Fannie Mae recently introduced a new tool to help real estate professionals successfully close short sales. Listing agents are now asked to register accepted short sale offers with Fannie Mae to provide greater transparency into the process and allow Fannie Mae to proactively work with the mortgage servicer to finalize the sale. This process is the next step in Fannie Mae’s effort to work more collaboratively with real estate agents on short sales.
“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,” says 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.”
Moving forward, agents are asked to provide short sale offer information, such as the property address, MLS listing information, offer details, and subordinate lien information, through Fannie Mae’s Homepathforshortsales.com website. Agents will also be asked to upload scanned copies of the sales contract, estimated net sheet or HUD-1 settlement statement and borrower authorization form. REALTORS® are also encouraged to proactively reach out to Fannie Mae early in the short sale process to request list price guidance to aid in marketing efforts.
Agents who have challenges such as valuation disputes, delays by servicers or uncooperative subordinate lien holders may also use the short sale escalation process on the website to request assistance. Once a case is escalated, Fannie Mae will directly engage with the agent or servicer to address challenges. Since the escalation tool was announced in February 2013, over 10,000 short sale cases have been submitted and successfully closed. In 2012, Fannie Mae completed 73,528 short sales.
For more information, visit www.fanniemae.com.
