Hello everyone. Today I’m going to talk again about buyer agent commissions that went into effect on Saturday. This is a new world for a lot of folks, and so here’s my first tip. Stay in your lane. Loan officers, stay in your lane. We talked a little bit about this on show’s path, the realtors, those of you out there who are listening from the real estate community. We know you have a brand new challenge and you need to learn how to sell yourself. I have heard agents say, oh, I have to have you sign this government form before you go see a house. That’s the surefire way to alienate a borrower. So learning how to sell yourself, sell your services, manage this new world, is going to be something that a lot of realtors are gonna say. I don’t know how to sell myself. I just wanna grab somebody and take them into a house. All that’s off the table, all that’s gone. You have a new world of now actually negotiating and talking about your commission before you start working with somebody. The conversations have already made it transparent also for sellers, eyes are open now going, wait a minute, you mean I don’t have to pay it? You want me to agree to paying this upfront? So, this conversation is already evolving where sellers are saying, no, I don’t wanna pay it anymore. So today we are considering that if the seller does agree to pay buyer agent commission, it is not a finance charge, so you won’t be faced with change of circumstance issues. If it does change throughout the process, it is not a concession that has to be included in our maximum allowable concessions. However, there is a very bright line on what is not our job as a mortgage company or a loan officer, and do not cross that line in advising your borrower and how much they can afford in a commission or advising the realtor on how much the buyer has available. For commission, that’s a violation of several things. So just a heads up, we are now in that new world. I’ve talked about it a few times, but wanted to make sure you all had some really clear reminders. This is today, this is now and make sure you understand how to stay in your lane and help the realtors learn how to sell. Those are the two biggest things going on today in the NAR settlement implementation. We wish you all the best out there, Dave. I’ll turn it back to you.
Alice Alvey, Master CMB
She handles development of their World Class Training program designed to support UHM partners and organizational effectiveness.
Prior to UHM, Alice served as Senior Vice President at Indecomm leading the Indecomm-Mortgage U division, Internal QA and Compliance and SaaS technologies. Indecomm acquired Mortgage U in 2013, where Alice was President/Co-founder, providing training and consulting since 1996. Prior to MU she served as SVP of Operations at a national bank overseeing operations for wholesale, retail and correspondent from underwriting through servicing, and compliance.
She has been in the trenches of mortgage lending operations from application through servicing for over 30 years. Her authoring work in training content, policies and procedures and the FHA/VA Practical guides illustrates her ability to bridge regulatory requirements with day-to-day operations.
Alice has been a weekly contributor to the Lykken on Lending show since its beginning in April 2009 and has made her weekly contributions to 450+ episodes!