Safe Act Delayed

Texas Association of Realtors

Many of us have been very concerned about the implementation of federal legislation known as the SAFE Act that would severely limit an individual's ability to seller finance their property in Texas.

The Texas Association of Realtors is working on numerous regulatory and legislative solutions to this affront to private-property owners, and have some good news to report. At our urging, the chief regulator over the SAFE Act in Texas, the commissioner of the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending, has taken significant steps to allow Texas property owners to continue to seller finance up to five transactions in a 12-month period.

More specifically, the commissioner has delayed the implementation of the SAFE Act requirement for licensure in seller-financed transactions in Texas until August 31. This will give us time to implement regulatory and legislative changes during the coming months. For now it is important for you to know that the long-standing law of allowing a Texas seller to finance up to five transactions in a consecutive 12-month period is still in effect and the Texas Association of REALTORS® will continue to work at the federal and state level to see that this is a permanent solution."

What does this mean?

The effect of this delay is that unless you meet other standards, you will not need to be licensed to create owner-financed mortgages until August 31, 2010. As of this writing, we have a solution for licensing requirements even after the new deadline passes.