Homepath, but....not?

[greenmint]

I'm wondering if anyone has ever found a property on the Homepath website (homepath.com) that was NOT eligible for Homepath financing? My husband and I have absolutely fallen in love with a HomePath property, and are working to try and get pre-approval so that we can place a bid this week. I've been waiting for it to show up on the website as Active, instead of just "coming soon" so that we would know for sure if it needed HomePath, or HomePath renovation financing. Today, it showed up as "new listing" - but, has neither of the icons! Our realtor has spoken with the listing agent, and the listing agent seems to think it is not HomePath eligible - but if that were the case, why would it be listed on the HomePath website? Anyone have any thoughts about this?

[StartingOver10]

The Homepath website lists all the Fannie Mae foreclosures. Not all of them are eligible for Homepath financing.

[greenmint]

Thanks for the response. This does appear to be the case with this particular property, but it was a total shock to both the realtor and the mortgage guy we are working with - they were both under the impression that if it was listed on the HomePath website, it would be eligible for some type of HomePath financing. The truly frustrating thing about it all is that no one can tell us WHY it isn't eligible for HomePath financing.

[StartingOver10]

I don't know.

There are essentially 4 ways to buy a fannie mae f/c: cash including hard money, financing with another lender (FHA/VA etc), Homepath or Homepath Renovation type loan

If Fannie won't accept the property thru one of their programs that means there is a problem somewhere. Can only be a problem with 1) physical attributes of the property or 2) title/ownership issues.

Easy enough to check into each of those to see if the issue is worth overcoming by using a different method of purchasing the property. Sometimes it is worthwhile - sometimes its best to walk away.

[greenmint]

How would we find out if there are problems with the title? We know that there are some issues with the house itself structurally - it probably needs a new roof - but overall, it didn't seem like it would need that much work.

[StartingOver10]

Your agent should have access to a title company or attorney that can run a quick 'pencil search' to see what pops up. It is not as in depth as a full title search, but can be done in a short period of time to see if something jumps out right away. The alternative is to run a full title search, but that costs you money. I am assuming you want to watch how much you put into it prior to putting in under contract that's why I specified the 'pencil search' first (real old term).

As to the physical issues - check to see if there are missing building permits. That can be checked through your county/city building department.

[sr383]

When I was shopping, several Homepath listings caught my eye, but in many cases, I was told that the house "wasn't insurable" in its current condition and, therefore, didn't qualify for Homepath financing.

Often, the required repairs seemed fairly trivial, but there was nothing I could do about it.