I make gift baskets for Realtors etc. is this a violation of Respa?

I would not think as a vendor of goods you would be subject to RESPA:





It was created because various companies associated with the buying and selling of real estate, such as lenders, realtors, and title insurance companies were often engaging in providing undisclosed kickbacks to each other, inflating the costs of real estate transactions and obscuring price competition by facilitating bait and switch tactics.





In my area, the impact has mostly been from things title companies used to provide to us for free, like flyerboxes, lunches for broker opens, marketing materials to mail to clients, interior flyer stands.





You most likely make the baskets %26amp; the agents buy them from you to give to their clients that have bought or sold a home. There are no rules about real estate agents giving a client a "closing gift" as long as it's not a cash kickback.

I make gift baskets for Realtors etc. is this a violation of Respa?
Lots of real estate agents give a reasonable gift to their clients after they buy or sell a home. That is acceptable under the law.
Reply:I live in MN so the rules may be a bit differant BUT the rule of thumb would be ~ as long as you are giving something to someone without any strings attached you should be fine. That just makes you a loan officer (I assume since you're asking about RESPA) marketing with no strings attached. If you are giving the gift baskets saying to receive this basket you MUST use xyz service then you might be in violation.


Otherwise it doesn't matter what your occupation is or who you decide to give gifts to ~ but check with your local lender association to be sure (check your specific states requirements) Hope that helps :)