DUELING BILLS URGE A WEARY CONGRESS TO FOCUS ON CONSUMERS PROTECTION
Long-sought regulation of major banks, firms too-big-to-fail, and consumer financial services to be the next congressional battleground. A House bill, passed months ago, sits waiting for Senate action while Sens Dodd and Shelby back competing plans for Fed reorganization.

LENDERS, CLOSERS, STRUGGLE TO KEEP DEALS MOVING AS RESPA RULE KICKS IN
Originators can't seem to get GFE right, reports say, slowing the pipeline and pushing closings and revenues ahead. Mortgage traffic stalls as closing cost estimates baffle originators.

WILL MELTDOWN NO. 2 BE COMING ALONG? SIGNS MAINLY NEGATIVE FOR COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
If commercial real estate deals have been making up any significant part of your revenue stream, get ready for another major hit.

Nothing is right. No new projects are being started. Hundreds of office buildings are starved for tenants. Strip malls by the dozens are totally empty. Even some major enclosed malls are losing tenants, even anchor tenants.

Apartment projects coming online have few tenants and few prospects for tenants.

Worst of all, perhaps, there hasn't been a single new securitization of commercial mortgages yet THIS YEAR. There are simply no funds available for commercial financing.

Ordinarily at at a time like this, title companies would be getting by doing commercial refinances -- it's good business when it's there. It's not there.

For more, see page one of the upcoming issue of the Condell Private Letter.

ONE THING HUD HAS MADE CLEAR: LENDERS MUST SUPPLY CLOSING AGENTS WITH HUD-1 PAGE 3 INFO HUD has released a new version of "Frequently Asked Questions", 45 more pages of instructions. They make clear lenders must provide closing agents with loan data necessary to fill in comparison table at the top of HUD-1 Page 3.

CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION AGENCY LEGISLATION COULD BE A NUCLEAR BOMB Says little about insurance and nothing about title insurance but it does move RESPA enforcement to a new agency.