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CDA template

Fill in a commission disbursement authorization for the title company, check the payees add up to the commission, and print it to sign. Nothing you type leaves this page.

Brokerage
Closing
Commission and payees

Up to four payees: the brokerage, an agent where your state allows it, a referral fee. They should add up to the commission.

The authorization

 
 

Commission disbursement authorization

To
 
Attention
 
Title file number
 
Property
 
Buyers
 
Sellers
 
Brokerage represents
 
Closing date
 
Sale price
 
Commission due
 

The brokerage named above authorizes and directs the title or escrow company to pay the commission due to it on the closing of this property as follows, and to show these payments on the settlement statement.

Pay to For Amount
     
     
     
     
Total  

This replaces any earlier commission instructions for this closing. It can be changed only in writing, signed for the brokerage.

Broker of record:

Date

Agent (acknowledged)

Date

Check it against your state's rules and the title company's requirements before you sign. Some title companies ask for their own form.

What a CDA is for

The title or escrow company holds the money at closing and pays everybody from it. It needs written instructions from the brokerage before it can pay the commission: how much the brokerage is owed, and whether any of it goes to somebody else, such as the agent or another brokerage owed a referral fee. That written instruction is the commission disbursement authorization, the CDA. Once it is signed, the closer puts the payments on the settlement statement and cuts the checks or wires.

Send it as soon as the deal is firm and the figures are settled, and again if anything changes, such as a price reduction after inspection or a concession. A CDA that is missing, late or does not add up can hold up the commission check at closing.

Before you send it

  • The commission matches the purchase agreement and any amendment to it.
  • The payees add up to the commission, to the cent.
  • A referral fee matches the referral agreement with the other brokerage.
  • The title file number and property address match the title company's.
  • It is signed by the broker of record or someone the brokerage has authorized.

Working out the agent's side first? The commission split calculator takes the referral fee, the split, the cap and the transaction fee in the order most plans use.

Questions

What is a CDA in real estate?

A commission disbursement authorization is the broker's written instruction to the title or escrow company saying who is paid the commission at closing and how much each payee gets. The closer follows it when the settlement statement is drawn up.

Who signs the CDA?

The broker of record, or the person the brokerage has authorized to sign for it. Many brokerages also have the agent sign to confirm the figures. The title company can refuse a CDA that is not signed by the brokerage.

Can the title company pay the agent directly?

Only if your state's rules and the brokerage allow it. In many states every commission must be paid to the brokerage, which then pays the agent. If yours is one of them, list the brokerage as the only payee and pay the agent yourself.

Is anything I type saved or sent anywhere?

No. The form fills the page in your browser and nothing else. It has no submit button, sends nothing to Deskwork or anyone else, and keeps nothing after you close the page.

Keep the whole file, contract to commission.

Deskwork is a back office for real-estate brokerages: every file's dates, checklist and documents, each agent's plan and cap, and a statement for each closing. Your documents stay in your own Google Drive.

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