Fannie Mae First Look Program Draws in Thousands of REO Buyers
Fannie Mae announced that its First LookTM program has moved more than 29,000 homes out of its owned real estate portfolio in the last year, selling the properties acquired by the government sponsored enterprise (GSE) through foreclosure to owner occupants
First Look is designed to promote owner occupancy and community involvement in housing. Individuals and public entities are given a period of time, typically 15 days, after a property is listed on the GSE's HomePath.com real estate marketplace, to inspect the property and submit an offer to purchase before the property is made available to investors. In addition to selling to individual owner-occupying buyers, Fannie has worked with almost 800 public entities which finance the purchase using Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds. These entities have purchased 5,000 properties through First Look.
"While investors play an important role in the REO market, homebuyers who intend to occupy a home make an immediate and lasting commitment to the community and therefore merit priority consideration in the REO sales process," said Jay Ryan, Vice President for Alternative REO Dispositions at Fannie Mae. "Public entities under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program also benefit from inspecting eligible properties and making offers to purchase without pressure from open market competition. These entities are making considerable investments in rehabilitation and stabilization."
The Wall Street Journal recently said that, at the end of June over 191,000 homes were in the REO inventories of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Buyers can indentify First Look offerings as well as other homes for sale by Fannie Mae by visiting the HomePath website at http://www.HomePath.com. First Look programs are identified with a logo and a countdown clock which indicates how many days remain in the initial offering period.
FHA VERSION: Neighborhood Stabilization Participants Get First Look at FHA REO