Freddie Mac Winter Promo Pays Bonuses To Real Estate Agents

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In an effort to sell more properties, Freddie Mac will be paying extra money to seller agents. This program is for the Winter season and will end on March 15, 2012.

Seller agents will receive $1,000 for each transaction they close in specific locations. HomeSteps, the sales arm of Freddie Mac, will pay the bonus to agents. Initial offers must be received between November 15, 2011 and January 31, 2012.

Freddie Mac is also giving additional incentives to owner occupants. Freddie Mac will help with the closing costs up to 3% of the final sales price.

In addition, some HomeSteps homes can qualify for a two-year Home Protect home warranty plan. The plan covers electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, heating, appliances and other major systems. Owner occupants are also eligible for a discount of 30 percent on the purchase of appliances.

Currently, Freddie Mac is selling more homes than it is taking in. For the third quarter this year it sold 25,387 houses. The number of homes Freddie acquired through foreclosure during the same time was 24,385.

Freddie Mac continues to get top dollar for its properties. The average price is 94% of the market price. Let's hope that this trend continues and that Freddie does not ask for a bailout.

For more news on mortgages, Freddie Mac and refinancing please visit:

House Refinance Center

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Condos Not Selling Fast Enough: Blame FHA

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It is becoming harder to buy a condo. Part of the problem is the new changes to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance. These changes require a condo project to pass re-certification every two years. Even condo projects with healthy financials will find this process challenging.

Imagine the homebuyer has to qualify for a mortgage plus the condo building has to pass the FHA insurance test. This is too much to stress to place on a buyer considering our economic conditions.

One of the main requirements is owner occupancy. At least 50% of the units must be owner occupied. This rule keeps out real estate speculators. But it also saddles the existing owners with rising condo fees. Condo associations do not want to levy special assessment to raise more funds. The other alternative is to raise fees.

In addition to the owner-occupancy policy, the new rule also says that one investor can not own more that 10% of the unit in a condo complex. So investors are blocked from buying additional units in a building that they know very well. Consider a 500 unit building where the average condo fee is $300 a month. If 200 units sit vacant the condo association is losing about $720,000 a year in fees. This short fall could be crucial in the event that there is an emergency. The funding would have to come from the current condo owners, and this might force more owners to walk away from their homes and end up in foreclosure.

Allowing investors to buy more units is a solution. Prices will not fall as sharply and condo associations will be able to work within their budgets.

Additional articles on mortgages, banks and refinance, please visit:

House Refinance Center

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Stricter FHA guidelines pose a challenge to condo associations.