The Future of Fannie & Freddie Scrutiny of the government’s role supporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cultivated in a recent request for comments and a conference last week organized by Secretary Geithner and Secretary Donovan. Although the request for input and subsequent conference were focused on financing, NARPM® President Vickie Gaskill, MPM® RMP®, and your Governmental Affairs Committee wanted to make sure both secretaries understood the critical role that the GSEs needed to play in the rental market. Below you will find a copy of the letter that was sent last week to Secretary Geithner and Secretary Donovan from NARPM® President Vickie Gaskill, MPM® RMP®. We will continue to work on educating the government about the benefits of rental housing and the need for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to focus on long term rental options for their stock of foreclosed properties. Dear Secretary Geithner and Secretary Donovan, On behalf of the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM®) I would like to commend you on your recent efforts to obtain feedback from the housing community on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Although we did not have an opportunity to respond to your initial call for comments through Regulations.gov, we still felt it was important to contact you regarding the GSEs and their impact on the rental aspect of the housing market. We would like to encourage both GSE’s to develop a permanent rental strategy for their housing stock rather than provide short term rentals with the goal of selling the properties as quickly as possible. By providing long term rentals the GSEs will be able to provide more stability to the market while allowing families more opportunity to stay in their current homes. By quickly trying to sell properties, the GSEs will be forced to not only take a major loss but also displace a family that could have otherwise paid rent while remaining in the property. Removing homes from the rental market will reduce the availability of rental options for struggling families who cannot obtain financing or choose not to purchase a home at this time. Additionally, as a result of having more vacant homes in a neighborhood waiting to be sold, surrounding properties will start losing value which further exacerbates an already struggling housing market. As part of a long term rental program, we encourage Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to look at employing well-qualified professional property managers rather than simply using sales agents. Property management is a very unique specialty with a number of state specific landlord/tenant laws and local ordinances that must be followed. Property managers from NARPM®, unlike the average sales agent, have the knowledge and experience to assist you with the development of a system that will take these local issues into consideration, work with local contractors to maintain assets, protect the interests of the Fannie and Freddie in the property, protect the rights of tenants, and minimize the costs and risks for both GSEs. There are a number of difficult decisions that must be made regarding the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I strongly encourage you to call on NARPM® for input and advice when it comes to questions concerning their involvement in the rental market; we stand ready to assist you in any way possible. For more information on our association and the benefits of working with a NARPM® property manager, please feel free to contact our national office at 1-800-782-3452 or you can always call me personally at 1-800-755-5397. Sincerely, Vickie Gaskill, MPM® RMP®
2010 President  | 638 Independence Parkway, Suite 100, Chesapeake, VA 23320
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