Breaking news in the real estate community. This week Gabrielle Harrison the VP of REO sales for Fannie Mae, and Ingrid Beckles the Default Asset Manager at Freddie Mac announced an overhaul to the short sale process at the two companies.
A crowded room at the 5 Star Conference this week erupted as Gabriele Harrison announced that Fannie Mae will be using asset management companies to handle their companies short sale requests in the future. Fannie Mae, the single biggest player in the mortgage market, will be informing clients that they will need to work with asset management companies when “short selling” their property.
An asset management company acts as a middle man between the banks that own the mortgage and the client that is trying to short sale the property. Asset management companies are already big players in the Foreclosure market, but up until now have not worked with short sale properties. The change that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are making should have some positive effects. Because most major banks use them for their foreclosed on properties, making the shift to Short Sale homes should be fairly straightforward. Using one company for all short sales will also streamline the process and speed up the time it takes for a client to short sale their house.
However, the new process is not great news for everyone. Since the housing collapse in late 2006 real estate agents have struggled to stay afloat, many agents have turned to short sales and working with distressed properties to help them stay afloat during the down market. When Fannie and Freddie start working exclusively with the asset management companies they will essentially be cutting out these agents. Fannie and Freddie currently own roughly half of the mortgages in America, if other big banks follow the lead small real estate agents will be all but cut out of the picture.
Details on the short sale process are still to come. We have put in calls to Mrs. Harrison (Fannie Mae) and Mrs. Beckles (Freddie Mac) however they were both unavailable for comment. We will keep you up to date on all the new developments as they come. We are still doing research but thought this information was worth sharing even in its primitive state.
2 Responses
I have been under contract on a Freddie Mac short sale property since January 2nd. I have jumped through all their hoops, agreed to pay an increased sale price – $4,800 OVER the market value established by a multiple bid situation that we originally contracted for and $10,000 over asking price – and they STILL have not approved the sale almost 5 months later. I can’t believe this process is “streamlined.” I think it’s time for another “overhaul.” In the meantime, I am ready to walk away from this sale. Way to go Freddie Mac.
I have been trying to short sale my house since January.
TBW had the mortgage, they went bankrupt, and now Ocwen
has the loan. The hold up is Freddie Mac. On April 5th, if the
short sale gets Freddie Mac’s blessing, I hope to get $1,500.00
to move and Ocwen or Freddie Mac gets $1,000.00 from the
Government. My loan number for Freddie Mac is 0070745377.
My cell phone is (702) 788-3439. I hope to sell soon. Please let me
know.
Thank You