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This is HUGE!!!

Submitting a Contract

Fannie Mae announces the expansion of the HomePath® for Short Sales website, a communication tool created to help real estate professionals efficiently complete short sales and resolve challenges directly with Fannie Mae. Listing Agents are able to submit a contract into the HomePath Short Sale Portal, negotiate, and receive first lien approval directly from Fannie Mae. Visit HomePath® for Short Sales website to view the list of participating servicers - (currently, Seterus is the only participating servicer - more servicers will be brought on during the course of the year).

To begin the process, use the Loan Lookup tool to determine if Fannie Mae owes your client's loan. If the loan is owned by Fannie Mae, have the homeowner complete and sign the Fannie Mae Homeowner Authorization form and contact the servicer to determine the homeowner's eligibility. Once the homeowner's eligibility has been determined, register as a listing agent in the HomePath Short Sale portal.

How to Submit a Contract trough the HomePath Short Sale Portal

1. Log into the HomePath Short Sale Portal
    
2. Submit the selected contract with terms acceptable to the homeowner into the HomePath Short Sale Portal (currently, Seterus is the only participating servicer - more servicers will come later in the year.)
    
3. If your client's loan is not serviced by a participating servicer, submit the contract directly to the servicer and to Fannie Mae through the Submit a Contract tab on the HomePath® for Short Sales website.
    
4. Await decisions and related communications from Fannie Mae. You will receive notifications if further actions are required or additional documentation is necessary.

Questions
For any technical support questions about the HomePath Short Sale Portal's functionality, please call 1-866-894-0205. If your question or issue does not relate to the functionality of the HomePath Short Sale Portal, you will be directed to the Fannie Mae resource center 1-800-7Fannie or to the Fannie Mae Short Sale escalation desk.

How To Dispute A Fannie Mae Value On A Short Sale

Hi folks. If you work Short Sales you know that one of the issues we have right now is Fannie Mae coming back with values that can not be supported by the market.

Inflated property values are the norm with FNNMA. They counter EVERY transaction with a very high price. You can count on it. If you are not prepared for this you can easily have your Fannie Mae HomePath Short Sale blown out of the water.

Since we know Fannie Mae is going to counter on price it is imperative that we can prove to FNNMA that the Short Sale Offer we have is "highest and best" and IS the market value for the short sale property.

So what do we do if we are listing a Fannie Mae HomePath Short Sale?

First, go to the Fannie Mae Loan Lookup Tool to verify that Fannie Mae is the investor for the loan you are getting ready to Short Sale. You will need a signed authorization to do this. Or the borrower can do it for you.

If the investor is Fannie Mae then go ahead and have your seller complete a Fannie Mae Borrower Authorization Form. You will need this later.

Now you have two choices.

1. Ask Fannie Mae to give you pricing before you list the property.
2. Wait and find a buyer and submit the short sale knowing FNNMA will counter the deal.

I prefer the 2nd choice. Why? Because I really need showing history and listing history to help support my value. I'm not concerned with Fannie Mae giving me a listing price as that is what I do for a living. I am concerned that I may need to justify my contract price.

To do that I need data. Lots if it!!

You can dispute a Fannie Mae Value at Fannie Mae's HomePath Short Sale Site.

I've done this about a dozen time and was able to close on all of them at our contract price.

I use data from:

1. MLS
2. RPR (Realtor property resource) use a full report with stats for the area.
3. Zillow. Why not? FNNMA does.
4. Tax records
5. Private sales
6. List history (FNNMA requires the property to be active on the market at least 7 days with 2 of them being over the weekend)
7. Showing history with agent feedback

Overwhelm them with data that supports your pricing. My experience is that as long as you can prove your case they will eventually agree. I've done this numerous times and all were successful. My average dispute is roughly 25 pages long including a cover letter explaining what we did to price, market and sell the property. 

You can also dispute value at time of listing through  Fannie Mae's HomePath Short Sale Site. And be sure enter you offer details in Homepath as soon as you send the Short Sale Submission to the servicer. That way FNNMA will monitor the transaction and keep it moving forward.

So don't let a high value from Fannie Mae derail your deal. Expect it and start preparing for the Fannie Mae Value Dispute at time of listing. I hope this helps.

Fannie Mae HomePath Short Sale Quick Links

1. Fannie Mae Loan Lookup Tool
2. Fannie Mae Borrower
   Authorization Form
3. Short Sale Affidavit
4. FAQs
5. Contacting Fannie Mae about
   an Active Short Sale Fact Sheet
6. Listing Agent Checklist
7. Report potential fraud on a
   Fannie Mae short sale

As many of you already know Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now handling Short Sales much as they do their REO properties.

Fannie Mae now has the new Standard Short Sale. Here are the Fannie Mae Standard Short Sale Guidelines.

• Please read the guidelines for more info and visit the Fannie Mae Homepath Short Sale site.

Here are a few highlights of the Fannie Mae Standard Short Sale.

Recommended pricing. While we have been struggling with the value system by Fannie Mae it’s a good thing that we can get the recommended price PRIOR to listing the property. This gives us the opportunity to dispute the value if needed before the property is under contract. Giving the property some time on the market with periodic price reductions will help you with your Fannie Mae Short Sales. Fannie Mae wants top dollar so we have to show that we tried. Nothing better for this than days on market, showing history and agent feedback.

• From Fannie Mae: “Our list price and market value guidance maintains neighborhood property values”

Escalate Direct To Fannie Mae. This has replaced the Fannie Mae help desk that some MLSs participated in. Now all agents can escalate to Fannie Mae here.

Streamlined Documentation. If the borrower is 90+ days delinquent and has a FICO score of less than 620 then NO hardship, documentation or contribution is required by Fannie Mae.

$3,000 Short Sale Relocation Assistance. Borrowers qualify for this if they do not have to make a contribution at closing.

Deficiency Waiver. ALL borrowers completing a Short Sale will receive a Deficiency Waiver. This is huge!!

Please read the Fannie Mae Standard Short Sale Guidelines for more info and visit the Fannie Mae Homepath Short Sale site.

2013 is going to be a very interesting year for Short Sales. I hope you are ready.

If you need help with a Florida Short Sale I can help. If you are an agent in Florida and don’t want to handle your own Short Sales then let’s co-list the property. You sell the property and I’ll negotiate the Short Sale with your Seller. I can provide references.

I hope this helps.

Related articles:

• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allow walkaways by on time borrowers

• The market shift is here are you paying attention

• Dear Fannie Mae

• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac new short sale evaluations are way off base
  

.........if you don't want to do Short Sales then please quit wasting everybody's time pretending you do. On November 1st you implemented the new "streamlined short sale"guidelines. Read the new servicer guidelines here.

Excerpts:

Determining the Market Value of the Property

• Fannie Mae requires that the property valuation for a short sale be based on an interior and exterior inspection of the property which can be either a broker price opinion (BPO) or, if licensing requirements in the state dictate use of an appraisal for these purposes, an appraisal (performed in accordance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice(USPAP). The property valuation must be dated or have been refreshed by Fannie Mae within 90 calendar days of the short sale approval

Evaluating Short Sale Offers

• The property valuation is the basis for the determining the minimum net required (MNR) proceeds and list price guidance from Fannie Mae. The servicer can only approve a short sale if proceeds from the short sale meet or exceed the MNR. The servicer must document Fannie Mae's MNR in the mortgage loan servicing file. The MNR must be kept confidential and must not be shared with interested parties to the transaction (for example, the buyer, seller, or real estate agents).

From the Federal Housing Finance Authority:

• These new guidelines demonstrate FHFA’s and Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s commitment to enhancing and streamlining processes to avoid foreclosure and stabilize communities,” said HFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco.

Well Edward, it all sounds great on paper but know that Short Sales are far more difficult now than they were prior to November 1, 2012.

Fannie Mae is now making getting a Short Sale approved very, very difficult. I guess they forgot to mention that even though it is now easier to qualify for a Short Sale it won't happen because Fannie Mae will only accept deals that are far higher than market value.

Why do you continue to keep agents in the dark about the value of the property? Why not sort out the price first and then let us do what we do to find a buyer. After all we are the experts when it comes to pricing and selling property.

Countering every contract we submit at far more than market value achieves nothing. And it's funny that this issue didn't exist until you decided to make Short Sales "easier".

And did you know that your servicers are giving us "approved" listing prices, based on your criteria, only to have you counter the price? We find a buyer at the approved price or higher and yet you, Fannie Mae, decide the price you gave us 30 days ago is no longer any good.

Here's a recent example of a failed Short Sale due to Fannie Mae's incompetence. You recently denied one of my Short Sales over price. We priced at $88,000 based on a full blown appraisal ordered by the servicer that was only 45 days old. Seemed like this price would be acceptable since it was also very much in line with market value. You countered at $125,000!! This over priced property now sits on the market. Maybe in 4 months time you will consider taking a deal at $88,000?

Sorry, Fannie Mae but your new  property valuation method is not working. Properties are not going to sell at the prices you want. So save us all a lot of frustration and time and just move straight to foreclosure. Why continue to make us go through the motions?

Short  Sales would not happen without hard working experienced agents pushing the deal forward. And that's a fact. Lenders, servicers, investors and the borrowers would all fail at getting the deal done. Yet you continue to crap on is.

Selling properties multiple times is not an efficient method of disposing of a non performing asset.

Fannie Mae please get your act together. The market is turning and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Let's work together to clean up the rest of this mess so we can all move towards a brighter future.

I call the new streamlined Short Sale process BS. Please get your act together while us agents are still willing to help you unload these bad debts. Is that asking too much?

Here's a good discussion on this issue at http://ShortSaleSuperstars.com