The Washington Post reports Fannie, Freddie Quietly Lift Moratorium on Foreclosures
As an agent who sells REO property for banks, I’ve been watching this intently. For the last 6 months or so, it was big news as these moratoriums were extended. But when they finally expire, only one news outlet appears to have run the story.
A ban on foreclosure sales and evictions from houses owned by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which began as a high-profile effort just before the holidays to keep people in their homes as the government tried to come up with homeowner rescue plans, is over.
Spokesmen for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac confirmed the ban ended March 31, in a response to an inquiry from TWI. The agencies made a major announcement in November to roll out the ban, garnering headlines and extensive news coverage. Freddie Mac CEO David Moffett issued a statement at the time, saying the ban “provides a new measure of certainty” to families facing foreclosures during the holidays.
But its expiration didn’t seem to merit the same level of fanfare, with some housing advocates caught by surprise, scrambling for information today and Wednesday on listservs and in phone calls.
Danilo Pelletiere, research director for the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said the ban’s eventual expiration wasn’t unexpected - but it also wasn’t clear specifically when it was supposed to end. Some housing attorneys and advocates were confused because they were in the middle of cases that would be affected by the expiration. Fannie and Freddie have repeatedly extended the ban, which was originally expected to expire on Jan. 9.
Fannie Mae said in a brief statement from spokesman Brian Faith that “Fannie Mae’s suspension of foreclosure-related evictions concludes as of March 31, 2009. The company has in place special foreclosure sale requirements that take into account the Making Home Affordable program. A foreclosure sale may not occur on any Fannie Mae loan until the loan servicer verifies that the borrower is ineligible for a Home Affordable Modification and all other foreclosure prevention alternatives have been exhausted.”
…Brad German, a spokesman for Freddie Mac, said he was “mystified” as to how anyone could be surprised by the ban’s expiration. The idea behind it was to give the government time to create homeowner rescue plans, and that’s been done, he said.
In my eyes, this is a huge story…there are 6-8 months worth of foreclosures that have been delayed. Once the logjam breaks, there could be a significant increase in the number of REOs for sale.
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