Selling Policy Communications
Access a list of Selling Announcements, Lender Letters, Notices, and related communications.
Selling Guide updates typically are published on the first Wednesday of the month.
| Announcement SEL-2024-08: Selling Guide Updates | December 11, 2024-In December, the Selling Guide has been updated to allow an energy report, when required for any HomeStyle® Energy mortgage, to be dated no more than 24 months before the note date; add additional exceptions to the borrower ownership requirement for a limited cash-out refinance application; encourage the use of home price indices and other market data to support overall value accuracy; clarify that for HomeStyle® Renovation Loan Agreement, both parties may execute the agreement at any time during the closing process with the agreement date matching the note date, and other miscellaneous updates. |
| Lender Letter LL-2024-03 Confirmation Conforming Loan Limit Values 2025 | November 26, 2024-Fannie Mae loan limit values are increasing in 2025. The new loan limit for most of the country will be $806,500 — a 5.21% increase over the 2024 limit — and is effective for whole loans delivered to Fannie Mae and loans in MBS pools with issue dates on or after Jan. 1, 2025. |
| Announcement SEL-2024-07: Selling Guide Updates | November 6, 2024-In November, the Selling Guide has been updated to modernize special property eligibility and underwriting considerations for leasehold estates; revise our project review requirements related to properties secured by manufactured homes; update requirements related to the Market Area analysis of the appraisal report and add standardized definitions relevant to appraisal market areas to the Glossary; clarify that sellers and servicers are responsible for preventing, detecting, and reporting mortgage fraud, and other miscellaneous updates. |
| Announcement SEL-2024-06: Selling Guide Updates | September 4, 2024-In September, the Selling Guide has been updated to establish loan delivery requirements for lender-formed Green MBS and a Fannie Mae Green Majors® pool; remove, add, and replace certain terms in our appraisal practices policy to mitigate subjective terminology used in appraisal reports; and automate Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) review of the supplemental asset report to extend employment validation. |
| Announcement SEL-2024-05: Selling Guide Updates | August 7, 2024-In August, the Selling Guide has been updated to include revised policies and guidelines pertaining to rent credit with an option to purchase and rent-back credit and other miscellaneous updates. |
| Selling Notice - Implementation date for Reconsideration of Value updated to October 31 | August 6, 2024-In May 2024, we issued Selling Guide Announcement SEL-2024-03 related to the development of a framework for lenders to review and respond to a borrower-initiated reconsideration of value (ROV). While lenders are encouraged to implement the ROV policy immediately, they must do so for loans with applications dated on or after the new effective date of October 31, 2024. |
| Announcement SEL-2024-04: Selling Guide Updates | June 5, 2024-In June, the Selling Guide has been updated to add Special Feature Code 887 for loans delivered using a standby commitment, updates the glossary definition of closing costs, expands timeframes for completion of counseling and eliminating Form 1017, retires the requirement for a completed Form 2200 at loan delivery, and other miscellaneous updates. |
| Selling Notice - Area Median Incomes 2024 | May 13, 2024-Area median incomes (AMIs) for 2024 will be implemented in Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) and HomeReady® application programming interfaces (APIs), Loan Delivery, and the Area Median Income Lookup Tool effective May 19. The AMIs will continue to be applied in DU based on the casefile create date while the Application Received Date provided in Loan Delivery will be used to determine which AMI limit to use when evaluating eligibility for the loan-level price adjustment (LLPA) waiver. |
| Selling and Servicing Notice - Regarding Recent Clarifications of Lender and Servicer Property Insurance Responsibilities | May 8, 2024-We are responding to concerns heard regarding lenders’ and servicers’ ability to comply with our long-standing policy to obtain the replacement cost value following our Feb. Selling Guide and Servicing Guide Announcements. |
| Announcement SEL-2024-03: Selling Guide Updates | May 1, 2024-In May, the Selling Guide has been updated to introduce a definition for a first-generation homebuyer loan, added requirements for a borrower-initiated appeals process for appraisals, clarified when an Affidavit of Affixture is required for manufactured housing loans, expanded our shared equity policies related to manufactured housing in community land trust properties, allow sellers/servicers to designate MERS as the nominee for the beneficiary in the security instrument for co-op share loans, updated requirements for submission of financial statements and reports, added details to supplement previously issued policy requirements pertaining to trust income, and other miscellaneous updates. |
| Selling Notice - Real Estate Commissions and Interested Party Contributions | April 15, 2024-We are aware of the proposed settlement agreement, subject to court approval, announced by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) in the Burnett et al and Moehrl et al cases. While there are no immediate changes to our Selling Guide policies, we are clarifying the current treatment of seller-paid real estate agent fees under our interested party contributions (IPCs) policy. |
| Announcement SEL-2024-02: Selling Guide Updates | March 6, 2024-In March, the Selling Guide has been updated to expand the DU validation service to allow income and employment validation using an asset verification report. |
| Announcement SEL-2024-01: Selling Guide Updates | February 7, 2024-The February Selling Guide expands the value acceptance + property data offering to include condos, clarifies the qualifying rate for 7- and 10-year ARMS, allows cash-out refinances for manufactured homes with terms up to 30 years, updates eligible types of nontraditional credit references, clarifies policies for the use of business income, clarifies property insurance coverage requirements, updates mortgage origination definitions, and includes other miscellaneous updates. |
| Lender Letter LL-2024-01 – HomeReady Product Enhancement | January 24, 2024-(Updated Dec. 5, 2024) To address some of the barriers to entry for very low-income purchase borrowers, we are offering a temporary $2,500 loan-level price adjustment credit on our HomeReady® loan product. We are extending the $2,500 loan-level price adjustment credit for one additional year and updating eligibility to require at least one borrower to be a first-time homebuyer. |
| Announcement SEL-2023-11: Selling Guide Updates | December 13, 2023-The December Selling Guide has been updated to permit lenders to use alternative options to meet verbal verification of employment requirements, allow optional use of Income Calculator to determine the monthly qualifying income for self-employed borrowers, and more. |
| Lender Letter LL-2023-09 – Confirmation of Conforming Loan Limit Values for 2024 | November 28, 2023-Fannie Mae loan limit values are increasing in 2024. The new loan limit for most of the country will be $766,550 — a 5.56% increase over the 2023 limit — and is effective for whole loans delivered to Fannie Mae and loans in MBS pools with issue dates on or after Jan. 1, 2024. |
| Announcement SEL-2023-10: Selling Guide Updates | November 1, 2023-The November Selling Guide has been updated to prohibit an employment offer or contract for future employment from a family member or interested party to a transaction, updates general lender requirements regarding lender staffing, training, and policies and procedures to maintain seller/servicer eligibility, clarifies the policy to acknowledge an unauthorized transfer of ownership or change in occupancy status, and updates the Special Lender Approval Form (Form 1000A) to make it easier for lenders to apply to sell or acquire servicing for HomeStyle® Renovation Mortgages. |
| Lender Letter LL-2023-08 – Representation and Warranty Enforcement Relief for Loans Impacted by a COVID-19 Forbearance | October 18, 2023-With the guidance of our regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and in coordination with Freddie Mac, loans previously or currently in a COVID-19 forbearance may be eligible for relief from enforcement of representations and warranties using the criteria that apply to loans subject to a disaster-related forbearance in Selling Guide A2-3.2-02, Enforcement Relief for Breaches of Certain Representations and Warranties Related to Underwriting and Eligibility (the “framework”). |
| Announcement SEL-2023-09: Selling Guide Updates | October 4, 2023-The October Selling Guide: Updates requirements for rental income use towards qualifying; Allows less than 24-month history of self-employment, and one year of personal and business tax returns if certain criteria are met; Requires either the HUD Data Plate or HUD Certification Label information be provided in the appraisal report for existing properties; Clarifies policy that property data collection must be obtained and submitted to Property Data API prior to the note date; And other miscellaneous updates. |
| Announcement SEL-2023-08: Selling Guide Updates | September 6, 2023-The September Selling Guide clarifies requirements for personal gifts and gifts of equity, clarifies property eligibility and comparable sale requirements for 3D printed homes, updates policy for using income earned from a trust towards qualifying, and includes other miscellaneous updates. |
