Buying a Home? Check out Special Offers from Fannie Mae

Published by nora | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Market Trends, Mortgage / Finance, Real Estate, Shout Outs

Fannie Mae continues to find ways to make home buying easier and less costly for you. Since 2009, this agency has been backing two out of every five single-family loans securitized in the country. Recently, it enhanced two of its initiatives: a direct financial assistance for homebuyers, and a strategy by which homebuyers like you can take a look at Fannie Mae homes first before investors do.

Financial Assistance for Home Buyers

You can receive closing cost assistance equivalent to up to 3.5 percent of your purchase price if you buy a HomePath home between now and December 31, 2010. You can also use the money to pay for your home warranty. The home must be for your own use and you must close within 60 days of the acceptance of your offer. You must also include this incentive request in your initial purchase offer.

HomePath homes are housing units that have been repossessed by Fannie Mae. According to The Wall Street Journal, Fannie Mae and its fellow government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac have more than 191,000 homes in their real-estate owned inventories as of June 30, 2010. In the first six months this year, more than 87,000 families have become homeowners by buying HomePath units, almost double the number of HomePath buyers during the same period last year, according to Fannie Mae’s portfolio managers.

First Look 

You’re more important to Fannie Mae than investor buyers. As a government-owned entity, it has a mandate of looking over the farewell of homeowners first and of helping make the dream of home ownership true for more Americans. According to Fannie Mae, it has sold more than 29,000 units of its REO inventory last year to owner occupants under its First Look program.

Under this program, every time Fannie Mae lists REOs on its HomePath marketplace, you’re given 15 days to look at the listings, inspect the units and submit a purchase offer through your real estate agent before these units are offered to investor buyers. Without competition from investors, you have more chances of having your offer accepted by Fannie Mae.

NSP and First Look

You have access to more home buying help if you live in or near cities or counties where there are Neighborhood Stabilization Program projects. In addition to your First Look opportunity, you can also take advantage of your local NSP offers, such as down payment assistance or renovation assistance. The funds you get from these are grants – you don’t need to pay them back – as long as you live in the homes you buy for a minimum number of years. Fannie Mae has already worked with about 800 local organizations that run NSP programs and have sold them about 5,000 housing units through First Look.

HomePath Mortgage Loans

Since the launching of its HomePath initiative, Fannie Mae has been offering its REO units with low down payments, flexible mortgage terms, no appraisal fees and no mortgage insurance in many cases. HomePath financing is available from plenty of lenders nationwide, both local and national mortgage lenders.