Short Sell Policies Change for Service Members with PCS Orders

Service personnel who receive permanent-change-of-station orders will now be able to sell their homes in a short sale even if their mortgages are current, announced the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Previously, many service members struggled to maintain two mortgages or face default because they couldn’t sell their houses before they needed to move. “It is in everyone’s interest for the men and women serving in our armed forces to focus on the important job they are doing defending our country, rather than worry about the maintenance and leasing of a property in another jurisdiction,” said FHFA acting director Edward DeMarco in a June 21 release. The policy only applies to those who have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan for a property purchased on or before June 30, 2012, states the release. The new policies “should now provide military homeowners with access to the immediate and automatic full range of foreclosure alternatives,” said DeMarco.