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Inheriting Real Estate? New Rules Protect You

You probably have not been lying awake nights worrying that inheriting a home and a mortgage might cause you a big headache. Even if you are lucky enough to inherit, who knew it could cause a big potential problem for you?

The folks at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau knew. They knew because they created the problem. And now they’ve fixed it.

The bureau inadvertently cooked up the problem at the start of this year when a new mortgage rule that it wrote took effect. The rule made big changes in how mortgage lenders must screen mortgage applicants. Now they must take several steps to make sure you have a good chance of paying back the loan.

The rule was inspired, as you can guess, by careless lending by some companies before the mortgage crash.

Explains DSNews, a mortgage industry publication:

The Ability-to-Repay Rule took effect in January of 2014 and requires lenders to make a good faith effort to ensure that the borrower … actually has the ability to make payments on the loan that they are applying for.

The Ability-to-Repay Rule set off an unintended consequence: If you inherited a home and mortgage and needed to add your name to the mortgage, you had to qualify for borrowing the mortgage loan, just as if you were applying to buy the home.

The Consumerist notes:

[T]here are significant consequences, such as losing the home, when heirs are unable to add their names to the outstanding mortgage of a home that has legally been transferred to them because the Ability-to-Repay rule was triggered by a lender.

You could face foreclosure. Yikes!

Now, a solution

This month, that was fixed. Worry not, if you are in line to inherit property. With the change made this month, you can inherit Grandpa’s home, have your name put on the mortgage and pay away, even if there’s no way you’d actually qualify to borrow the money on your own.

You can even be eligible to apply for a mortgage modification if you can’t make the payments, says the CFPB’s explanation:

“Losing a loved one should not mean also losing your home. Today’s interpretive rule makes it clear that when family members inherit property, they can take over the mortgage without jumping through unnecessary hoops,” said CFPB director Richard Cordray. “This gives heirs an opportunity to work with the lender to pay off the loan or seek a loan modification.”

Others are protected, too

Other types of new owners are now protected, too. If you receive a home through divorce or a legal separation, you’re covered. If your still-living parents give you a home and mortgage (sweet!), you’re covered. Homes and mortgages transferred to a living trust (an estate-planning tool) are exempt, too.

What’s your thinking about all of this rule-making? Has the government gone overboard? Or are the new protections a necessary evil to prevent the kind of excesses that took place in the mortgage boom?

Weigh in with your comments below or at Money Talks News’ Facebook page.

This article was originally published on MoneyTalksNews.com as 'Inheriting Real Estate? New Rules Protect You'.

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