Fannie Aims to Curb Short Sale Woes With New Site

Following the success of an escalation process initiated in February, Fannie Mae is introducing another website tool to help real estate professionals close short sale transactions. Real estate listing agents will now be asked to register accepted short sale offers with Fannie Mae to provide greater transparency and to allow the company to work with mortgage servicers to expedite the sale.

Agents will provide sale information including property address, MLS listing details, information about the offer and any subordinate liens on www.Homepathforshortsales.com. They will also be asked to upload scanned copies of the sales contract, the HUD-1 settlement and borrower authorization form. Fannie Mae is also encouraging agents to reach out to Fannie Mae early in the short sale process to request list price guidance.

"Fannie Mae recognizes the very important role real estate professionals play in the short sale process and we want to work closely with them to get short sales done," said Jay Ryan, vice president for real estate sales, Fannie Mae.  "Our objective is to help stabilize neighborhoods by completing short sales as close to fair market value as possible.  We believe this new process will help ensure all parties are in communication early on and are able to come to an agreeable and appropriate sales price.  At the end of the day, Fannie Mae wants to get short sales done so that we can prevent foreclosures and help neighborhoods recover."

The short-sale escalation process was established to assist agents with challenges such as valuation disputes, delays by servicers, or uncooperative subordinate lien holders. Agents use the process to request that Fannie Mae directly engage with agent or servicer to resolve the problem. Since February the process has resulted in the successful resolution of 10,000 cases. Agents using the new tool are also encouraged to use the escalation process on the same website when needed.