Daily Real Estate News | Wednesday, November 26, 2014
The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced a new policy that will permit some foreclosed home owners to purchase the homes back that they once had lost at fair market value.
Welcome Back to the Market Foreclosure ‘Boomerang’ Home Buyers Return FHA Program Puts Ex-Home Owners on Track to Buy Again Sooner To regain ownership, the ex-owners must be able to pay the full current value of the property, and they still must wait at least three years after their foreclosure to regain ownership, which is required to purchase any home using a Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae–guaranteed loan following a foreclosure.
The FHFA, the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, says the new policy likely will lower the principal on the loans of the former home owners if they elect to buy their former homes back. Prior to the policy, the FHFA had required borrowers who had gone through foreclosure and who wanted to buy back their home to pay the entire debt they owed on the mortgage, even if it was much higher than the home’s current value.
“This is a targeted but important policy change that should help reduce property vacancies and stabilize home values and neighborhoods,” says FHFA Director Melvin L. Watt. “It expands the number of potential buyers of REO properties and is consistent with the enterprises’ practice of requiring fair-market value for those properties.” The new policy applies only to buyers’ former primary residence. Second homes and investor properties are not eligible.
Source: “Regulator OKs Some Fannie, Freddie Foreclosure Buybacks at Fair Value,” Los Angeles Times (Nov. 25, 2014) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency