In 1974 the United States Congress passed the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), as a consumer protection statute. RESPA's main purpose is to help consumers become better shoppers for settlement services and to eliminate kickbacks and referrals fees that unnecessarily increase the costs of your real estate closing settlement services.
In accordance with RESPA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) promulgated a uniform settlement statement, now commonly referred to as the HUD-1 Settlement Statement or HUD-1 Closing Statement. The HUD-1 Settlement Statement is the financial picture of the closing. All money flowing into and out of settlement and/or title company appears on the form. "Buyers" are referred to as "Borrowers" on this form even though it may be used when there is no loan involved, such as in a cash transaction. Closing Costs or Fees associated with the transaction, but paid prior to closing, are also included on the HUD. They are normally marked "POC," for Paid Outside of Closing.
For every federally related mortgage transaction, a HUD-1 Closing Statement must be utilized. Here's a link to the American Land Title Association's complete explanation of the HUD-1 Form along with a downloadable version of the form: HUD-1 Form Explained
Title Source USA is proud to announce the creation of its Online HUD Settlement Statement Calculator:
This is an outstanding tool to assist you in calculating any of the following:
- Costs and benefits on your home loan refinance closing
- Estimating your closing costs on your next purchase
- Calculating a Good Faith Estimate for your Borrower
- Generating a Short Sale Pro-Forma Closing Statement for Short Sale Negotiations
- Realtors needing to give a Closing Estimate or real estate closing costs for their Buyer or Seller
- Mortgage Lenders needing to calculate fee for a no closing cost mortgage
This handy tool will even calculate tax prorations and aggregate escrows to make even the best good faith estimate that much more accurate. So Title Source USA invites you to make this one of your best tools for your upcoming real estate settlement. Just select either "Refinance" or "Sale" and you'll be taken right to our HUD-1 Closing Statement Calculator!!
