On September 1, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD)Secretary Shaun Donovan announced a new partnership with the National Community Stabilization Trust to launch the HUD National ‘First Look’ Program at the Federal Reserve Board REO Summit on Neighborhood Stabilization.
Recognizing the vital edge ‘First Look’ creates for NSP grantees, including select state and local governments and nonprofits, to beat private investors to the foreclosed properties most strategically important to their local programs, HUD is throwing its support behind First Look as an essential component in the NSP toolbox. HUD’s National First Look Program is based on the existing Stabilization Trust ‘First Look’ model, and the Stabilization Trust will be serving as the operations engine behind the new national program.
As with the existing Stabilization Trust program, the HUD National First Look Program allows NSP grantees to benefit from an exclusive window of access to evaluate and subsequently acquire new real estate-owned(REO)listings before these properties are listed for the broader market.
“This groundbreaking agreement will help rebuild neighborhoods that have been struggling with blight and declining home values due to foreclosures,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “Local communities will now get an exclusive option to buy foreclosed properties in targeted neighborhoods so they can turn the homes into affordable housing or, in some cases, tear them down. This agreement helps us level the playing field to give communities a better chance to stabilize these neighborhoods.”
The country’s leading financial and government institutions are participating and represent approximately 75% of the REO market nationwide. These include: Bank of America, Chase, CitiBank, Deutsche Bank, GMAC, Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial Corporation, Saxon Mortgage Services, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Additional financial institutions are being invited to join.
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