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It's not dead, it's gone in to hiding so the industry can recover from the onslaught of politicians with nothing else better to do but "save" everyone and, in doing so, cripple an entire industry. Not to mention them going against one thing that is supposed to happen with a capitalism economy; right alongside success is also failure. Companies fail and get rebuilt. People fail and homes, cars, boats, etc. get repossessed by the banks. It's the capitalistic circle of life!  Industries are built on this circle. From mortgage brokers to real estate agents. The irony is that many of their saving programs failed and we will be right back where we were. In the meantime, how many in our industry will now fall? The current administration only saved a few but in doing so they caused a quite a few more to fall. How is that progress? How is that change? To make it worse, those that were saved only failed later. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying there weren’t some serious issues in the foreclosure world. There was fraud, invalid foreclosures, and a few other problems. The government, with the National Mortgage Settlement, made those at fault pay to the tune over $51 billion. However, that still doesn’t change the fact that foreclosures will not die so long as we have capitalism. Banks will still lend, and, for many various reasons, people will still default, and the banks will repossess. We won't have what we did 5 yrs. ago but there will be plenty to go around and if another bubble bursts I bet that there will much less of a noticeable celebration in the industry that makes money from it......after all, we wouldn't want to give the politicians another opportunity to grandstand at the expense of the real estate industry.

Now, speaking of politicians interfering. One of the first things done when the current administration took office was a moratorium on foreclosure activity. All banks that had foreclosures were ordered to stop processing them. Next come the reviews, audits, fines, etc.. (all of which were dealt with as mentioned above and the National Mortgage Settlement) and here we are a few years later and they are now finally getting back to where they can proceed with business, which does mean finally processing those properties in default. Interestingly enough those orders did not include Fannie and Freddie with whom the government has a significant vested interest. What’s the point you ask? Well, have you seen Fannie’s profits for the 2^nd quarter? $10.2 BILLION! Yes, that’s billion with a B. So, in essence, the government shut down all of their competition and reaped the rewards. How would you like to shut down every real estate agent in your market area and take every listing out there for nearly 4 years? Pretty slick if you ask me.

I have a webinar to teach in an hour so I better end the rant. I will close by saying what I started with, that REO’s are not dead, but merely in hiding. Banks want to keep a low profile on their foreclosures activity so they won’t have politicians interfering again. Wouldn’t you if you had to pay $51 Billion the last time they interfered? In addition, if you don’t really believe me then understand I have been doing this for 10 years and I know patterns when I see them. Keep an eye on all of the reports and you will see some that state foreclosures are down while others state they are up. Why the confusion? Well…..good question…why? 

In a article published by The Arizona Republic on July 27, 2012 @ 4:30 pm written by Catherine Reagor it's alleging that Fannie Mae is purchasing their own REOs through a LLC that Fannie created. To read the article yourself, follow this link, http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/20120727mystery-buyer-snaps-up-foreclosure-homes.html

I reached out to the REOPro community to verify this article and it's accuracy and I recevied some interesting information. From a confidential informant, I got a copy of the Arizona Corporation Commission vi State of Arizona Public Acess System...see below...

File Number: R-1776305-1

Check Corporate Status

Corp. Name: SFR 2012-1 U.S. WEST LLC

Domestic Address

2338 W ROYAL PALM RD STE J

PHOENIX, AZ 85021

Foreign Address

2711 CENTERVILLE RD #400

WILMINGTON, DE 19808

Statutory Agent Information

Agent Name:

CORPORATION SERVICE COMPANY

Agent Mailing/Physical Address:

2338 W ROYAL PALM RD STE J

PHOENIX, AZ 85021

Agent Status:

APPOINTED 07/18/2012

Agent Last Updated:

07/23/2012

Additional Corporate Information

Corporation Type:

FOREIGN L.L.C. Business Type:

Incorporation Date:

07/18/2012 Corporate Life Period:

Domicile:

DELAWARE County: MARICOPA

Approval Date:

07/23/2012 Original Publish Date:

Manager/Member Information

FANNIE MAE

MEMBER

3900 WISCONSIN AVE NW

MAIL STOP 11H-734

WASHINGTON,DC 20016

Date of Taking Office:

07/18/2012

Last Updated:

07/23/2012

DELAWARE County: MARICOPA

Approval Date:

07/23/2012 Original Publish Date:

Manager/Member Information

FANNIE MAE

MEMBER

Of course, we all will have our own opinoins on if this is a good or bad idea but, I got an even more intersesting article sent to me that said, "

The address that Fannie Mae used in "creating" this LLC is in the same building as East West Bank, a subsidiary of East West Bancorp, which is a Chinese-owned bank. Yes, this is the same East West Bank that received $306.5 Million in TARP money. So, not only were buyers in our market robbed of the opportunity to purchase 275 homes, but it appears that they were sold to a Chinese Bank. Thus, the reason they are trying to hide it from the American people."

Now, once again, I can't verify any of this but, if anyone can independently verify this information I would greatly apreciative.

The group this week hit a milestone I wanted to welcome all the new members and thank the first members for their posting of comments and keeping the group active and growing.

This group is to discuss Fannie Mae properties with Fannie Mae and to share solutions to getting more business with Fannie Mae or getting in the door with Fannie Mae and to stay up to date on their requirements.

Website: http://reopro.ning.com/group/fanniemae Members:317

My mom is a garage sale warrior. She’s constantly on the prowl for the next great deal she might uncover on an unsuspecting Saturday morning drive. I on other hand will swing by on occasion lacking the enthusiasm that she usually arrives with. As I rummage through old frames, board games with missing pieces, and the occasional  holiday sweater, I’m always amazed that near the clothes there are used underwear!!

Who buys used underwear? Although these undergarments have been cleaned, the reality is these cotton have touched, supported, and wiped the very most intimate parts of our bodies. I’ve seen them with worn elastic and even the faint proverbial skidmark. Even at 50cents, I think it’s worth the extra money to buy these new and fresh. Where you know what you’re getting into.

Currently the GSEs, Fannie and Freddie (along with many other banks) are steering their eviction coordinators and pre-marketers towards the idea that tenant-occupied properties make the single family home more attractive, especially to investor purchasers.  My partner and I have sold maybe 2 dozen of these tenant-occupied properties, but almost all have been problematic and the investors have NOT considered the tenant occupant a positive selling feature.  I’d say it’s a lot like buying a used pair of underwear. The price may be slightly better, but you don’t know what kind of crap may have went down in the tenancy or boxers you now are the proud owner of.

Anyone had a different take on this? Good experience when buying used underwear or selling tenant-occupied SFRs?

The group this week hit a milestone I wanted to welcome all the new members and thank the first members for their posting of comments and keeping the group active and growing.

This group is to discuss Fannie Mae properties with Fannie Mae and to share solutions to getting more business with Fannie Mae or getting in the door with Fannie Mae and to stay up to date on their requirements.

Website: http://reopro.ning.com/group/fanniemae Members: 271

Please share some tips on how to become approved with asset management. I can share some tips from my personal experience. I have just basically attended every netowrking event out there. Join REO networking groups, talk to other agents who have already established relationships with AM's. Also, becoming an area expert an learning the local tenants laws and how they apply to your potential assets. If you have more to share, please do. Thank you!

  

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Below Is part of an email I received this week I am wondering if anyone here on REO PRO has had a track record with this program with other outsourcers that may have tried this before. If you have ran into this already how easy was the conversion any problems to look out for?

One or more of the properties assigned to you has/have been selected for Fannie Mae's Utility Management Pilot. As part of the pilot, Fannie Mae has authorized a third party vendor to take over the management and payment of electric utilities on selected properties. 

Please read the linked FAQs and make a note of the properties listed below which have been selected for the pilot. A utility management company will contact your AMP within a week to request utility documentation. We ask that you work with your AMP to ensure they have the most up to date utility bill. Please Note: If you also work with Fannie Mae directly, it is important that you submit 571 reimbursements on AMP properties to your AMP rather than to Fannie Mae. 

Pilot Details

This pilot only affects the electric bills on the list of properties shown below unless the property has joint utility billing. If the property receives one bill for multiple utilities, then those properties will also be included in the Utility Management Pilot. All other bills and properties remain unchanged and you are required to continue to pay them as outlined in the Fannie Mae REO Sales Guide. If you have any assigned properties that are not selected for this pilot, it is your responsibility to continue to pay the electric bills of those properties. In addition, there are no changes to how you submit for reimbursement. Continue to submit to your AMP for reimbursement for all bills which you have paid.

The electric bills for the properties below will be transferred to a third party vendor and will no longer be sent to you. In order to facilitate a smooth transfer, you must activate service. If you do not activate service, the transfer cannot take place. Once the transfer takes place, a representative from the third party vendor will notify you and your AMP of the exact date service is transferred.

Important

If you have not recently submitted an electric bill to your AMP for reimbursement, one of our third party vendors may contact you for a current copy of the bill. The third party vendor will provide you with a Letter of Authorization from Fannie Mae allowing them to procure utilities on our behalf. We ask that you cooperate and promptly provide the assigned vendor with a copy of the most recent electric bill for the property requested. 

Please be mindful of the following points during the utility transfer to the third party vendor (utility management company).

• Do not turn off the electricity on the selected properties. If electricity is activated, we are simply moving the billing to the utility management company. 
• If any of the properties selected are occupied by a tenant, immediately notify your AMP so the property can be removed from the pilot.
• The Utility Management Pilot is for electric bills only. However, if any of the properties selected have the electricity and gas combined under one utility company, the utility management company will still work to transfer billing of both services on these properties only.
• If any of the properties selected do not have electricity turned on due to safety issues or concerns, immediately notify your AMP so the properties can be removed from the pilot.
• If any of the properties selected are scheduled for closing in the next two weeks, and they have not transferred to the utility management company, please notify your AMP so the properties can be removed from the pilot.
• After the transfer has occurred, the utility management company will contact you with the details of the effective transfer date, and let you know to expect a final bill. At that time, please pay that final bill, and submit it to your AMP for processing.

Thank you for your assistance with this initiative

I have been added to their database back in June of last year. Has anyone been receiving listing from them before doing certification. I am getting ready to do the certification just wondering how many have recevied listings from them.

 I found an old email below that offered courses live for 349. I noticed on the site it is now 449.

Find everything Fannie Mae on the REOPRO group http://reopro.ning.com/group/fanniemae

The group this week hit a milestone I wanted to welcome all the new members and thank the first members for their posting of comments and keeping the group active and growing.

This group is to discuss Fannie Mae properties with Fannie Mae and to share solutions to getting more business with Fannie Mae or getting in the door with Fannie Mae and to stay up to date on their requirements.

Website: http://reopro.ning.com/group/fanniemae
Members: 100

Costs Will Increase For Buyers Regardless Of Credit Worthiness

Banks Get Conservative
Risk vs. Reward

New home buyers shopping for mortgages will face these fee increases

1. Someone buying a home with credit OVER 740 with 25% or lower down payment will now pay approx .125% more in rate.
2. A borrower with a credit score over 740 refinancing to 80% of the value of their home and taking out additional cash can expect to pay an additional .25% higher in rate.
3. Anyone buying or refinancing a condominium (excluding detached condos) with less than 25% down payment (or equity) can expect an increase in rate of almost .5%
4. Borrowers without larger down payments will see slightly higher rates.
5. Buyers with lower credit scores, they can expect much higher rates.

Fannie and Freddie have learned their lesson. The politics of housing has changed from a congressional mandate to make home ownership more accessable, even to the unquaalified, to a rational and more profitable system. They/we lost a bundle and they are looking at another bad year with foreclosures expected to rise again in 2011.

Related Articles
The Politics of Housing
FHA Reforms Shift The Game
A Recent Survey: Is It Time To Buy Rental Property

Fannie Mae recently launched WaysHome, an interactive video to educate homeowners about their options to avoid foreclosure, motivate them to make the right decisions, and encourage them to seek help. WaysHome is part of Fannie Mae's Know Your Options initiative to help today's struggling homeowners. Check it out at: www.KnowYourOptions.com.

Overview
WaysHome, a unique and innovative learning tool, allows homeowners to put themselves in real-life situations facing today's borrowers, make decisions, and see the consequences of their actions. Through WaysHome, homeowners can:      

• Participate in an interactive video simulation.      
• Select a character and go through the simulation "playing" that character.
• Follow characters as they encounter financial hardships and challenges that affect their ability to pay their mortgage.      
• Choose different paths based on real-life situations.
• Experience the positive outcomes or negative consequences of their choices, i.e., if they avoid taking action, foreclosure may be their only option.      
• Learn about options that may be available to help.      
• Discover the right paths to avoid foreclosure, know their options, and find their way home.

Agent benefits:
Our research shows that many homeowners still don't know about or understand their options to avoid foreclosure, and many homeowners who are seriously delinquent or in foreclosure have little to no contact with their mortgage company. WaysHome is designed to encourage homeowners to take action before it's too late.  

If you or your clients have questions or would like to order free copies of the WaysHome DVD, email ways_home@fanniemae.com.  

Has this happened to you?!?

Lately I have had clients make offers on Freddie Mac REOs with the local Freddie Mac REO listing companies. In Boise, as in many communities around the country, local brokerages have a virtual monopoly on listing properties for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The overwhelming number of REOs dumped onto our market has completely overwhelmed these listing agents. Of course, some of these REO agents are really great. Others agents though.... Just try getting a response from them within a week or two! We have one offer in on a Freddie Mac property and have not had a response from the listing agent for over three weeks! Turns out they recently received approximately 50 new Freddie Mac REO listings. Seems to me that this will merely reduce their poor service and slow responsiveness to non-existent!

It stands to reason that if Fannie and Freddie really do want to liquidate their massive inventory, then they need to spread these listings out over many more agents so that no one individual is overwhelmed. If you have had similar frustrations please comment so we can raise awareness of this issue and help facilitate positive changes in this industry!

I found the following graphic at REOInsider.com

Up to 3.5 Percent Seller Assistance; Selling Agent Receives $1,500 Bonus

Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTC) today announced a seller assistance incentive on Fannie Mae-owned properties listed on the company's REO website, www.HomePath.com, and expands the initiative to offer an incentive to real estate agents and brokers. Qualified homebuyers who will be owner-occupants can receive up to 3.5 percent of the final sales price that can be used toward closing cost assistance, including a home warranty, if desired and available. In addition, selling agents representing owner-occupants will receive a $1,500 bonus. Eligible offers must be submitted on or after September 23, 2010, and must close by December 31, 2010. The sale must close within 60 days of the offer being accepted.

"More than eighty-seven thousand families have purchased HomePath^® properties in the first half of 2010 - nearly double the number of Fannie Mae foreclosed properties sold in the first half of 2009," said Terry Edwards, Executive Vice President of Fannie Mae's Credit Portfolio Management. "We continue to look for ways to stabilize neighborhoods and offer incentives to qualified buyers who will occupy these properties over the long-term and help support their communities."

HomePath properties are owned by Fannie Mae and include a wide selection of homes, including single-family homes, condominiums, and town houses. HomePath properties may also be eligible for special HomePath Mortgage and HomePath Renovation Mortgage financing.

Uh-oh.....some Fannie Mae Direct and Outsourced agents have been very bad, are you one?

I got an email, like many Fannie Mae Listing Agents did that said......

"In January, Fannie Mae initiated a “secret shopper” pilot designed to collect accurate data on the knowledge, responsiveness, follow-up, professionalism and effectiveness of brokers and agents listing Fannie Mae-owned properties. Over a four and a half month period, our secret shopping vendor reviewed several hundred listing brokers/agents on a broad range of measures."

I just got one thing to say, IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Well, here is what they found.....

• "60% of direct Fannie Mae brokers and 57% of outsourced listing agents did not respond to requests for information within 24 hours. 35% of the time, the agent/broker did not respond at all after multiple attempts to make contact.
• For those that did respond to an e-mail, 36% of the outsourced agents and 50% of the direct brokers did not respond with the information requested.
• When asked for more information on HomePath Renovation Mortgage, 21% of the outsourced agents and 23% of Fannie Mae direct brokers could not provide information in a clear, competent manner.
• When contacted, 59% of outsourced agents and 71% of direct brokers did not ask the caller about their specific needs."

Now, the email had some other details but, this is what they said they were going to do......

"Over the next few months, we will be reviewing and updating our processes for including brokers in the Fannie Mae network and our measures for how brokers are evaluated. Expected changes include measurement of brokers’ responsiveness and professionalism as well as the more traditional performance metrics.

A newly revised and very comprehensive REO Sales Guide (formerly known as the NPDC Listing Broker Guidelines) is due to be released shortly. In the meantime, for a refresher on some of our policies and initiatives, take some of the short training sessions available at the link below."

Now, with all that being said, if you are a Fannie Mae listing agent, outsourced or direct, you better get on the ball and stay on it because, you could end up loosing your inventory to me...........seriously!

For those of you who might be unaware, Fannie Mae has been releasing their REO inventory. Whatever your opinions are on Fannie, Freddie or the government programs in general, they have released more REO than most other financial institutions and we have to work with them. Embrace it, especially if you're a buyers agent... this is a good thing for buyers. Check out their website, they list their Active listings as well as listings that are coming soon. Use it to your advantage, and your buyers: www.homepath.com

Ok, I blew my Fannie horn for the day :) Have a good weekend!