Veterans Affairs Lifts Barrier to Compensation for Military Home Buyers

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced last week a temporary policy that lets VA home buyers pay their real estate agents directly. The VA will decide later if this change needs to become permanent.

This new policy is a big help for VA home buyers. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) has been working hard to support them. Earlier this year, NAR pushed to change the old VA rule that stopped VA borrowers from paying a “brokerage fee or commission" for real estate services. This rule was causing problems for VA buyers.

Under the new temporary policy, eligible veterans, active-duty service members, and surviving spouses using their VA home loan benefits can now pay for certain real estate buyer broker fees when buying a home. The goal is to make sure VA programs continue to support veterans in buying homes.

Helping veterans find housing is a top priority for NAR. “NAR launched an all-hands advocacy effort on this issue, meeting with VA officials, engaging with lawmakers and rallying our industry partners to ensure this prohibition was lifted,” said Shannon McGahn, NAR Chief Advocacy Officer. “Without this change, thousands of veteran buyers could be denied access to professional representation in their pursuit of the American Dream of homeownership. Taking this extra step ensures veterans have the same opportunity as others to compete in a tight housing market. We applaud the VA for recognizing this danger and acting swiftly to protect veterans.”

The VA home loan guaranty program is a key tool that helps military veterans buy homes with no down payment as a benefit for their service to the nation. It’s also the only program that explicitly prevented buyers from directly paying for professional real estate services, said NAR President Kevin Sears.

“We applaud the VA for revising this policy and allowing veterans and active-duty service members the same advantages as other buyers in a competitive real estate market,” Sears said. “We look forward to continuing this conversation, and our 1.5 million members stand ready to support the VA in whatever way possible to protect the brave men and women who serve this country and ensure they are given the equal opportunity to achieve the American Dream of homeownership.”

The VA and NAR will keep an eye on the changing homebuying market as these updates start on August 17 and will provide updates as needed. The VA encourages veterans to negotiate buyer broker fees with their real estate agents and also mentions that VA buyers can still ask sellers to cover the buyer broker’s fee at closing.

[This article, " Veterans Affairs Lifts Barrier to Compensation for Military Home Buyers" was written by Hunter Letendre, with the assistance of ChatGPT, a language model trained by OpenAI. Source: “Veterans Affairs Removes Compensation Hurdle for Military Buyers" on NAR.Realtor ]