So I am lost in a bit of wishful thinking, but the whole process of developing the TRID was really bass-ackward.

IMHO - instead of trying to mesh together TILA and RESPA requirements into one document, the approach SHOULD have been to design a form that is clear and straightforward AND provides for typical real estate industry practices such as regions where seller pays for owner's title or transfer taxes, the third party unavoidable items like HOA fees and verification charges, and the instances where banks absorb certain costs (like small banks that run a simple Experian report and don't charge) and so on.

From there, create the regulation that governs the disclosure, not the other way around.

I know - it will never happen even though it would have produced the most meaningful and workable disclosures.