Washington, DC – Today, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced new short sale guidelines for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The new guidelines will align the policies of the two GSEs as well as streamline and clarify the short sale process.
Julia Gordon, CAP’s director of housing finance and policy, issued the following statement in response to the new policies:
We commend the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac for their hard work on aligning and improving short sale policies. The new policies will remove or alleviate many of the current obstacles to enabling underwater homeowners to sell their properties.
One very significant improvement is that people who need to sell their home due to a distant employment transfer, a death or divorce in the family, or the onset of disability will no longer have to default on their mortgage simply to get considered for a short sale.
Similarly, the clarity around contributions and deficiency judgments will ensure that those who have capacity to contribute will do so, while those facing financial hardship will be able to exit their home gracefully without additional debt hanging over their heads. Particularly meaningful is that military personnel who are reassigned to other locations can sell their homes rather than be distracted from their national security duties by the need to find renters and perform the other functions of a landlord.
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