Mortgage Giant Loosening Rules For Real Estate Investors

  Real estate investors, already blamed for running up housing prices in the first place, now stand to get some help buying more.
   Bloomberg News reports that Fannie Mae, the mortgage giant recently nationalized by Congress, is loosening rules that let investors qualify for multiple home loans.

   Real estate investors who already own four properties can now get up to ten mortgages total.
   Fannie's hoping to beef up housing demand now that real estate's in a downward spiral.

   Larger-scale investors would be required to have three times more cash in the bank than in the past.
   Instead of two months' income, they'll need six in reserve.

   Competitor Freddie Mac, which is also government-run, said it's still only looking at lifting its four-mortgage limit.
   Freddie and Fannie together now account for more than 95-percent of new home lending.

   They own or guarantee almost half of the nation's $12-trillion in residential debt.


   (Copyright 2009 by Newsroom Solutions)