Michigan Association of Realtors

Consumers across the country can now take advantage of a Federal Housing Administration program to allow qualified home buyers to apply the $8,000 tax credit when purchasing a home. FHA will now permit its lenders to provide a short-term bridge loan that will let qualified home buyers use the tax credit to either make a larger downpayment above the FHA required 3.5 percent, cover closing costs, or buy down their interest rate.

On April 20, 2009, a federal judge in Alabama concluded that a broker’s “administrative brokerage commission” fee of $149 per transaction violated Section 8(b) of RESPA. A brief review of the law demonstrates that the Alabama decision changes nothing in Michigan.