Compliance Calendar

Massachusetts has signed legislation, S943, legalizing remote online notarizations (RON) to all notaries in the commonwealth.

Fannie Mae rental income policy changes and self-employed borrower requirements must be implemented for DU loan casefiles created on or after January 1, 2024.

Bill Text

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1.

Article 4 (commencing with Section 2968) is added to Chapter 2 of Title 14 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, to read:

Article 4. State of Emergency

2968.

(a) For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:(1) “Mortgage servicer” has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 2920.5.(2) “Property” means residential real property that is improved by four or fewer residential dwelling units, affixed mobilehomes, and manufactured homes.(3) “State of emergency” and “local emergency” have the same meanings as defined in subdivisions (b) and (c), respectively, of Section 8558 of the Government Code.(b) A transferor mortgage servicer servicing a mortgage secured by property within the geographic limits of a proclaimed state of emergency or local emergency shall deliver to a transferee mortgage servicer any material written records between the borrower and the mortgage servicer relating to the borrower’s election to use insurance proceeds to repair or replace property damaged by a disaster for which the state of emergency or local emergency was proclaimed.(c) A transferee mortgage servicer pursuant to subdivision (b) shall not dishonor a previous written agreement to repair property made prior to the transfer between the transferor mortgage servicer and the borrower and approved by the owner of the promissory note.(d) This article shall not be interpreted to prohibit a mortgage servicer from delivering to a transferee mortgage servicer any material written records relating to a borrower’s election to use insurance proceeds to repair or replace damaged property that was not caused by a disaster for which a state of emergency or local emergency was proclaimed.

The State of New Jersey immediately amends provisions regarding foreclosure procedure and the Community Wealth Preservation Program.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is publishing this Circular to reiterate the expectation that all underwriting decisions to approve or deny a VA loan closed on the non-supervised automatic basis must be made by a VA-approved credit underwriter, and to clarify that VA’s Staff Appraisal Reviewer (SAR) designation does not confer credit underwriting authority.

• Unacceptable appraisal practices
  • Updates related to unacceptable appraisal practices – January 30, 2024

UNACCEPTABLE APPRAISAL PRACTICES

Effective for Mortgages with Application Received Dates on or after January 30, 2024, but Sellers are encouraged to implement immediately

We are updating our list of unacceptable appraisal practices to:

• Provide “working class” and “inner city” as additional examples of terminology or veiled language that could indicate underlying bias
• Identify that inclusion of references, statements or comparisons about crime rates or crime statistics, whether objective or subjective, in the appraisal analysis or report is an unacceptable appraisal practice
• Acknowledge that the scope of work of some appraisals does not require a personal inspection of the comparable properties
• Reflect that development of an opinion of value based on factors that local, State or federal law designates as discriminatory is unacceptable

Guide impacts: Sections 5603.4 and 5605.1