House Matters Tampa Bay Real Estate Blog

Fannie Mae is testing a new way to handle short sales. In this new pilot program Fannie Mae will test a new process by which Fannie Mae pre-approves the list price. Then if a buyer make a full price offer the lender will accept the offer as long as the transaction meets standard requirements. For the purposes of the pilot, Fannie Mae has validated a specific list of properties that have already met the following criteria:

The property must be secured by a Fannie Mae mortgage.
The mortgage must be serviced by Countrywide Home Loans.
The property must be a potential short-sale (i.e., the list price is less than the unpaid balance on the mortgage).

There are only about 400 homes in Orlando and Phoenix that have been selected for the pilot. That may be only a small handful of the "short sale" properties that we need to clear off the market but its a start. If this program works it could clear the path for other lenders to step up and do the same.

As it is, the typical time from offer to closing on a "short sale" property is four to six months. Most buyers don't or can't wait this long so they don't even consider "short sale" properties. These properties then just sit on the market and clog the system then eventually become bank owned (REO) properties and are priced below market value. Once sold, these properties make their mark on the value of the surrounding homes in the area. In order to preserve home prices we need to get these properties off the market as soon as possible and this program, if successful, could very well do that.

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This is the first of a three part post on different loan options that are available.
The first loan is one that very few real estate agents even know about but that is becoming increasingly more popular. Through the USDA (yeah, that's right the guys that put the stamp on meats) there is a program set up called the Rural Housing Service. This federal program is aimed at helping develop rural areas and you might be surprised at what they consider "rural areas".

The program is available in Pasco and Hillsborough counties. The limitation is that the home must be in specific geographic areas, defined mainly by population. In Pasco County that includes areas east of the Suncoast Parkway (Land O' Lakes, Wesley Chapel, etc.) and in Hillsborough, areas beyond Brandon and outside Plant City (Riverview, Lithia, etc.). However, counties such as Pinellas have become too urbanized to get assistance from the program. Other limitations to the program are that the program excludes borrowers who already own a home, have too much debt or have too little income and there are limitation on how much you can borrow.

Be sure to check out tomorrow's blog for part two of this three part series.

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State officials have approved up to $15 million in incentives in an effort to persuade T. Rowe Price to move to Land O' Lakes. If the financal services giant takes the state up on their offer they would eventually move 1,560 full-time jobs to the 95-acre site just east of the Suncoast Parkway by 2012.

Currently, T. Rowe Price has 425 employees working out of leased facilities in Tampa. T. Rowe Price is looking to move to a new location when its lease on the Tampa location expires.

T. Rowe Price has not yet made a final decision on where it will locate but the Land O' Lakes location is one of five they are considering. The other locations are in Houston, Omaha, St. Louis and Tulsa.

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To subscribe to this blog please visit LyndieHouse.Blogspot.com