FRONT LINES: Fast Takes

Fees don’t violate RESPA Lender charges to cover settlement service costs, such as document deliveries, are OK under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. To be considered unearned, which RESPA prohibits, fees must be split with a third party. With the ruling, the court becomes the third federal appellate court to reject a statement of policy issued in 2001 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that expands the definition of unearned fees to include charges that don’t involve a third party. For more information on the RESPA ruling, click here.

Site stops paying for listings MSN House and Home (formerly Microsoft HomeAdvisor), a national online listings aggregator, stopped paying MLSs for their listings as of the end of March. The site will obtain listings through a partnership with RealEstate.com, another listings aggregator. MSN House and Home is now concentrating on site content for consumers. REALTOR.com, the official Internet site of NAR, continues to pay for its listings, says Dan Wool, a spokesperson for Homestore.com, which operates the site. Wool didn’t disclose the payment per listing. For more information on MSN House and Home payments, click here.

Practitioners retain VA sales The use of real estate practitioners in the sale of properties owned by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs won’t change, even though the agency is handing over its property management function to a private company, Ocwen Financial Corp. of West Palm Beach, Fla. The management role will transition to the company over a 150-day period beginning in late April, after the close of a public comment period. For more information on VA property management outsourcing, click here.

Education help available The Bollinger Foundation, which helps pay school costs for children who’ve suddenly lost one or both parents, is asking REALTORS^® to help it identify applicants for educational assistance. For children to be eligible, one or both parents must have worked in a public agency or private nonprofit group whose mission is the advancement of affordable housing, public housing, or community and economic development. The application deadline is May 20. For more information on Bollinger Foundation, click here.

FACTOID: $20 million
The $20 million NAR will spend this year on its Public Awareness Campaign includes ad buys on Spanish-language radio targeting the Hispanic homebuyer. The plan includes 10 weeks of advertising on Hispanic Radio Broadcasting and Radio Unica, two of the top Hispanic radio networks. For information on the campaign, click here.