Government Set to Sell Foreclosures in Bulk

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Government Set to Sell Foreclosures in Bulk

Published: Monday, 9 Jan 2012 | 9:11 AM ET
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By: Diana Olick
CNBC Real Estate Reporter
http://www.cnbc.com//id/45925851

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The Obama administration, is very close to announcing a pilot program to sell government-owned foreclosures in bulk to investors as rentals, CNBC has learned.
The Obama administration, in conjunction with federal regulators and led by the overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is very close to announcing a pilot program to sell government-owned foreclosures in bulk to investors as rentals, according to administration officials.
There currently are about a quarter of a million foreclosed properties on the books of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and millions more are coming.
The foreclosure processing delays of last year created a mammoth backlog of properties yet to be processed, which are just now being re-started. One of the initiatives of this program is for the federal government to be in the position to mitigate and manage any new wave of foreclosures, sources say.
Late-stage delinquencies still in the pipeline number close to two million, according to a new report from Lender Processing Services. Foreclosure starts outnumber foreclosure sales by two to one and "the trend toward fewer loans becoming delinquent, which dominated 2010 and the first quarter of 2011, appears to have halted," according to LPS. http://www.jpos