Think you want to buy a Fannie Mae Homepath Property?

Think twice before making your offers...

Several months ago I wrote about how home buyers can purchase

a Homepath property directly from Fannie Mae, but what I

failed to talk about is that these homes may be overpriced.

They are advertised like this, "Eligible for Fannie Mae

HomePath financing - purchase with as little as 3% down, no

appraisal needed & no mortgage insurance!" Sounds good on the

surface, doesn't it? But...

Can you see the red flag? Well, the truth is anyone buying a

property that states, "no appraisal needed" should think

twice about what they are buying, because if one is reading

between the lines, what the advertising on these homes are really

saying is,"This home may be overpriced, but you can buy it with

as little as 3% down". REALLY? If you like that, I know of

some long term bonds you can buy, too.

Does anyone really want to make a purchase like this? I saw a

homepath listing that was recently overpriced by $80,000 over

market value in Carmel Mountain Ranch, and I had to ask

myself why? Why would Fannie Mae deliberately overprice and

possibly sell these homes at those prices, to John Q. Public?

The answer is... because they can. Maybe they don't expect to

get the prices they are asking, but pricing these homes too

high from the get-go is not doing taxpayers any favors, if

these homes sit on the market longer than they have to.

Regardless of a lot of cash being in the market, a diligent

home buyer should never purchase a home before knowing what

it's worth. Shame on you Fannie Mae for wasting market time

by overpricing these properties and taking advantage of any

unsuspecting buyer out there! Too bad the agents listing

these homes probably haven't taken an ethics class.
 

Think you want to buy a Fannie Mae Home Path property?

Think twice before making your offers...