Anyone who has bought a home knows that the "Truth in Lending" form is misnamed for so many reasons.

Reason #1: This document is hidden from view until you are sitting at the closing table
Reason #2: The interest rate you locked turns out not to be the interest rate you end up paying
Reason #3: In truth, your attorney, lender and realtor often don't understand the algorithmic math involved
Reason #4: Even if your so-called advisors understand the math, they don't know how to explain it

Which brings me to the main point of this post: why is it that when making the largest financial transaction of our adult lives, we are not able to get the information we need to make a thoughtful purchase before we have pen and check in hand? Would we go to the grocery store, pick out our items and not know what we were spending until we handing over our money to the cashier? Would we sit down to sign a contract to buy a car without asking to see all of the charges beforehand? Why does the real estate industry get away with this? The answer I continually get is: because this is the way it has always been done. When will lenders, mortgage brokers, realtors, attorneys, etc. be forced, as the financial services industry was forced, to become more transparent? Surely someday in the forseeable future there will be an app for that.