For a limited time: Fannie Mae to help cover mortgage closing costs

Jacob Gaffney

The offer is only available to FirstLook homes. That's Fannie's program where homebuyers get to buy homes without competition from investors.Fannie Mae is offering more incentive to owner occupants, that is non-investor purchasers of new homes, by helping to cover the closing costs in some states.

The home can be purchased via Fannie Mae's HomePath website which features foreclosed homes from the portfolio of the government-sponsored enterprise.

Fannie Mae recently announced the extension of the FirstLook period from fifteen days to twenty days.

“This incentive will provide more opportunities for families to find a property to call home,” said Jay Ryan, Vice President of REO Sales. “Our goal is to sell as many HomePath properties as possible to owner-occupants who will stabilize neighborhoods and help the housing recovery.”

Homebuyers need to get their offers in by March 31, 2014, and close before June.

The incentive will offer qualified buyers up to 3.5% of the final sales price to pay closing costs.

"In many cases, buyers could use these savings to buy down their interest rate through upfront points, resulting in additional savings over time," explains a statement for Fannie Mae. "Buyers can work with the lender of their choice to determine if this is an option."

Here are those 27 states:

Arizona	Maryland	New Mexico
California	Massachusetts	Ohio
Florida	Michigan	Oregon
Idaho	Minnesota	Puerto Rico
Illinois	Missouri	Tennessee
Indiana	Nebraska	Virginia
Iowa	Nevada	Washington
Kansas	New Hampshire	West Virginia
Maine	New Jersey	Wisconsin

Morris Hagerman is a local real estate agent with Real Estate One in Royal Oak, Michigan.  He serves Berkley and the other Woodward 5 communities, including Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Huntington Woods.  Hagerman is also a member of the Berkley/Huntington Woods Area Chamber of Commerce.  You can contact him by phone at 248-854-8440, email at morrishagermanproperties@gmail.com or visit his web page.