May 12, 2008

NAR President's Letter to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac

Last month, the president of the National Association of Realtors® wrote letters to the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEO’s to address serious concern about a range of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac policies that Realtors® feel are hurting the economy and adversely affecting the housing and mortgage markets.

The main contentions of the letters included:

  1. Extremely tight underwriting standards for jumbo conforming loans authorized by the Economic Stimulus Act.
  2. Policies reducing maximum loan-to-value ratios (LTVs) by five percentage points for homes in declining markets.
  3. A wide variety of higher fees and other underwriting standards that make mortgages much less affordable.

Click here to read the letter to Fannie Mae and here to read the letter to Freddie Mac.

Thanks to Dick Gaylord, NAR President, for his advocacy.