Last month, HomePath (the Fannie Mae division charged with managing its inventory of Fannie Mae-owned homes, known as REOs) issued an REO Announcement that imposed a strict limit of 30 on the number of REO listings that a broker of record could have at any time. The announcement warned companies that handle Fannie’s REO inventory to apply the 30-property limit strictly and noted “100% compliance” was expected.
NAR immediately heard from members raising concerns about the impact of such a low, arbitrary limit on their businesses. NAR agrees that Fannie should not have an inflexible limit on the number of REO listings. Instead, Fannie should rely on documented success and professional performance of real estate brokers.
On July 9, in response to REALTOR® concerns, HomePath released another REO Announcement that relaxed the rules announced at the end of June. The July 9 announcement states that Fannie Mae, as a general rule, does not allocate more than 30 active REO listings from any one Fannie source at any one time. It stated this has been long-standing practice. The new announcement went on to acknowledge that some higher-performing brokers can handle more than 30 properties at one time and still exceed Fannie’s standards. Accordingly, Fannie Mae will approve special exceptions to the 30 listing limit in appropriate circumstances. In addition, the Announcement notes that the 30 listing limit is applied per source, so brokers may have 30 properties directly from Fannie and 30 from an outsourcer, without requiring Fannie approval. More information is expected soon.