Fannie Mae Announces New Effort to Streamline Short Sale Process

In an effort to speed up the short sale process, Fannie Mae is increasing early communication with real estate agents by asking listing agents to register accepted short sale offers with the GSE.

By registering offers, Fannie Mae says there will be greater transparency in the process and it will also allow the GSE to be more proactive when working with servicers to complete short sales.

“Fannie Mae recognizes the very important role real estate professionals play in the short sale process and we want to work closely with them to get short sales done,” said Jay Ryan, VP for real estate sales, Fannie Mae.

Through Fannie Mae’s site Homepathforshortsales.com, agents can register their short sale offers.

To submit offers, agents will be asked to provide short sale offer information, such as the property address, MLS listing information, offer details, and subordinate lien information. In addition, other supporting documents and information will be required such as scanned copies of the sales contract, estimated net sheet or HUD-1 settlement statement, and borrower authorization form.

“Our objective is to help stabilize neighborhoods by completing short sales as close to fair market value as possible. We believe this new process will help ensure all parties are in communication early on and are able to come to an agreeable and appropriate sales price. At the end of the day, Fannie Mae wants to get short sales done so that we can prevent foreclosures and help neighborhoods recover,” Ryan added.

For agents who encounter situations that stall the process, such as valuation disputes, delays by servicers, or uncooperative subordinate lien holders, Fannie Mae advised agents to place a request to escalate the process online.

Once a case is escalated, Fannie Mae will then contact the agent or servicer to address the specific issue hindering the process.

The escalation tool was first announced in February 2013 and has received over 10,000 short sale cases that were successfully closed. In 2012, Fannie Mae stated it has completed 73,528 short sales.