Important information from Fannie Mae‏

Fannie Mae has made some changes to its lending policies that will effect your customers.  Please review the attachment.  If you have any questions, please let me know.   New Fannie Mae Announcement - Announcement 08-16 Please read in its entirety .   Revisions to Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Policies   Within this Announcement is a very detailed chart with regards to the recent changes for borrower's who have had bankruptcy and/or foreclosure issues.   Conversion of Principal Residence to Second Home or Investment Property   Three options are provided to borrowers who currently own their home: (1) Sell; (2) Convert to Second Home; (3) Convert to Investment Property Within this Announcement is also a detailed chart that includes a breakdown of the current requirements versus the new requirements. On any file where the borrower currently owns an existing home, these new guidelines will apply unless the borrower can qualify with the full "PITI" payment of their existing home.   Please pay special attention to those converting an existing primary residence to either a second home or an investment property.  These guidelines will effect purchase transactions and construction-perm transactions where an existing primary residence will not be sold prior to closing and the borrower's are unable to qualify with the existing "PITI" payment.   Revised Property Value Representation and Warranty   Please review this section since it is directly related to an acceptable age of an appraisal used for property valuation. This Announcement does not specifically state that property valuations (appraisals) are good for only 6 months, however, many individual secondary market investors have already interpreted this guideline as meaning that a new appraisal is required once the old appraisal reaches six months old.  If you run into a situation where you have an older appraisal that is approaching six months old or older than six months, please refer to the individual investors requirements.  As stated, many secondary market investors have already indicated that a new appraisal is required after six months.  Note: I'm under the assumption that this will also apply to construction-perm products unless your investor currently has some form of waiver with Fannie Mae.