Logout | Member Center
Business

Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Fannie Mae to rent out homes instead of foreclosing

- Associated Press
Add to My Yahoo!
Bookmark and Share
email this story to a friend E-Mail print story Print
Comments (0) |
Text Size:

tool name

close
tool goes here

WASHINGTON — Thousands of borrowers on the verge of foreclosure will soon have the option of renting their homes from Fannie Mae, under a policy announced Thursday.

The government-controlled company, through its new “Deed for Lease” program, will allow borrowers to transfer ownership to Fannie Mae and sign a one-year lease, with month-to-month extensions after that.

The program will “eliminate some of the uncertainty of foreclosure, keeps families and tenants in their homes during a transitional period, and helps to stabilize neighborhoods and communities,” Jay Ryan, a Fannie Mae vice president, said in a statement.

But the effort is likely to affect a relatively small number of homeowners. In the first half of the year, Fannie Mae took back about 1,200 properties through this process, known as a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

That pales in comparison to the 57,000 foreclosed properties the company repossessed in the period.

Quick Job Search