EVERY YEAR AROUND THIS TIME there always seems to be an unending slew of announcements regarding changes coming in the New Year. In real estate it is no different. Beginning at the end of November, the announcements start streaming in, heralding all the good and not-so-good things we can expect come Jan. 1.

So today’s column will be more of a blog of sorts, little snippets of information on a variety of things that have recently come across my desk.

One piece of potentially really good news is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are finally getting clear with lenders on buy-back policies. One of the chief reasons financing a home has become so cumbersome is that lenders have been unsure of exactly what was, and was not, a “good” loan. Fearing the threat of having to “buy back” the loan from Fannie and Freddie, lenders have been asking for all manner of documentation from borrowers just to make sure they had all their bases covered.

Overlays, as they are called in the industry, are additional requirements lenders place on borrowers over and above standard Fannie and Freddie requirements. Now, with clearer direction from Fannie and Freddie lenders will be able to grant loans with a reasonable level of confidence. This is already having an effect, as some lenders are announcing the elimination of loan overlays, which will hopefully make the process easier for consumers and lenders alike.

In a piece of mixed news, Fannie and Freddie announced maximum loan amounts for 2015. The good news is that they will continue offering higher loan limits in certain counties across the U.S. that have predominantly higher home values. For example, here in the Bay Area most counties qualify as “high-cost” areas, so homeowners can obtain a Fannie or Freddie loan up to $625,500 instead of the usual maximum of $417,000. (Unfortunately for folks in Solano County, the maximum loan size will remain at $417,000.)

When I sent this announcement out to my Realtor clients last week, you could hear the collective groan from Realtors throughout Benicia. But as I kept pointing out, the market for loans above Fannie and Freddie limits has been expanding, so there are definitely attractive options for homeowners in cities like Benicia where home values are often much higher than the Fannie and Freddie limits allow.

In an interesting piece of flying-under-the-radar news, Fannie Mae has started allowing some borrowers to buy back the homes they lost in foreclosure. At the height of the foreclosure crisis, Fannie and Freddie were allowing some homeowners to rent from the agencies the homes they had lost in foreclosure. It was an effort by the agencies to reduce blight and scale back the level of vacant homes in neighborhoods hardest hit by the crisis.

Now the agencies are allowing some of these folks to buy their homes back and become homeowners once again. The program is interesting since homeowners are buying back their homes at current market values. So, if they owed $400,000 on their home when they lost it to foreclosure and the home is now worth $300,000, they get the property back and effectively are receiving a principal reduction of $100,000.

Principal reductions are something the agencies have steadfastly refused to do in past, despite strong political pressure. There are, of course, all manner of qualifications; they are not just handing the deeds over to these homeowners.

Stay tuned — I’m sure there will be more news coming before the New Year dawns.

Guy Benjamin (CAL BRE License #01014834, NMLS 887909) writes a weekly column for The Herald, offering general information on real estate matters. As it is impossible to address all possibilities and variations, he will try to answer individual questions by readers who contact him at 707-246-0949 or guyb@fairwaymc.com.height=”150″ />

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