June 11th, 2024
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced a significant update that impacts Veterans using their VA home loan benefits. Starting August 10, 2024, Veterans will be permitted to pay buyer-broker fees, a shift from previous regulations.
Please see the full update and watch for further info but here are some highlights to note from the June 11th update:
Effective Date:
This change will take effect on August 10, 2024.
Eligibility Criteria:
The home must be in an area where listing brokers are prohibited from setting buyer-broker compensation through the MLS, or
Buyer-Broker compensation cannot be established by or flow through the listing broker.
Payment Details:
Broker fees cannot be included in the loan amount.
Broker fees paid by the Veteran must be accounted for when determining the liquid assets required for closing.
While an invoice is not required to support the charge, the payment amount must be recorded on the Closing Disclosure (CD). The broker agreement must be uploaded when an appraisal is requested and must be maintained in the loan file.
Seller Contributions:
The change does not prevent the home seller from covering the Veteran’s buyer-broker fees.
The VA will not consider the seller's payment of broker charges as a seller concession.
This adjustment is considered a temporary local variance, and the VA will continue to work towards establishing a permanent rule change.
For further details, you can read the full announcement here:
https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/documents/circulars/26-24-14.pdf?
