All Berkshire affiliate lenders were invited to participate in our RESPA/TILA project – This was a group effort to help us explore the new closing process for transactions in Berkshire County after October 3, 2015. Over the course of several months and many meetings the following lenders participated, along with Board Legal Counsel Mike Shepard, to develop these materials in conjunction with the Berkshire County Board of REALTORS. We owe a great thanks to all for this collaborative effort of those listed on the right.

Typical timelines in Berkshire County are:

– Note: Termination date is the date found in the Purchase and Sale agreement whereby a seller and buyer need to accept all terms and agree to the sale.

* If a buyer needs more time? Extend these dates or contact the lender for specific instructions. Please note that Inspection issues, appraisal issues, failure by the buyer or seller to provide timely documentation or perform, title issues, pay-off issues all may delay this timeline.

Resources for Your Business:

• Berkshire Best Practices:  Suggestions from Lenders and the Board on How you can best prepare your clients for mortgages after October 3, 2015
• Dictionary of New Terms: So many acronyms, so many new terms to describe the closing process, all are described here
• Good Advice for Buyer or Seller Clients: Helpful tips to guide your clients to a successful transaction, how to prepare to move quickly and pitfalls to look out for.
• Transaction Timeline:  A guide to help you understand all of the elements it takes to secure a mortgage loan in 60 days. It helps to clarify all of the moving parts and how Realtors are an integral part
• FAQ with local Lenders:  Answers that our local lenders or attorney drafted for your assistance. More questions are added based on the meeting questions and those received by the Board Office
• Contracts Changes:  While “usable” contacts are in FlexMLS, you can see the highlighted changes to our new agreements.
• Submit your Feedback:  The only way we can learn, change and make our tools matter to your business is to get feedback from you about your experiences implementing these changes.  Please share!

Consumer Outreach

If you’re curious about the materials and press releases that we’ve put out to the general public, you might want to check out our consumer website, AtHomeInTheBerkshires posts.  There is also a branded consumer toolkit produced in conjunction with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau you can use as well:  Home_Loan_Toolkit

Helpful Documents

• Handouts in PDF format that were provided at the Meeting (incorporates all of the above plus the course outline) 2 mb
• Sample Closing Disclosure
• Sample Loan Estimate
• Sample Berkshire Contracts