VA announces updates to help Veterans using VA home loan benefits remain competitive in the housing market

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that eligible Veterans, active-duty service members, and surviving spouses who use the VA-guaranteed home loan benefit can pay for certain real estate buyer-broker fees when purchasing a home beginning Aug. 10, 2024.

This will help ensure that Veterans remain competitive and are not disadvantaged on the homebuying market due to changes that may result from a key class-action settlement involving the National Association of REALTORS®, which is slated to take effect later this summer. Previously, Veterans could not pay their buyer-broker fees when using their home loans benefits.

The VA home loan program, which celebrates its 80th anniversary later this month, is a critical benefit for eligible Veterans interested in becoming homeowners. Created in 1944 as part of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act — also known as the “G.I. Bill of Rights” — this program has provided over 28 million loans to Veterans to date. Last year, Veterans obtained over 400,000 homes loans through this program.

“We always want to put Veterans and their families in the best possible position to buy the homes they want, and that’s what this update is all about,” said Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs. “Veterans using VA home loan benefits can now pay reasonable and customary amounts for certain charges — including commissions and other broker-related fees — thus ensuring that they remain competitive in the rapidly changing housing market.”

The temporary measures announced today will help ensure that Veterans are not negatively impacted by the class-action settlement. VA will continue to monitor how the settlement affects the brokerage market and looks forward to pursuing a rulemaking.

VA encourages Veterans using the VA-guaranteed home loan benefit to remember that they can and should still negotiate their buyer-broker fee. In addition, nothing in the settlement prevents Veteran home-buyers from asking sellers to pay the fees at closing, which has long been and continues to be, a viable practice under VA’s rules. In addition to other safeguards, all buyer-broker fees charged to Veterans using the home loan benefit must be reasonable and customary within local markets. As the landscape of the real estate market evolves, VA will continue to monitor for changes, as well as new models of realtor commissions that may emerge and help lower costs, boost competition, and increase avenues to home ownership.  

For more details about this new update and its impacts, visit this FAQ in VA News and Circulars: Calendar Years 2021 to Present – VA Home Loans. More information on the VA Home Loan Program, loan volumes by state and county and a video are available through these links.