With their legislative sessions winding down for the year, 60% of all states have now acted to curb private transfer fees.
The latest are Oklahoma and Nevada, which are the 29th and 30th state, respectively, to ban the controversial fees which, when made part of the property's covenants, are extremely difficult to remove.
The fees require that a percentage of the final sales price of a home -- generally 1% -- be paid to a private third party every time the property is sold, typically for 99 years. But they are being fought by a coalition of housing industry groups led by the National Association of Realtors and the American Land Title Association.
In Washington, meanwhile, lenders and other interested parties are awaiting the publication of a final rule by the Federal Housing Finance Agency that would prohibit the government sponsored agencies from dealing in mortgages on properties encumbered by "certain" private transfer fees.
As proposed, the rule would exempt transfer fees paid to homeowner, condominium and cooperative associations as well as certain tax-exempt organizations. But otherwise, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks would be barred from dealing in loans on properties saddled with fees that do not directly benefit the property.
However, the rule would apply only to mortgages made on or after the date of publication.
Besides Oklahoma and Nevada, these states have acted to curb private transfer fees: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
