Today, the Federal Housing Administration issued guidance regarding the payment of Real Estate Agent commission and forthcoming changes in the real estate industry. This is in response to numerous inquiries received by FHA after the recent settlement proposed by the National Association of REALTORS®.
In its announcement, they stated: Since its announcement, FHA has received questions from its stakeholders regarding how the proposed settlement agreement will affect the treatment of seller-paid buyer real estate broker fees in transactions using FHA-insured mortgage financing.
Under existing FHA policy, if sellers continue to pay buyer-side real estate agent commissions and fees as a manner of state and local law or custom, and if the commissions and fees are reasonable in amount, existing policy would not treat those payments as interested party contributions provided all other requirements are met.
FHA will continue to monitor the real estate marketplace for changes resulting from the settlement for potential impacts to its policies and will address additional questions as they develop.
Essentially, there are no forthcoming changes to the FHA loan program. As long as the method in which the real estate commission is paid does not change from current practice, then there are no changes to existing FHA policy. There will continue to need to be a separate commission agreement where the Seller agrees to pay the commission of the Buyer's Agent. This will continue to be independent of the sales contract itself.
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