The FHFA's foreclosure pilot program has begun (dubbed the REO Initiative), with today's announcement that 2,490 Fannie Mae-held properties in several cities across the nation will be sold to private investors with the understanding that they're to be rentals for a certain number of years. In Chicago, the pilot stage involves 99 properties with 120 units. Only 34 are considered vacant, so this program is less about filling vacancies than it is about catalyzing investment in the housing stock (and reducing the tax burden). [Trib]
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