Hurray for Fannie!

Fannie Mae has announced that tenants will be permitted to stay in foreclosed homes. A nice touch during the holiday season for sure. Imagine being a paying tenant who gets an eviction notice at the holidays. The hassles of moving makes me shudder. Moving also adds moving costs, new security deposits and perhaps increased rent to the budgets of many families in low-income apartment complexes that are foreclosed.

Here enters Fannie Mae the landlord. Fannie Mae will execute new leases with the paying tenants in foreclosed properties, who would otherwise face eviction. Perhaps I am missing something here, but in light of the current market, this is long overdue. Normally, the government having all the headaches of a landlord (maintenance, rent collection, etc.) of these properties would not be ideal. Let's hope this isn't a long term solution. With plenty of vacant properties around, however, evicting paying tenants would seem to increase the losses that Fannie Mae would face. In many cases, these properties will be worth more with paying tenants than sitting vacant.

For now, at least the government should collect rent. Now I just wonder what kind of landlord will Fannie Mae be? Now, a bit of humor during these hard times is a good thing. Will Farrell's short on the "Landlord" comes to mind. For those of you with sensitive ears, don't push play.

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— JSM