Real Estate Investor · houston, TX · Member since 2011 · 7 posts · 0 votes
I have found a home that just went vacant. I looked at the tax records and it shows its owned by Fannie Mae (federal national mort. assn). It is not listed on the homepath site or the freddie mac site.
Does anyone know of a way to get more information about it or put an offer on it before it gets listed by an agent??
Real Estate Investor · Somerdale, NJ · Member since 2008 · 42 posts · 30 votes
14y
If you want the back story on what happened with the previous owners, go chat up the neighbors. But if you're looking to buy, there is no way around the Fannie Mae REO monster, but...
You could look up the usual Fannie Mae listing agent suspects for your area, call them, and see if they've got the inside scoop on it.
Investor · Riverside, CA · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
14y
I'm quite positive a government agency is not going to deal directly with the public without an agent being in the middle to handle the paperwork. They will either auction the property or list it.
Investor · Little Rock, AR · Member since 2010 · 628 posts · 251 votes
14y
Try Homepath.com
http://www.homepath.com/search.html?st=AR&cno=119&ci=&zip=&src_ref=&mlsid=&pi=&pa=&bdi=&bhi=&ms=&xs=&x=53&y=12
This link is from my "favorites". You might need to change the state and county.
Don
Real Estate Investor · houston, TX · Member since 2011 · 7 posts · 0 votes
14y
Thank you both Don & Aaron for providing your input. Yes I will more than likely have to find an agent that works with Fannie mae. I was just wondering if anyone knew other ways around that.
Don - I check the homepath site and its not listed yet.
Real Estate Investor · Somerdale, NJ · Member since 2008 · 42 posts · 30 votes
14y
If you want the back story on what happened with the previous owners, go chat up the neighbors. But if you're looking to buy, there is no way around the Fannie Mae REO monster, but...
You could look up the usual Fannie Mae listing agent suspects for your area, call them, and see if they've got the inside scoop on it.
Investor · Little Rock, AR · Member since 2010 · 628 posts · 251 votes
14y
I hope you signed up for the automatic emails with new listings. I watch them closely. I see the same old house listed as "coming soon", "under contract", "back on the market" etc. As Jamie sez, FNMA is a monster. You have to earn your stripes to deal with them as an investor.
Don
Residential Real Estate Agent · Costa Mesa, CA · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 380 votes
14y
Also worth noting here:
The "owner of record" in the tax records is one of the most inaccurate ways of determining the lender/servicer/seller/entity that is selling the property.
Case in point:
I represented a buyer on a property that was being sold by "B of A". But they were simply servicing the loan when it was taken back... so who owned it? Harborview 2005-2 was what showed on public records. What's Harborview, you ask? An infamously bad tranche of Subprime MBS that is now defunct (and has been for several years). Why is this important? Because when we went to fund the buyers loan, one of the conditions was that title be changed to reflect the true seller, Harborview, or otherwise have Harborview provide a Power of Attorney to B of A.
Now... since defunct MBS' don't generally have the staff available to provide PoAs, this was an issue. After a great deal of strongly worded emails and a 10 day delay in COE, everything got worked out and the buyer's lender (coincidentally also B of A) funded the loan.
My point is that looking stuff up on the tax records with the goal of gleaning info that you think will increase your ability to negotiate with the seller is a waste of time. Not only because no entity will deal with an individual buyer trying to cut a deal, but also because there's a good chance you also probably found the wrong entity.
Real Estate Investor · houston, TX · Member since 2011 · 7 posts · 0 votes
14y
Jamie - Very good point, I will talk with some neighbors. I have also contacted fannie mae listing agent
Don - I didnt even know about the automatic email updates from that site....guess i missed that one, thanks for the heads up.
Jake - I didnt think about the owner on record being incorrect. The few houses i have purchased it has always been correct. But reading more and more on BP i hear more often that the owner of record is many times incorrect. thanks for that bit of advice.