Freddie Mac announced Wednesday it will suspend foreclosure evictions from December 20^th through January 3^rd. This is the third straight year Freddie Mac has suspended evictions during the holiday season. (This move only applies to those homes that have mortgages backed or guaranteed by Freddie Mac).  Sibling company, Fannie Mae, also won't evict people over the holidays, but that has not yet been announced via news release regarding their upcoming suspension of holiday foreclosures. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase home loans from lenders and package them into bonds with a guarantee against default and sell them to investors. Today they own or guarantee about half of all U.S mortgages.

So Happy Holidays from Fannie and Freddie!

·         REO's sold for an average discount of nearly 41% and accounted for 15% of all sales in the third quarter.

·         Pre-foreclosure sales, which are often short sales, sold for an average discount of 19% and accounted for nearly 10% of all sales.

Looking at those statistics, it makes you wonder why investors Fannie and Freddie seem so eager to foreclose.

But at least for the Holidays...Merry Christmas!