The good faith estimate (GFE) of closing costs that lenders are required by law to give borrowers within three days of their mortgage application is supposed to put a stop to that sort of thing. But a survey taken earlier this year shows the rules don't always work as they should.

Lawmakers already recognize that, which is why regulators were directed under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to revamp the GFE, as well as the HUD-1 settlement sheet borrowers receive at closing.

That's a good thing, because the survey of 205 closing agents by the American Land Title Association found that although GFE accuracy is higher than it used to be, it still leaves a lot to be desired.

The poll isn't statistically valid. Nevertheless, title professionals are in a unique position to testify on the topic, because they're the ones who orchestrate closings. And it shines a light on several practices that violate Section 5 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

Under that law, lenders' estimates for services rendered by third parties such as appraisers and surveyors are supposed to be within 10 percent of the final figures. If the charges listed on the HUD-1 exceed the tolerance, lenders are required to eat the difference.

But nearly three out of every four closing agents who responded to the survey said lenders sometimes pad their initial estimates so they can be certain they are within the 10 percent limit at closing.

Only a quarter of the respondents said they never see items on the GFE that are not charged at closing. But another 25 percent said they see the ruse more often than not. The other half also sees the practice, but not that often.

According to Michelle Korsmo, ALTA chief executive officer, "overquoting" violates the letter of the law, if not the law itself, which is intended to empower consumers to protect themselves from being gouged at the closing table. Even if borrowers are never charged for things like document preparation and warehouse fees, giving false information prevents consumers from making accurate comparisons when they shop for closing services.

Another troubling finding: More than half the respondents said they've been pressured to cut their fees to help lenders avoid tolerance violations at closing.

Just as real estate agents don't like being forced to cut their commissions to make deals work, closing agents don't like being told to slice their fees. But they don't have a lot of power to push back against the companies that help them find clients, Korsmo says.

Unfortunately, the survey also found, despite the government's and consumer advocates' best efforts, people still don't shop. A whopping 75 percent of the respondents said they don't think people look for the best or least-expensive title and escrow services.

Does that mean borrowers are lazy, or just don't care about saving a few bucks on what may be the largest investment they will ever make?

"No" to both questions, says Korsmo, who believes that by the time buyers pick a house, haggle over the price and secure financing, they are too emotionally drained to do any more legwork.

"When people get to the process of managing the transaction, they tend to disengage and rely on the advice of their agent or lender," the title industry executive says. "Besides, they don't really have an idea of what goes on; it's all back-office work."

Lenders often don't make it easier on borrowers. Besides high-balling their estimates, according to the survey, some flood their clients with a raft of GFEs.

Only one in four borrowers receives just one good faith estimate, according to the ALTA survey. The rest get two or more. Nearly 12 percent have four or five, and a handful sometimes have as many as seven.

Lenders are allowed to revise an estimate if there is a change in the borrower's circumstances. If, for example, your income is significantly less than stated on the application, you may be switched into a different loan program, which can lead to changes in the ancillary closing charges.

In some states, whether or not the borrower opts for owner's title insurance can throw off the GFE. If the borrower declines to buy his own policy, the rate on the lender's policy, which the borrower is required to purchase, can rise.

But still, multiple GFEs only obfuscate the situation. "The intent (of the law) is to give the GFE only once," Korsmo says. Multiple estimates "is not at all what the law intended."

Another thing: Two-thirds of the closing agents in the ALTA survey said the list of settlement service providers that lenders are supposed to attach to the GFE so borrowers can shop around is missing in action.

Then again, more than half the borrowers don't bring their GFEs with them to the closing table so they can be sure they are not paying more than what they were told initially. And 45 percent said they see the document less than half the time.

So what's the point of the GFE anyway, if consumers aren't going to use it?

Hopefully, new forms being developed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- an "initial loan estimate" will replace the GFE, and a "settlement disclosure" will replace the HUD-1, according to my colleague Brian Collins at SourceMedia -- will put an end once and for all to these kinds of lender shenanigans and make it simpler for borrowers to comparison-shop.

Stay tuned. Under Dodd-Frank, the consumer protection board must release its draft forms and regulations for public comment by July 21.

House prices rose an average of nearly 10 percent in the first quarter, according to a government survey covering the country's largest metropolitan areas.

An anomaly? Absolutely. The average was skewed higher by some absurd numbers in several markets. There's no way the selling price of new and used homes jumped almost 60 percent in Detroit, or nearly 50 percent in Miami, in just one year!

At the same time, the figures reported for the first quarter as part of the monthly interest rate survey published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency shouldn't be dismissed out-of-hand. They are a signal that the housing market finally may be waking up.

Of course, a single three-month period does not make for a trend. But the fact that prices were higher in 23 of the 32 areas covered in the report -- 13 of them by double digits -- shows that buyers are starting to take advantage of record low loan rates.

That the survey registered such strong gains also indicates that houses in the upper price brackets are starting to move again in many places, in many cases at a faster clip than those in the lower ranges.

Those are repeat buyers, homeowners who must sell their current residences before they can move up the ladder. They are the key to a smoothly running housing market: As they buy new homes, they sell their old homes, which means folks below them on the affordability scale can start buying, too.

Take that all the way down to the ladder's first rung, and it is a signal that first-time buyers, the rookies who have never owned before, are finding some wonderful opportunities that haven't presented themselves in ages.

Maybe sellers are finally getting real about the values of their homes. Maybe the inventory of places for sale has been winnowed down so much that buyers are fighting over the few good houses still left on the market. Or possibly both buyers and sellers are sensing a bottom and are pulling their respective triggers.

The important take-away from this or any other indicator of housing prices is not to be fooled by rip-and-read headlines and news reports that mention only national or regional price trends. Those kinds of reports can do you in.

Whether you are a buyer or seller, you need to find out what's going on in your region, your town, your community, maybe even your block.

You want to know the average number of days houses are on the market before they sell, which will tell you the velocity of your particular market. If houses are moving faster than normal, buyers might want to jump in more quickly.

You'll also want to know how many houses are for sale in your price range. If it is more than usual, there are probably still bargains to be had. But if the unsold inventory is low, the best deals -- and the best houses -- are probably already gone, and prices will start moving up, if they haven't already. Even for the dogs.

To get an idea which way the market is trending in your neck of the woods, you can start right here with the latest FHFA figures. They show that the average selling price of both new and used homes rose 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012.

Drilling down, the survey found that prices were up in 23 of the largest metropolitan statistical areas and down in nine. But again, things may be different in your submarket, so find a real estate professional who can read the key housing tea leaves to paint a more exact picture. In the meantime, look at the FHFA's survey, which is more market-specific than just about any other index published for general consumption. Others delve deeper, but they are too detailed for national news outlets and often too tough to find for local reporters.

Of the nine markets that registered falling prices, three of those declines were double-digit. But drops such as nearly 17 percent in Pittsburgh, almost 16 percent in Cincinnati and 10 percent in Cleveland could be aberrations, too.

Most likely, the survey is showing a price correction from previous periods when there were an unusually high number of sales in the higher price ranges. Now, prices are falling back to normal. These are generally the less expensive of the big metro areas, so it's also possible there were an inordinate number of lower-price deals in the January-March period.

Likewise, such ungodly price gains of 59 percent in Detroit, 50 percent in Miami, 46 percent in Chicago, 41 percent in Kansas City and 32 percent in Orlando also have to be taken with a grain of sawdust. Year-over-year gains like those didn't even occur at the height of the housing boom.

As usual, San Francisco is the nation's most expensive city for housing. The average in the Bay Area was $636,000 in the first quarter, an increase of 9.2 percent from $582,300 in the same period last year.

California's two other big markets -- San Diego and Los Angeles – rank second and third on the Top 10 list. In San Diego, the average rose 3.7 percent, from $506,400 to $525,100, while in LA, it was up 6.4 percent, from $481,000 to $511,900.

In something of a surprise, Seattle now ranks as the nation's fourth most expensive housing market at $473,000, a gain of 18.1 percent from $400,500 a year ago.

Washington rounds out the top five at $445,800, a decline of 3.9 percent from $464,000.

No. 6 Boston and No. 7 New York also reported declines. In Beantown, the dip was a slight 0.8 percent, from $438,700 to $435,300. But in the Big Apple, the drop was a more significant 9.8 percent, from $475,900 to $429,300.

Miami is the only other market above the $400,000 benchmark, but that's only because the average there rocketed 49.8 percent, from $279,600 to $418,800.

Rounding out the Top 10 are Denver and Virginia Beach. The average in the Mile High City is $385,400, a 19 percent jump from $323,800 12 months ago, while the average in the sea-level Virginia town rose 7.1 percent, from $348,600 to $373,300.

The cheapest big-city market? Right now, it's Pittsburgh, where the average dropped 16.9 percent, from $227,700 a year ago to $189,200 in this year's first quarter.

AVERAGE SALES PRICES: First Quarter

(New and Used Homes in Thousands of Dollars)

City 2011 2012 Percentage Change

Atlanta GA $304.3 $325.9 7.1

Boston-Worcester MA 438.7 435.3 (-0.8)

Chicago IL-Gary IN 201.2 293.8 46.0

Cincinnati OH 289.7 244.3 (-15.7)

Cleveland-Akron OH 225.5 203.2 (-10.0)

Columbus OH 215.4 262.4 21.8

Dallas-Fort Worth TX 302.6 330.2 9.1

Denver-Boulder CO 323.8 385.4 19.0

Detroit-Ann Arbor MI 168.3 267.9 59.2 Houston-Galveston TX 297.6 367.7 23.6

Indianapolis IN 231.5 260.9 12.7

Kansas City MO-KS 224.8 317.1 41.1

Las Vegas NV 219.2 221.1 0.9

Los Angeles-Riverside CA 481.0 511.9 6.4

Miami-Fort Lauderdale FL 279.6 418.8 49.8

Milwaukee-Racine WI 230.7 300.8 30.4

Minneapolis-St. Paul MN 273.3 247.1 (-9.6)

New York-Long Island NY 475.9 429.3 (-9.8)

Orlando FL 214.4 283.6 32.3

Philadelphia PA-Wilmington DE 306.3 351.1 14.6

Phoenix-Mesa AZ 254.4 285.6 12.3

Pittsburgh PA 227.7 189.2 (-16.9)

Portland-Salem OR 345.1 366.2 6.1

Sacramento CA 297.2 325.7 9.6

San Antonio TX 208.0 201.1 (-3.3)

San Diego CA 506.4 525.1 3.7

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose CA 582.3 636.0 9.2

Seattle-Tacoma WA 400.5 473.0 18.1

St. Louis MO-IL 253.3 275.7 8.8

Tampa-St. Petersburg FL 250.6 244.3 (-2.5)

Virginia Beach-Norfolk VA 348.6 373.3 7.1

Washington DC-Baltimore MD 464.0 445.8 (-3.9)

U.S. Average (32 Cities) $307.6 $337.5 9.7

Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency

When it comes to the little things that sellers do to make their homes stand out from the competition, a new splash of paint is usually at the top of the list. Sprucing up the front yard and removing the clutter you have learned to live with over the years also rank high.

But the No. 1 step you can take, according to a recent survey of real estate agents, is cleaning the place from top to bottom. Spending a few hundred bucks for cleaning supplies, rolling up your sleeves and getting to work will pay huge dividends, dollar for dollar, according to nearly all the 500 agents who participated in the HomeGain poll.

Actually, cleaning has ranked as the top home improvement suggested by realty professionals ever since HomeGain began asking the question in 2003. In the latest survey, the agents said spending $400 on cleaning is likely to gain sellers $2,000 more at closing. That's a 400 percent return on investment.

Of course, there is clean and then there is really CLEAN! Here are some tips gleaned mainly from the folks at The Maids, a residential cleaning service with about 150 franchises in 40 states, with suggestions from Mary Moppins thrown in for good measure:

-- You may not look up when you walk around your house, but would-be buyers do. They look everywhere, so knock down any cobwebs, clean the blades on the ceiling fans and remove the dust that has built up on the top of window and door frames, as well as other places it tends to accumulate.

Now look down and clean your baseboards.

-- Wash the windows, inside and out. Professional house cleaner Mary Findley, aka the aforementioned Mary Moppins, cleans windows with a 32-ounce spray bottle filled with 1/3 cup white vinegar, 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol and the rest distilled water.

For best results, wash on a cloudy day. Sunlight dries the glass quickly, causing streaks.

-- You'll want to shower your place with light to show it off, especially at night, so remove the bugs that have accumulated in your light fixtures and clean the glass. Replace the bulbs with new ones. That way, Findley says, you won't have a burnout during a showing.

-- Clean the stove and oven. If you have burner drip trays, replace them. The cost is minimal, and they will make the range sparkle. As an alternative, Findley suggests placing dirty drip pans in a plastic bag with a 50/50 mixture of water and ammonia. Let sit for a day, then scour and rinse.

Don't overlook the range hood -- not just the top, but also underneath where grease tends to accumulate. Spray foaming tile and tub cleaner, wait a few minutes and wipe.

-- Window treatments tend to trap dust and odors. Dry-clean or at least vacuum drapes. Roll up blinds to remove them. Then loosen and wash in a tub of warm, soapy water with a cup of white vinegar. Rinse and lay flat on a towel outside to dry.

Alternatively, hang the blinds outside with the slats facing down. Spray from bottom to top with foaming tub and tile cleaner, a Findley favorite. Sponge off with water, then flip them over, turn the slats in the other direction and repeat. "Sparkling blinds in 15 minutes," Findley says.

-- Eliminate lingering odors in the dishwasher by running it with a couple tablespoons of Tang, the powdered breakfast drink.

-- Decluttering goes along with cleaning. Since lookers will peer in your kitchen cabinets and drawers, take everything out, pack away what you're not using and neatly restack what's left -- but not before wiping the shelves and drawers clean.

-- Cabinet doors don't need to be replaced or resurfaced, just cleaned, Findley says. Start with a wood cleaner to deep-clean the doors, than apply a wood restorer to replenish the finish.

-- Shampoo carpets and then vacuum daily. "Nothing screams 'clean' like visible carpet pile lines," according to The Maids.

Wood and tile floors should be mopped. Clean the grout, too. If your linoleum floor no longer holds a shine, strip it with a janitorial-grade wax remover and redo with janitorial non-yellowing wax, which Findley says holds up longer than most store waxes. That way, if it takes longer than expected to sell, at least you won't have to rewax.

-- In the bathroom, clean showers, sinks and tubs. Remove hard-water spots and soap scum by spraying them with undiluted, heated white vinegar. Let soak 15 minutes before scrubbing.

Alternatively, Findley suggests applying a concentrated orange-based cleaner full-strength. Give it at least an hour to dissolve soap residue. Then use a white scrub pad -- only white; any other color will scratch the surface -- to remove the buildup.

-- To get rid of water rings in the toilet bowl, drain the bowl and saturate several heavy-duty shop paper towels with either orange cleaner or white vinegar. Plaster the sides of the bowl with the towels and let sit for several hours. For a quicker solution, try the stuff you use to clean tile grout.

-- Wash shower curtains and liners. Wash glass doors as you would showers and tubs above. Treat fiberglass walls with a Molly Moppins product called Gel Gloss, available in the bathtub section of hardware stores.

Hit mildew with straight hydrogen peroxide as opposed to bleach, the fumes of which can be overpowering in small spaces.

-- Walls and ceilings should be dusted. For textured surfaces and rough wood, slip three lint roller tubes over a paint roller and roll.

-- Wipe down front and back doors, including screens. Remove oil spots from garage floor and driveway. Polish doorknobs, hinges and drawer handles, and clean your trash cans.