Fannie Mae against investors

Dealing primarily with the foreclosure market in the past two years, lately I have been involved in many Fannie Mae transactions as both a buyer’s agent and a buyer. Unfortunately, although they are often some of the best deals on the market, that fact might be changing. If you are a real estate investor, Fannie has now stacked the deck against you. In the often misguided attempt to encourage home ownership across the United States, from now on, when a Fannie Mae foreclosure property hits the market, for the first 15 days it is listed no offers will be considered from investors. NONE.

When purchasing a HUD property, it is not uncommon for bid preference to go to owner-occupants. Especially in the first couple weeks of a listing. But they still consider offers from everybody. Fannie Mae, on the other hand, has been more even handed in their approach. Unofficially they might give some preference to owner occupants, but I never had an issue with it. Now, they suddenly won’t even look at your offer. This 180 in policy has me scratching my head to be honest.

The first property I encountered this on was actually a 4-family, which is even more odd. Most 4’s are not owner-occupied yet they are making this thing sit. From a business perspective, even if no owner-occupant buys the place before 15 days, this is going to really hurt all the proactive agents and buyers who make solid offers within a day or two of the listing coming on the market.

4 thoughts on “Fannie Mae against investors”

  • Scott Hadfield

    I heard the other day from a mortgage company that Fannie May, Freddie Mac are imposing a 12 month hold on purchases for buyers that are using these institutions for financing on any property that was a previous foreclosure. So if an investor is trying to do an honest flip (purchase and rehab) they cannot sell to a buyer with this financing unless they hold property for a 12 month term. We are losing our free market.

  • Matt Kastner

    I had not heard that, by I can believe it with these other changes coming down the pipeline. I just wonder the exact source of these new rules. Were they tacked onto a huge bill (ex. the Stimulus Bill) or is this just something coming out of Fannie Mae itself?

  • Mark

    Buying Fanni Mae property could be a big problem. I am buying property for all cash deal, and still, can not close this transaction for more then 2 month. Problem? Yes, on side of Seller (Fannie Mae). What kind?
    Difficult to get to know and there is no way to complain. Very barricaded against investors organization.

  • Tom

    This is a boondoggle. These rules against investors are srewing the economy more than anything. One of the basic rules of foreclosure real estate is that the property is moved from weak hands to strong hands. Investors have the funds to fix up these properties. A healthy real estate market requires movement to be healthy. These rules are slowing everything down and keeping the market from healing.

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