Articles of Interest

Foreclosures: Uncle Sam and His 248,000 Homes

U.S. taxpayers are the biggest owners of repossessed homes. For now, they’re stuck with them.  http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/foreclosures-uncle-sam-and-his-248000-homes-09012011.html

http://www.bankersonline.com/regs/226/226-23.html

http://www.bankersonline.com/regs/226/226-2.html

Three States Move to Ban Foreclosure Sales From Appraisal Values

With foreclosure sales steadily rising, four states are concerned that the use of the foreclosure sale prices in appraisals of neighboring homes is distorting the market. Legislators in Illinois, Nevada, and Missouri have all proposed separate bills that would exclude or restrict foreclosure sales from being used as comparisons to determine the value of homes around them. Maryland had proposed a similar bill, but withdrew the legislation on 3/31/11.


http://www.dsnews.com/articles/three-states-move-to-ban-foreclosure-sales-from-appraisal-values-2011-03-30

Fannie Mae Announces 3.5% Buyer Assistance on REO Properties

Fannie Mae announced Monday that borrowers purchasing a Fannie Mae-owned property through HomePath, the GSE's REO disposition operation, will receive up to 3.5 percent in closing cost assistance. The company has implemented this temporary buyer assistance program fairly regularly since the beginning of last year -- a strategy aimed at helping the GSE unload a bloated supply of repossessed homes. Fannie Mae acquired 262,078 single-family REO properties through foreclosure in 2010, compared with 145,617 in 2009.
http://www.dsnews.com/articles/fannie-mae-announces-35-buyer-assistance-on-reo-properties-2011-04-11

OCC Issues Warning on Real Estate-Owned Exchange Programs

http://occ.gov/news-issuances/bulletins/2011/bulletin-2011-10.html

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has issued a notice to the chief executives of all the lenders it regulates warning them of the risks involved in real estate-owned exchange programs. Several companies have started marketing real estate-owned exchange programs to national banks as a means to reduce problem assets on their balance sheets, but the OCC says these programs "can raise significant safety and soundness, legal, and accounting concerns."

REO

As of September 30, Fannie Mae’s inventory of single-family REO properties stood at 166,787. Freddie Mac’s REO inventory totaled 74,897 homes at the end of September. Together, the two GSEs hold about a quarter of all bank-owned residential properties in the United States.