Client wants to put an IRA into a property I'd be the listing agent on

Friendship isn't in the disqualified person definition, so you being a family friend of his isn't the issue on its face. His plan to be his own agent and route the commission is a completely different thing and I'd expect that to be a problem. Get an attorney's read rather than mine.

kestrel, the difference is who provides the service. The prohibited transaction rules bar the IRA from transacting with disqualified persons, and the account holder is a disqualified person to their own IRA. A licensed agent earning a commission on a purchase for their own IRA is providing a service to the account and receiving compensation connected to it, and that is the pattern the rules are written against. Whether it applies to a specific fact set is a determination for a tax attorney, and the qualifier matters because the consequence is disqualification of the whole account and a taxable distribution.

halyard, on your own engagement: the definition of disqualified person covers the account holder, the spouse, lineal ascendants and descendants and their spouses, plus fiduciaries to the plan and entities the account holder controls. A friend is not in the list. The exposure people miss is the fiduciary prong, which can reach someone who exercises discretionary authority over the account or gets paid for advice about plan assets. An arm's length buyer's agent earning a market commission is a different posture from someone advising on what the plan should invest in, and that line is worth having drawn by counsel rather than assumed.

On documentation, the buyer of record will be the custodian for the benefit of the account, not your client personally, and the custodian will have its own requirements for the purchase contract and how closing costs and commissions are disbursed. Ask the custodian for their transaction checklist in writing before you write an offer. Also confirm your own state's agency disclosure and commission rules with your broker, since those differ by state and the IRA is the buyer here rather than the individual.

The practical thing is your timeline. Custodians move on their own schedule and a fall close with earnest money deadlines is where these deals fall apart. If you take it, build the funding lead time into every date on the contract and get the custodian's turnaround in writing first.