Fannie Mae was a semi-independent company that carried out its last act as such several weeks ago. This year Fannie Mae has carried out 22 updates.

There are several parts to the new guidelines. Part one involves number of properties owned by one person. Formerly, one person could own 10 properties. However, now, if a person applies for a mortgage loan, Fannie Mae will not grant the loan for second homes or investment properties if the applicant already has loans on more than 4 properties.

There is a loophole, however. Fannie Mae will not count properties against the 4-property limit if they are held in the name of a corporation. This holds even if the real estate investor is the sole owner of said corporation.

So, it will be important for investors to consider restructuring their real estate holdings in to the corporate framework and negate the 4 property limit. Even though such action is sometimes taken for tax/liability reasons, now it is good for mortgage approval reasons.

Secondly, some of the guidelines do not have such a loophole. All investment property mortgages will be assessed with new loan-to-value based loan fees by Fannie Mae.

- 1.75% loan fee for loan-to-value less than 75% - 3.00% loan fee for loan -to-value 75.01-80.00% - 3.75% loan fee for loan-to-value 80.01-90.00%

These fees are mandatory and are in addition to any whatever other risk-based loan fees Fannie Mae may assess. Currently, those fees amount to a half-percent at minimum for real estate investors.

The government hasn’t released any information about possible relaxation of mortgage guidelines since their Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac takeover. If the guidelines loosen up, this would be helpful for real estate investors. If those who want to mortgage property can’t qualify for a loan, lower rates aren’t going to be a lot of help.

If you’re currently in the market for an investment property (or two), consider that it may be cheaper and simpler to purchase over the near-term versus the long-term. And consider moving your existing properties into a corporate structure first.

When buying a home, there are two stages in the home loan approval process.Stage 1 starts when a homebuyer submits a mortgage application to his loan officer for a pre-approval.

When pre-approval is requested, it will be a preliminary home mortgage approval indicating that the mortgage will likely be approved for a certain down payment and purchase price.

This preliminary approval becomes obsolete once the buyer signs a purchase agreement. Stage 1 is now over because the buyer must now secure the actual loan from an “underwriter” and not the loan officer.

It is the job of the “underwriter” to make sure that the buyer can meet the lending criteria of the banking institution. He does this by reviewing the buyer’s credit, assets, income, job history and other factors. This is Stage 2.

This procedure should be a formality if the Stage 1 loan officer did an appropriate job. Usually this stage moves along as anticipated. However, sometimes the buyer changes his loan “risk” without intending to do this, but affecting the mortgage approval. The buyer doesn’t mean to decrease his loan probability, it “happens.”

So, consider this a quick primer of what not to do while you’re between Stage 1 and the completion of Stage 2 of the home loan approval process. Following these pointers will help keep the risk profile consistent.

1. Don ‘t miss a payment to a creditor 2. Don’t transfer large amounts of money in or out of your bank accounts (large may have different meanings to different people) 3. Don ‘t accept gift of cash without talking with your loan officer first (There are rules for gifts) 4. Don’t buy a new car (or increase loan or lease payment) 5. Don ‘t quit your job or change career(don’t switch to a “commission” job ) 6. Don ‘t open a new credit card (no matter the deal)

There’s other items, too, but this a good start. Now, avoiding these mistakes may not be practical for everyone. Therefore, if you know you’re going to violate a “rule”, check with your loan officer first. There are a lot of “gotchas” in mortgage lending and it helps to have professional guidance for your individual questions.