RESPA Documents

[Monica]

I've been dealing with a dealer who is going to find some land to put my manufactured home on. Ive already been pre-approved and picked out the house i want but now they want me to sign a 24 page thing called "RESPA" documents. The salesman keeps telling me that it's non-binding - there is no money involved at this time, but that without my signature they aren't authorized to buy the land for my land/home package. (I hope I'm explaining this correctly). The documents list all the itemized costs - based on an arbitrary figure that they approved me for which is higher than what I'll actually be borrowing - but I wasn't comfortable with it, so I didn't sign. Can somebody explain what this is all about?

[rmurray]

The RESPA docs are a federal disclosure of the possible charges that the lender can charge...Also included are disclosures about the loan..such as discrimination policy, your right to a copy of the appraisal, if the loan is likely to be sold, broker commission statement, a proper credit app...the list goes on...
The federal government would not REQUIRE these disclosures if someone did not think they were important...The figures should be fairly accurate (some of them are estimates..such as homeowners insurance, future taxes...some of them are not..such as discount points, origination fees and rate) and you should expect that your final papers might read exactly the same...Your sales person is right about 1 thing...these are not a contract....they are only disclosures...signing will only mean that you have seen the forms....except the credit app....It should be exactly accurate...if it is not complete and does not disclose ALL information properly..this would be fraud..

What should you do??...This is the time to clearly understand what is going on...for instance..there is NO reason that the disclosure be for more money than you have agreed to spend (reproducing the forms is no big deal...a couple of cliks on a puter and a few minutes printing)...You should clearly understand every line of the financial disclosures and what this will mean later...remember the lender fees, broker fees and general closing fees will not be different later...By this time you should have an exact contract with the dealer (not the RESPA docs) that lists every cost of the dealer's package and EVERYTHING you expect to get...

If these seem too complicated or the saleperson is not forth coming...take them to a attorney that specializes in real estate...pay him $100 to $200 for advise...much cheaper now than later...If folks got attorneys involved early like this half the misunderstandings posted at this site would go away..

Good Luck...do not let fear rule though..just be sure you understand what is happening and go for it..