Comments on: Fannie Mae “First Look” – An abuse of taxpayer funds?

By: Angry Investor

Angry Investor — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:09:52 +0000

My husband and I bid on a property. The bank then asked for our highest and best bid. It was accepted. It was no secrete that we were not residing on the property. The house is for our daughter, her husband and their 3 children. This process has been going on since May. Last week, we signed the escrow papers, wired the $28,000.00 down payment. Escrow should close at any time. Today, were were told that because we are not owner-occupied and the property was not listed for 14-15 days, we can no longer purchase the propery. If we had been told this information in the beginning, we would have simply looked for another property. Do we have any recourse?

By: Angry Investor

Angry Investor — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:46:15 +0000

Quite frankly, I see little that you can do. Maybe vote for the Tea Party candidate, write your congressman (must sign affidavit), call Fannie Mae (expect to call then recieve a return call 4 business days later, repeat if you miss their call from ‘Level 2′) or you can join the shared by stating you intend to occupy then changing your mind the day after you close.

It’s shameful that conartists and crooks are given such any easy way to cheat the system.

By: C Martin

C Martin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:40:13 +0000

Same sore situation just happened to me in Pigeon Forge, TN. I chose to be honest and acknowledge “investor” when submitting my offer and patiently waiting my 15 days and have now been notified by the agent that another “owner occupant” offer has been accepted.

Come on….this was for a 1-bed/1-bath condo in a highly desirable resort/spa vacation facility, Riverstone.

I have since tried to contact the listing agent, Jeff Schoenfield, thinking he would have more information about this situation. Interestingly, he has not returned my call. By the way, his resume claims he is “top selling agent” in the area for years.

Fact is…price was such a good deal and instant equity was a given that it seems fraud stepped in….

Now, how do I report this fraud…..or does our government even care?

By: Sherry Smith

Sherry Smith — Fri, 28 May 2010 23:29:37 +0000

today I was told by my realtor that the Fannie May owned property that was on the market for three days when I made my offer was pulled from the MLS on the fourth day and put into an investor portfolio. I thought owner occupants were given the opportunity to bid the first 15 days. I really want to buy this house. I have 5 children and my house burned down. I have the cash to buy the house from the insurance but don’t even know how to do it. This hardly seems fair.

By: David Schubb

David Schubb — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:07:17 +0000

Owner occupied purchasers are allowed to purchase as long as the property has been on MLS for 3 days. First Look doesn’t provide that the property won’t be sold for 16 days, only that an investor’s offer won’t be considered until the property is on MLS for that time period.
When there are multiple offers, the procedure is to ask all of the bidders to submit their highest and best offer. The asset manager responds shortly thereafter.
Lately, asset managers are countering out the appraisal contingency when the offering price is higher than the list price.

By: Karen

Karen — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 10:27:22 +0000

I made a full ask all cash offer on a Fannie Mae home recently (as an owner occupant). My agent got a statement from the listing broker stating that there were multiple bids and I had to put in my best and final offer by 3/12.
The listing was posted on the MLS on 3/03, so the last day for “first look” bidders was 3/18.
The listing is still up as “active”.
A) Why did I have to put in my best and final 1 week before the 15 day period ended?
B) How long will it take for me to get a response?

(I’m kicking myself now, because I realize that I could have bid higher as an appraisal will probably not come in higher than the asking price! – Nice loophole that!)

By: Regina Adams

Regina Adams — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:15:30 +0000

We offered on a FNMA owned property and agent told us that FNMA will not counter on an offer that is not within 80% of list price. How can I find out if this is true. I have never heard this before and we are investors and have purchased FNMA owned properties. I think the agent may be holding out and not submitting the offer.

By: Sean O'Toole

Sean O'Toole — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:30:28 +0000

Key statement to me is that you submitted the offer the same day the $300k was “accepted”. If it was accepted there isn’t anything the seller can do they’ve made a contractual commitment to sell. I suppose if they thought they were defrauded in the appraisal they could get out of it, but I’d probably just move on.

By: Kevin Thomas

Kevin Thomas — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:22:53 +0000

Here is a deal that seem fishy to me. Would appreciate any info or guidance on what recourse I may have. A house in California is listed at $350 Thousand. The listing agent calls my agent and says that the current offer on the house is having problems and she is concerned that it may fall out of escrow. She finds it odd that the buyer used his uncle (an appraiser) who is in the same office as the loan writer, to submit an appraisal of $300 Thousand. The BPO from the bank (according to the listing agent) was $330 Thousand.

I was then told that selling bank ACCEPTED the $300 Thousand appraisal – which CLEARLY is way under value – and that the buyer suddenly changed lenders so the deal would go through. This was a short sale.
We made an offer the same day the selling Realtor told us of the accepted offer of $300 Th. for $330 Th. with 20 percent down and removing the contingency should any appraisal fall short of the $330 , I would make up the difference in cash.

We were told by the selling agent that the deal is done, and the $350 buyer would get the house for $300 Th.

Something is wrong here . . . .

I really want the house and feel the buyer somehow strong armed the selling bank, or possibly cut the deal by moving their buying loan to the selling bank . . . I can’t quite figure it out.

Suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

By: Angry Investor

Angry Investor — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:36:03 +0000

I wanted to provide follow up to my last post.

There is zero oversight for this program, zero enforcement and zero accountability. You should have an intent to be an owner occupant, however if you can sell it at anytime and there is no verification that you don’t currently own a property or ever intend to be an owner occupant.

If you sell with in the first 90 days it should only be sold for 120% of the value property. However after 90 days you can sell it for any amount. But again there is no oversight/enforcement on the program so it shouldn’t matter if you sell it within the first 90 days for what ever you want.

The Fannie Mae level two agent Carlos said I found the ‘loop hole’ in the program.

I will finish writing my congressman and will have to decide the next time I’m faced with this situation whether I check ‘owner occupied’ and make a quick 50k or check investor, loose the property, help support the bailed out company (Fannie) and allow some other ‘deserving’ citizen who is willing to see that this program is a farce and has no teeth.