Strong response to an earlier limited incentive offer for home buyers has prompted the Fannie Mae HomePath® Program to briefly extend the offer's deadline.  HomePath is the marketing program for Fannie Mae's foreclosed properties (REO). Its FirstLook period gives potential owner-occupants or public entity buyers the first 20 days after a property is cleared for sale to investigate properties and submit offers without competition from investors.  

HomePath announced that effective February 14, buyers in the FirstLook period could receive a bonus of up to 3.5 percent of the final sales price to pay closing costs.  Funds could be used, for example, to buy down the mortgage interest rate through upfront points.   

The original incentive was available for initial offers on homes that were made between February 14 and March 31, 2014 with the transaction required to close before May 31, 2014.  Fannie Mae has now extended the offer period through April 30 for transactions closing by June 30.

The closing cost bonus is available in 27 states and the extension announced today affects only dates, not areas of eligibility.  A list of the eligible locations and further information on the program is available at www.HomePath.com.

 "We have received a strong response from the incentive since it went into effect on February 14, and we are happy to extend the offer to even more homebuyers," said Jay Ryan, Vice President of REO Sales. "With the unusually cold and extended winter season ending, we want to give people more opportunity to use the incentive to buy properties that they will call home."