Dealmakers Blog – Ramblings of a Real Estate Mogul

Post written by Mike Lima. Follow me on Twitter.

For most investors, finding good REO deals is hard enough. It gets abundantly harder when you’re trying to strike a deal with Fannie Mae.  Yes, the same Fannie Mae that is a government-sponsored enterprise that was chartered by Congress.  The same Fannie Mae received a pledge of $200 Billion by the US Dept. of Treasury in Sept. 2008, to provide liquidity to the housing/mortgage markets.  Surely such a government-backed organization will try to encourage properties to be revitalized so the housing market can recover more quickly.  Read on, my investor friends…

If you find a bank-owned property that’s in good condition and at a good price, chances are you won’t get it, because owner occupied buyers get the first crack at them, through Fannie Mae’s First Look program, which gives those buyers a 15 day advantage to lock up those deals.  Fair enough — if a family is willing to buy the property and make it their primary residence, I think they should get a head start over investors to do so.

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