In January, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the first major changes to FHA financing for the year changing the maximum seller concessions from 6% to 3% early summer 2010.

The changes to seller concessions will have a large impact. Concessions include what the seller is contributing to the buyer in the transaction. A common concession is a credit from the seller to cover the buyer’s closing costs. A 3% limit on seller concessions is enough to cover closing costs on a purchase of around $250,000, but with a purchase price of anything less than $250,000 the buyer will be forced to pay some closing costs out-of-pocket. This will be a pain-point for many FHA borrowers in the months to come.

The change in concessions will also impact new construction transactions. Upgrades on a new home will be considered a seller concession if the purchase and sale clearly states that there was an increase in price for these upgrades. For example, supposing a buyer plans to purchase a new home at $295,000. In this transaction, the builder/seller is offering to pay the buyer’s closing costs up to $9,000, and the buyer is putting $20,000 down. The buyer’s loan officer arranges a loan with closing costs of approximately $8,000 for a $275,000 loan. In this instance, $275,000 x 3%= $8,250 — the buyer is okay.