The TILA RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rules have been prompting wild predictions of the effects it would have on the real estate industry, since talks of the new rules first came to light. Analysts, professionals and officials alike all had an idea of what they thought was coming. The industry divided into two groups of TRID predictions.
One that claims that the new rules would change nothing more than required documents for the same processes, and believe that much of the rule’s hype is overblown in the media. HousingWire & CNBC recently published articles reporting that the TRID speculations were a fluke that mirrored the Y2K panic back in 2000.
The other believes that TRID brings the entire industry to a halt, because it changes everything down to the processes by which we do business. Pavaso CEO, Mark McElroy, was one of those who predicted negative TRID effects for the housing market in a CNBC article back in October. The week after TRID go-live, Mark outlined the effects the industry would begin to see in the video blog below.
From a high level, TRID may look like it hasn’t affected much. However, salient or not, TRID has begun to change the industry by affecting the way all of the business stakeholders interact with each other. Before TRID, everyone seemed to stay in their own playground, do their share of the transaction, and move on to the next one. This resulted in stakeholder confusion, overlooked details, and consumers were left out in the cold with a negative experience. TRID requires compliance from all ends of the transaction and calls for each stakeholder to do more to focus on the consumer. Delivering such an experience without partner collaboration would be difficult, so many are evolving their workflows and changing their processes to connect more with each stakeholder. For an industry that rarely collaborates, this is indeed a major change.
Although today, TRID may not seem to have affected much, the tangible effects these changes will have on businesses may not be revealed until the New Year or even until after Q1. Remember that the Titanic was an unsinkable ship. Oh, except for that pesky iceberg, although barely exposed, was sitting just below the surface, just like the dip in revenues and cost of business issues lurking below the surface of TRID.
It’s also worth noting that the CFPB is now looking for everyone who’s not in compliance with TRID, so the days of untracked and noncompliant business practices are numbered. Which leaves business with no other choice but to change the way they do business.
So even after everyone takes a side today, think about this: Even if everything is okay with the industry, would they even admit it if things weren’t, for fear of repercussions from the CFPB?
