The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop enhanced and aligned strategies for facilitating short sales, deeds- in-lieu and deeds-for-lease in order to help more homeowners avoid foreclosure. The effort will come in stages with the first taking place this June. The new, aligned timelines include the requirement that mortgage servicers review and respond to requests for short sales within 30 calendar days from receipt of a short sale offer.

Beginning June 15th, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Servicers will be required to make decisions on short sales within 30-60 days.

Here are the rules as set by Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA):

  • Requires Servicers to make a decision within 30 days of receiving an offer.
  • If more than 30 days is required (to deal with PMI or do BPO’s) the banks must provide the borrower with weekly updates and must decide within 60 days.
  • If the bank decides to counteroffer, the seller and seller’s agent is expected to respond within 5 business days.
  • The bank then has 10 business days after receiving the seller’s response to accept, reject or counter.


By the end of 2012, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will announce additional enhancements addressing borrower eligibility and evaluation, documentation simplification, property valuation, fraud mitigation, payments to subordinate lien holders, and mortgage insurance.

Last week, Bank of America announced it has cut decision times on short-sale offers to no more than 20 days, down from 45 days or longer. If offers fall through, agents have five days instead of 14 days to submit a backup offer.

This is definitely great news for the real estate industry. We have been getting a great closing success rate with our short sales, as the banks are now more willing to discuss short sales as an option for homeowners. Underwater and walking away is a viable alternative for most Las Vegas homeowners in this current market. We have established a seminar series to help homeowners find the best solution. Please visit our website www.NVShortSalesExperts.com to sign up for the next event, which will be on June 9th at 1-4 PM.

If you have any questions or would like to schedule a FREE consultation, please contact Dulcie directly at 702-285-1990.