Top compliance attorneys from around the country will take the stage June 6-8 at the National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) to provide the latest updates in RESPA and regulatory compliance to attendees.
Among the highlighted sessions is “The New York Effect,” featuring Chris Gulotta, founder, The Gulotta Grabiner Law Group, PLLC and Real Estate Data Shield, Inc.; and Jean Partridge, chief counsel and managing member, Benchmark Title Agency, LLC
The pair will discuss New York’s recent regulatory actions on cybersecurity, affiliated arrangements, title fees as well as consent orders and the court case against the New York Department of Financial Services. They will help attendees learn how the rules affect you, even if you don’t live in New York.
“It’s been a dramatic year for New York title agents, and any smart observer of a settlement service company who is doing business in New York,” Gulotta said. “For the New York title agents themselves, this has been a devastating year. They’ve been weighed down by the implementation time and expense of cyber regs, they now have significant limitations on how they can engage clients, they’ve seen severe limitations in fees they can charge for ancillary services, and they have to compensate closers for their performance of ancillary services which are not covered by the title premium – all impacting them at the same time.”
That doesn’t include the forthcoming 5 percent premium reduction scheduled to take effect later this year. The cost of doing business has increased and the New York title agents have not had a rate increase since 2001, but they have suffered four rate decreases since 2006.
Gulotta said that weathering the barrage of regulatory actions would be manageable in the best of times, but with the refinance market plummeting because of higher interest rates, and the purchase market facing low inventory challenges, the environment makes it difficult to weather.
“It’s more than a perfect storm. It’s two or three perfect storms at once. It’s the uber-perfect storm,” he said.
As New York has touted its cyber regulations and title industry reforms as models for the rest of the country to follow, Gulotta said agents and industry members around the country need to be aware of changes coming through their state regulators, insurance commissioners and legislatures.
“That’s why we named the session the New York Effect, because any smart observer is wondering: what will regulators and insurance departments in other states do with this? I do think everyone should be watching this closely, both here in New York and in the states they do business, and building their compliance to this New York level, so the lift – when it happens in states you do business – is not so great,” Gulotta said.
WFG National Title Insurance Co. Executive Vice President Agency Chuck Cain will moderate another session titled “Your Newest Regulator,” as Sterbcow Law Group Managing Partner Marx Sterbcow and Justin Wiseman, associate vice president, managing counsel Residential Public Policy & Industry Relations at the Mortgage Bankers Association, discuss federal and legislative regulatory pressures coming to bear on the real estate and mortgage lending industries.
And back on the NS3 stage after a year away, Mayer Brown LLP Partner Phillip Schulman leads a session on RESPA compliance following the recent court ruling in the PHH Corp. v. CFPB case.
After a favorable decision in the PHH case and with a new more reasonable CFPB, the industry has seen a resurgence of interest in marketing agreements, desk rentals, lead generation and co-advertising activities.
However, settlement service providers still need to comply with RESPA’s safe harbor requirements to participate in these arrangements. Schulman will discuss the do’s and don’ts for providers in a post-PHH world.