All Forum Posts by: Julia Dugger

And as for what your lender told you about the express loan approval program, I agree with others that it's a scam -- those deals can bust out for a million reasons (what if the loan doesn't close because of a  seller title issue? Does the "approval" convey to other offers?), very few of them are going to be resolved by that particular solution.

So, some context an a few questions for you:
Context - If you're purchasing an REO, FHA financing will always be less appealing than the alternatives. The major sticking point for most sellers is that FHA will often require repairs and that both changes the net execution on a deal and slows the closing. In REO sales, it's all about speed and execution, within some parameters.

Question - Is this a primary residence or investment property? I'm guess primary because of your choice for FHA but if your credit and downpayment are in place, why are you picking FHA over conventional? The MI is more expensive than you may think -- are you just looking for the 3% down? If so, you might look into alternatives -- Fannie's Home Ready is a good option if you're eligible and there are several other decent 3% options out there.

I was reminded this week that while all offers on properties listed on HomePath must go through the HomePath Online Offer system, there is one set of exceptions for this -- HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage aka reverse mortgage) properties are not on HomePath and so offers are delivered directly to the listing agent. It sounds like this could have been one of these properties - but they still include the standard addendum.

Karen, properties that are sold as "HUD" are actually owned and sold by HUD (they were originally FHA loans). HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage - aka reverse mortgages) have Fannie and Freddie (and others) as the investors/sellers but are bound by strict HUD rules during the sale, particularly during the first 180 days the property is listed.

And if you check HomePath, you;ll see that just over 100 Fannie properties are listed (though some are under contract) in Brevard County -- cycle times are highly dependent on title issues, repairs, etc. so a good guess is that the others are still in UTM awaiting clearance to list.

Check your facts -- that Forclosure.com listing results page includes more than 11,000 tax lien properties, and a number of other non-listed property types. 

No. 

 You are correct, there is a listing agent for the property, however, all offers MUST be placed through the online offer system. The listing agents should always instruct selling agents to place offers this way -- you'll see that requirement listed on every HomePath property (see the "Make an Offer" button on all listed properties). As part of that offer process, your agent MUST upload the REPA - that's intended to ensure the buyer has seen and signed the REPA before they get involved in the transaction and run into exactly the concern you raised in this thread.

 If your agent didn't submit the offer through the HP Online Offer system, the deal may bust out anyway -- make 100% certain with your agent that they submitted an electronic offer. Here's the information -- https://www.homepath.com/make-an-offer.html?at=hb 

So, the Fannie Mae HomePath online offer system requires that your selling agent submit both a signed REPA and state contract with your initial offer -- the system won't let it submit without both documents. This is done to prevent this precise situation -- buyers should always be aware of the language in the FM REPA and that it is completely non-negotiable. Is it possible that your agent signed the document on your behalf and didn't tell you?