases should be announced. Ultimately, that plan was rejected by consensus.
The FOMC’s next meeting is a 2-day meeting, scheduled for September 20-21. The meeting was originally scheduled for just one day, but Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke chose to extend it to two. Wall Street believes that the extension was made so Fed members could discuss new forms of economic stimulus. (more…)
As the housing market begins to dig itself out of the trough caused by the bubble, new tough down payment requirements are hamstringing recovery momentum, especially among first time home buyers. Under the newly proposed Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) rule (meant to prevent another credit bubble in housing markets) only borrowers putting down 20 percent can get the best deals. To buy a median nationally priced home of $170,000, the borrower would have to come up with $34,000 in cash, which takes the average middle class family 14 years to save. Even repeat buyers will be restricted from getting the best deals as equity has eroded from their home which is normally used to purchase a new home.
The Federal Reserve Board’s regulations governing loan originator compensation went into effect April 6 after a federal appeals court dissolved a stay suspending implementation of the rule.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an order March 30 to stay the implementation of the Board’s loan originator compensation regulations. However, on April 5, the appeals court on Tuesday ruled National Association of Mortgage Brokers and (NAMB) the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals (NAIHP) had not “satisfied the stringent standards required for a stay pending appeal,” and dissolved its administrative stay of the rule.
The Associations filed a lawsuit March 9 against The Federal Reserve System seeking to restrain implementation of a section of the Fed’s loan originator compensation rule. On March 30, Judge Beryl Howell denied NAMB’s request although she found the rule could cause irreparable harm. NAMB then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which then issued the stay on March 31, preventing the rules from going into effect April 1. The Federal Court then dissolved the stay after both NAMB and the Federal Reserve filed replies.
The three-judge appeals court panel also denied an emergency motion to stay implementation of the rule pending appeal, and denied a motion for expedited relief that sought to fast-track the appeal process.
Read more about this on HousingWire.