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