Wicked Title Folks Podcast

🐐🧾 FinCEN Listened (Sort Of): Updates that Title Agents Need to Know About the New Real Estate Report (RER) Rule🎙️

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🐐🧾 FinCEN Listened (Sort Of): Updates that Title Agents Need to Know About the New Real Estate Report (RER) Rule🎙️

FinCEN’s new Real Estate Report rule drops Dec 1, 2025. Are title agents ready? Big changes, hidden wins, & what you really need to know.

Cheryl.wtf

Jun 11, 2025

Transcript

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🔑 In a Hurry? Here are the Key Takeaways…
(Scroll down for the full story)

FinCEN’s Final Real Estate Report Rule (RER)

Effective December 1, 2025, title agents may be required to file Real Estate Reports (RERs) for non-financed residential transfers involving legal entities or trusts.
FinCEN has confirmed that only relevant fields (average: 40) will display on the 111-field form, based on your role and answers.
Conditional logic, plain-English instructions, and role-based reporting guidance are now baked into the final form—thanks to public feedback.
Filing must be done through FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System using HTML, PDF, or batch XML options. Setup includes a login.gov account and Supervisory User.
Duplicate entry fix: Individuals who are both beneficial owners and signers only need to be entered once.
Legal descriptions are capped at 1,000 characters—which may pose problems for long metes and bounds jurisdictions like PA.
FinCEN’s revised estimate: Up to 3 hours per report to collect, prepare, and file.
Title agents and staff are likely to be the primary reporting persons—early prep is essential.
⚠️ Action Step: Download the Easy Kit to access training materials, editable templates, and ready-to-use affidavits.
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🧾 FinCEN Listened (Sort Of): Updates that Title Agents Need to Know About the New Real Estate Report (RER) Rule

Big Wins—and a Few Frustrations—In the Final Real Estate Report Rule

Effective Date: December 1, 2025
Key Player: FinCEN
Update: Published in the Federal Register June 5, 2025

Affected Audience: Anyone touching a residential real estate transfer involving a legal entity

Your Role: Possibly the one stuck figuring out how to file a Real Estate Report (RER) when no one else knows what’s going on

In case you’ve been blissfully ignoring FinCEN updates (no judgment), here’s the gist:

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is rolling out a new reporting requirement for non-financed residential real estate transfers where the buyer is a legal entity or trust. The goal? Crack down on money laundering and shady deals hiding behind anonymous LLCs.

Starting December 1, 2025, someone involved in the transaction—very likely you, dear title agent—will be responsible for filing a new Real Estate Report (RER) through FinCEN’s online system.

In case you missed it, you can get the full run down here with our Comprehensive Guide for Title Insurance Agencies to Implement FinCEN Real Estate Reporting Requirements

And yes, it sounds like a paperwork nightmare. But here’s the silver lining:

FinCEN actually took the comments seriously. They read the feedback (including ours!) and made some practical updates to the proposed RER.

Today I'm breaking down the small-but-mighty changes that will make your life a little easier.

🎤 First, a PSA: Comment Periods Matter

Let’s start with a high-five for the folks who actually took time to read the rule, understand it, and send in feedback (🙋‍♀️ hi, I was one of them). Why? Because FinCEN actually listened.

They didn’t just go through the motions. They adopted several recommendations—including some that’ll make life a whole lot easier for us on the front lines.

📋 The 111-Field Form That You (Probably) Won’t Have to Fully Complete

Yes, the Real Estate Report form has 111 possible fields.

No, you probably won’t have to fill all of them out. Thank the comment section for this one.

🧠 Here’s the big RER win:

Fields on the form will now appear conditionally, based on what role you select and how you answer previous questions. That means the form won’t bombard you with irrelevant sections. Instead of scanning 10 paragraphs to figure out if you need to answer Question 86, the form just won’t show it if it doesn’t apply.

FinCEN estimates you’ll average about 40 fields per report.

✅ Less scrolling.
✅ Less confusion.
✅ Fewer errors from overthinking.

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🧑‍💻 Filing System: What You’ll Use (and How to Get In)

You’ll use FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System—the same platform financial institutions use to file currency reports and suspicious activity stuff. If you’ve ever filed under a GTO, this may look familiar.

🔐 Here’s what you need to know:

Supervisory User: Someone at your company will need to enroll and serve as the account admin.
Login.gov required: If your team doesn’t have these logins yet, start setting them up early.
Three filing methods:
- Online HTML form (for one-offs)
- PDF form
- Batch XML via upload or SFTP (for tech-savvy, high-volume filers)

FinCEN will provide:

A sandbox environment to test batch uploads
Webinars to walk people through how to file (yes, finally)

🔁 Duplicate Entry Headache? Gone.

Another win: If someone involved in the deal is both a beneficial owner and a signing individual, you won’t have to enter the same info twice.

You check a box once, FinCEN’s system fills it in for both fields.

👏 Welcome to 2025.

🧾 Reasonable Reliance = Reasonable Sanity

FinCEN confirmed that you can reasonably rely on information given by other parties in the transaction (e.g., the buyer’s attorney, or the person who swears they know who owns the LLC). This is a huge deal from a liability and logistics standpoint.

🚨 Does this mean “trust, don’t verify”? Absolutely not.

But it does mean you don’t need to launch a full investigation into someone’s beneficial ownership if their attorney provides documentation.

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📦 Legal Descriptions: One Step Forward, One Annoying Limitation

There’s a field on the form asking for the legal description from the deed.

FinCEN capped that field at 1,000 characters.

They say this shouldn’t be an issue unless you’re using “Other” instead of common description types (lot and block, metes and bounds, etc.).

📉 Reality check: In Pennsylvania, a standard metes and bounds description can easily exceed 1,000 characters. FinCEN didn’t extend the character limit, which means you’ll either have to trim the legal description or cross your fingers that a parcel number field will cover your bases.

Here’s what 1,000 characters looks like (and no, it’s not much):

START (1,000 characters)

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. The five boxing wizards jump quickly. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Grumpy wizards make toxic brew for the evil queen and jack. Lorem ipsum again for good measure—because why not? Brown foxes are apparently very quick. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Nullam vel risus nec velit commodo dapibus. Curabitur a felis in nunc fringilla tristique. How vexingly quick daft zebras jump! Semper eget duis at tellus at urna condimentum mattis.

END

Not exactly generous, is it?

✏️ Other Small (But Not Useless) Changes

While the conditional formatting of the form was the big headline, FinCEN also made a handful of smaller tweaks in response to public comments:

Parentheses, for sanity: They’ve clarified confusing terms by adding helpful labels in parentheses—like “buyer” next to “transferee entity” and “seller” next to “transferor.”
Clearer definitions: Some of the more obscure terms—like “hard money” and “private money”—will now be explained directly in the form instructions. Expect examples and plain English, which will hopefully cut down on second-guessing.
Cleaner role selection: FinCEN acknowledges that people may wear multiple hats in a deal. So the form now asks you to pick the role that best fits for that transaction, instead of trying to check all that apply.
Duplicate data entry fix: If the same person is both a signing individual and a beneficial owner, you’ll only have to enter their info once. One and done.

Individually, these aren’t earth-shattering—but collectively, they show FinCEN was listening. And they’ll help shave time, reduce errors, and spare you some hair-pulling during your fourth report of the day.

⏱ Reporting Burden: Time Estimate

FinCEN’s official estimate is up to 3 hours per report—including gathering the info, checking roles, and filing.

Is that accurate? 🤷‍♀️ We’ll see.

But for one-off filers, plan to set aside real time for the first few.

🔚 Final Thoughts (Title Agents, This Means You)

Let’s be real: title agency staff will carry the bulk of this reporting burden. Whether it’s your name on the settlement statement, you’re prepping the deed, or disbursing funds—chances are, someone on your team is going to end up as the “reporting person.”

That means the best time to prepare was yesterday. The second-best time? Right now.

Don’t wait until December 1 rolls around and the lender’s asking “who’s filing this?” while your processor is trying to decipher whether the trust qualifies as exempt or not.