Our local MLS (Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS)) has completed the application process with Fannie Mae and we are now live. This new partnership gives local Real Estate professionals access to Fannie Mae’s Short Sale Assistance Desk (SSAD) through our secured MLS login access.
The SSAD for Fannie Mae is there to assist in delays on short sale negotiations where the 1st lien is backed by Fannie Mae. There are some qualifications for access and use to this system.
- The real estate professional must be an MRIS customer.
- The real estate professional must be the listing agent for the property.
- The property must have a first-lien loan owned by Fannie Mae. Access to the SSAD allows you the opportunity to confirm this. Or simply stop by the Fannie Mae loan look up tool at http://www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup/
- Only post-offer issues can be submitted. The servicer must be in receipt of a valid offer for the property.
- The real estate professional must obtain a signed Borrower Authorization Form (BAF) from the homeowner(s) and submit it to MRIS through the online form found under the External Links on the Matrix homepage.
Submission Guidelines
The real estate professional must first make a reasonable effort to resolve the issue by working through the servicer.
- The real estate professional may submit the case in the event the servicer has not provided:
- an initial response within 20 days,
- a final property valuation within 30 days,
- a final decision or specific direction to facilitate a decision within 60 days from the original offer submission date,
- or, if the real estate professional has received an approval from the servicer for the transaction, but either the mortgage insurer or secondary lien holder has imposed a closing condition that is not possible for the borrower to meet.
The real estate professional must address all “actionable” requests from the servicer before submitting the issue.
Where additional documentation is requested, servicer response time will be calculated starting on the date the real estate professional submitted the final documentation.
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If you are part of the MRIS as a Realtor® or a member of an MLS association that is partnered with Fannie Mae this can be a great tool. But one thing needs to be clear. This is not a resource for escalating an issue that is not a delay from the servicer or Fannie Mae side. For example you submitted your offer two weeks ago and now your buyer wants to walk already. This would not be a reasonable escalation request. If for example you have a file that has been in process for 60 days and no BPO (Broker Price Opinion) has been ordered or a negotiator is not yet assigned to your file, this would be cause to request a review from Fannie Mae.
We need to be careful not to abuse the system or it will fail. But I am a big fan of pushing the limits within some degree of reason. As they say, you never know until you ask.
Best of luck and if you are a Realtor® new to short sales or a home owner with questions on your options we are always available to help answer your questions.
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