Fannie Mae REO Limbo

[Jason Cherwak]

I landed here at BiggerPockets looking for answers. After looking around a bit, it looks like a great community. You guys seem great and maybe you can help.

My wife and I have been in search for a home for our family for about 10 months. In the summer of 2011, we came across a home listed on the MLS where the homeowners were trying to sell their home during their redemption period. We live in Michigan where the redemption period is 6 months.

Long story short, we made an appointment, saw the house, loved it, and made an offer. After our offer was submitted, the agent informed us that they were waiting for bank's payoff amount before countering. A week went by, our offer expired, and they never did counter. 3 weeks later they pulled the house off of the market. We did reconnect with the agent afterwords and he informed us that we would have to wait until their redemption period ended, Nov 2011, to get the property.

I happen to do abstract work and did a title search on the property. This is where is gets interesting.

Open Mtg1 - BAC Countrywide Home Loans
Open Mtg2 (junior) - JPMorgan Chase

5/31/11 - Sheriff's Deed on Mtg1 to BAC Countywide Home Loans
6/11/11 - Quit Claim from BAC to Fannie Mae
8/11/11 - Redemption Certificate - Redeemed by junior lien holder JPMorgan Chase paid in full
The redemption certificate states, "The grantee's interest in said sheiff's deed has been conveyed to Fannie Mae."

11/30/11 - Redemption Period would have ended here

As of today, nothing else has been filed at the county.
I've called Chase REO, they have no record of the property.
I've called Fannie Mae REO, they have no record of the property.

I've called the township treasure, 2011 summer tax receipt was paid by BAC. The payee was switched to Fannie Mae in Sept. 2011.

I've called the township assessor, the township sent 4 different docs to Fannie Mae without rejection. According to the assessor, if the property changed hands, they would have received a rejection. They too didn't see anything else filed after the redemption cert.

My wife and I are still very interested in the property but I'm struggling in trying to locate who owns it.

After verifying with the township, everything seems to point to Fannie Mae, but their REO department is useless.

Have any of you pros out there ever come across a property that was redeemed by the 2nd?

Is there another way to bypass Fannie Mae REO department to get some real answers??

Is it still too soon to tell?

Thanks so much in advance...