Dodd-Frank & Utah Seller-Financing Licensing Checker

Federal rules treat someone who arranges home loans for pay as a “loan originator.” Two exclusions take ordinary sellers out of that definition. They don't exempt anyone from TILA generally (12 CFR § 1026.36).

	Three-property exclusion	One-property exclusion
Rule	12 CFR § 1026.36(a)(4)	12 CFR § 1026.36(a)(5)
Who	Any person, including an LLC	A natural person, an estate, or a trust
How many	Three or fewer properties in 12 months	One property in 12 months
Builder?	Not the builder	Not the builder
Balloon	Not allowed — must fully amortize	Allowed (no negative amortization)
Ability to repay	Good-faith determination required	Not required
Rate	Fixed, or adjustable only after five or more years with reasonable caps

Utah adds its own layer. The Residential Mortgage Practices and Licensing Act exempts a seller who takes back a trust deed as security for the purchase price, with no numeric cap (Utah Code § 61-2c-105(2)(i)). Separately, a casual lender making fewer than five mortgage loans a year is exempt from DFI notification (Utah Code § 70D-2-103).

Above five dwelling-secured loans a year, you become a TILA “creditor,” and disclosures, ability-to-repay, and TRID apply (12 CFR § 1026.2). The full guide explains each piece.

Balloon allowed under that exclusion?	Yes
Ability-to-repay determination?	Not required by the exclusion
Utah 61-2c seller exemption	Fits: you're the seller taking back a trust deed for the purchase price. No numeric cap. Utah Code § 61-2c-105(2)(i)
Utah 70D casual-lender exemption	Fits: fewer than five mortgage loans a year. Loans of two years or less are also exempt. Utah Code § 70D-2-103
TILA “creditor” status	Unlikely at five or fewer dwelling-secured loans a year. 12 CFR § 1026.2