I'm waiting right now to find out if an offer my buyer made on a home this morning has been accepted.
The place he chose -- a nice all-brick ranch in a very cute neighborhood in Granite City, IL -- is a foreclosure property. But here's the great thing about this particular house -- it's part of the Freddie Mac HomeSteps program.
Freddie Mac is a GSE -- a government sponsored enterprise -- chartered to stabilize the mortgage industry and focused on making housing more affordable. Simply put, it buys mortgages from lenders to free up money for more mortgages at the lender level.
HomeSteps is a program created by Freddie Mac to make its foreclosure properties move much more quickly so inventory can be reduced. Homesteps offers cleaner and more well-maintained homes than usual bank-owned properties and provides an opportunity for owner-occupant homebuyers to make offers before investors.
And right now HomeSteps properties are an even better deal for owner occupants. Their Summer Sales Promotion allows buyers to ask for up to 3.5 percent of their closing costs and a two-year HomeProtect warranty that covers a variety of systems in the house. The warranty program also provides discounts of up to 30 percent on new appliances for the home.
To be eligible for the summer incentives, offers must be received before July 31 and close before September 30, 2011.
If you'd like a list of HomeSteps eligible houses in St. Louis' Illinois suburbs, including Granite City, Collinsville, Belleville and other communities in Madison and St. Clair counties, get in touch with me.
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